Jordan Banjo reveals he had hoped to dance with Diversity in Masked Dancer final

Diversity star Jordan Banjo has said he had hoped to perform with the rest of the dance group in masks if he had made it to the final of The Masked Dancer.

The TV star, 28, was revealed as the mystery celebrity who took to the stage as Viper in the first episode of the ITV series.

The programme, a spin-off to hit series The Masked Singer, sees 12 celebrity contestants performing as the panel of Jonathan Ross, Oti Mabuse, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan try to guess their identities.

Discussing if he was disappointed to be first to leave the show, he said: “The only thing I was disappointed with, and I don’t know how it works with Covid, I was thinking if I get to the final when you can dance pretty much how you are as it’s the last dance, I was like, ‘I’m definitely going see if I can get the boys in masks and literally just do a Diversity performance’.

“That’s what I wanted to do. Obviously all the backing dancers that are with us on the show are incredible, but I would love to go ‘I’m bringing Diversity there’ and just doing that. That would have been sick. That would be have been quite a cool thing.”

He added: “But it’s just a guessing game. If it had been a dancing competition and I had been kicked off first I would have been a bit like, ‘that is awkward’.

“But it’s just a guessing game and it was fun. So disappointed for myself, not really, but I just think it would have been a really cool performance of Diversity all dressed up and stuff, that would have been wicked.”

Banjo said he is so used to dancing as part of a group that he was nervous to perform on his own.

He added: “Leading a performance on national TV, I was like ‘not a chance’.

“It was Ash who convinced me to do it. So I was like ‘I can’t, I can’t do it, I’m really scared about it’.

“He was like, basically, ‘Stop being an idiot, you’re gonna have fun’.”

The Masked Dancer continues on ITV and the ITV Hub at 7.30pm on Sunday.