Masked Singer Davina McCall's 'second chance at life' after health battle and brain surgery

Davina McCall will appear as a judge on the new series of The Masked Singer, just months after undergoing brain surgery to have a non-cancerous tumour removed.

The TV presenter, 57, discovered she had a colloid cyst during a free brain scan at a menopause event, and she underwent brain surgery to have it removed in November last year.

Davina, who has been a judge on the hit ITV singing show since 2020, surprised the other panellists and audience members during the Christmas special episode of The Masked Singer when she revealed herself as one of the contestants, The Star.

Both the Christmas special episode and the new series, returning to our screens this weekend, were filmed prior to Davina's brain surgery.

After the Christmas special, McCall posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Thank you @MaskedSingerUK for asking me, you literally made my dream come true … loved every second . There was so much going on in my life at that time . Surgery was just over a month away … but this was the BEST distraction EVER !!!! Thank you so so so so much".

She has regularly kept her fans updated regarding her recovery and says that her survival feels like a "gift".

Taking to Instagram on Monday (30 December), Davina thanked fans for their support over her new podcast venture, while looking back on her own health journey as she admitted she feels like she's "begun again".

She said: "Thanks for joining me on my Begin Again podcast. I've loved recording this podcast, and I've loved meeting everybody.

"What I've enjoyed about recording this podcast is, it's so so broad. Begin Again can mean anything, it can mean something similar to what I've just been through, which is having a life-threatening tumour and it being removed.

"I feel like I've begun again, I mean in the weirdest sense, I guess because I've had a positive outcome. It's like being given a second chance at life. It feels amazing, almost as if I've been given a gift."

The much-anticipated new series of The Masked Singer, which was filmed prior to Davina's brain surgery, is almost upon us with a fresh line-up of disguised celebrities set to take the stage.

Each year, audiences and judges alike don their detective caps in an attempt to figure out the identities of the celebrities hidden behind the vibrant costumes.

Alongside Davina, Jonathan Ross and comedian Mo Gilligan will return to the panel and Love Island's Maya Jama will replace Rita Ora, who has moved on to work on other parts of her career.

Davina McCall shared her thoughts on Maya Jama joining the show: "It's been really nice having Maya on the panel, she's really good fun. She's really enjoying herself and she's lovely to hang out with.

"She looks great and she's thrown herself in at the deep end and is smashing it! I miss Rita, obviously we'd all worked together for so long and Maya had big shoes to fill and she's filled them brilliantly."

Returning presenter Joel Dommett will be on hand to assist both the disguised stars and the celebrity judging panel in unravelling the mystery of who's beneath the masks.

The characters battling it out this year are Bush, Dressed Crab, Bear, Kingfisher, Pegasus, Spaghetti Bolognese, Tattoo, Teeth, Toad In The Hole, Wolf, Pufferfish, Snail.