THE MASKED Dancer star Denise Lewis has revealed she enjoyed sneaking around as she kept her appearance on the show a secret from her husband.
Sea Slug was forced to reveal their true identity in Saturday night’s show after the judges voted to send them home following a tie between them and Odd Socks.
Denise – who is married to Steve Finan O’Connor, the former manager to pop group All Saints – said she kept her husband’s suspicions to a minimum when she would come home at night after filming for the ITV dance show.
Speaking exclusively to HOAR, Denise said: “It was hard to keep it a secret as some of the shows finish quite late.
“And I would tell him ‘I’m just popping out today and I won’t be back till late’
“Obviously, with my normal ins and outs with work, he’s used to the comings and goings, so he didn’t grill me and the beginning, but it was really hard to keep a secret.
“As the weeks go on you want to share it and tell him about this fantastic thing that I’m doing, and you want everyone to watch in real time as well.
“But I enjoyed keeping it a secret and it’s been a lot of fun.”
The Olympic gold medallist, 50, admitted that she loved seeing her kids’ reaction when her identity was unveiled on Saturday night after months of keeping it top secret.
“I wanted to keep it a secret, but I wanted people to watch at the same time, my biggest white lie ‘I would say guys, what are you watching this weekend on the Whatsapp group, I’m sure someone we know is on it’.
“That was one of the lines to a couple of my girlfriends and my kids who are at an age where they are teenagers, they are on their devices and I’m trying to cajole them to come downstairs.
“When some of the guesses came up in the last two weeks, they got more curious but then weren’t sure.
“My three-year-old watched on Saturday and said ‘mummy, that’s you’.”
Denise – who turned 50 in August – said she was wanted to do something “wacky” to mark her milestone age – and signing up to the show helped tick that off.
“For my 50th year of life I wanted to do something a bit different and a bit wacky and this show was it,” she said.
“You say yes to these opportunities, but you don’t really know what you’re taking on, so there is an air of unpredictability.
“I’m glad I didn’t go out in week one and I’m please I got this far.
“I would have loved to go a little bit further as I had a dance jam I wanted to perform but I’ll have to perform it when I’m out with my girlfriends.”
Olympian and former Strictly star Denise Lewis proved judges Davina McCall and Oti Mabuse right when she appeared from behind the mask.
Viewers at home were quick to tweet about the unveiling, with one writing: “Legend! Denise Lewis!”
Another said: “Well done @RealDeniseLewis what a brilliant, amazing, gorgeous #seaslug you were on the #MaskedDancer tonight!!”
And a third added: “I always say it, but @RealDeniseLewis is just so beautiful! She’s got some moves!”
