RITA Ora was in the hot seat tonight as her fellow judges on The Masked Singer made jokes about her missing the opening episode.
Viewers were left baffled by the pop singer's disappearance from the panel, and some even speculated that she was one of the contestants on tonight's show.
Judges Davina McCall, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan only egged the audience on by teasing Rita for her absence.
English singer-songwriter Charlie Simpson took her place on the panel as a guest judge, and Davina appeared to make a swipe at Rita while congratulating him for joining the programme.
The presenter said it was "really nice to have a vocalist on the show as they'll be able to hear the intonations and tone", despite the fact that Rita is also a singer.
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Broadcaster Jonathan shot back: "That sounds a bit like you're dissing Rita Ora!"
Later on the judges continued to ramp up the suspense behind the superstar's disappearance, hinting that she could be one of various competitors on the show.
Mo suggested that she could be the person behind the Maypole mask.
Later in the show Jonathan also guessed that she could be Big Foot.
However, Rita has already explained the reason for her absence in the first episode of The Masked Singer UK season five.
She told viewers that she was busy filming the US version of the programme, adding: "I have missed three episodes and I hate missing this show. It’s one of my favourite things to do, I love the panel, I love having this job and I love doing this show.
"I’ve come back with better detective skills, I’d like to think. We’ll see how good they are but I am very grateful and happy to be back. These guys are like family."
However, the 33-year-old previously admitted to a rift with her co-stars.
When asked if her fellow panellists helped catch her up on the clues, Rita admitted: "Well, you’d think after all these years that we’d be a family, but unfortunately, it's a dog-eat-dog world on that panel."
"I definitely felt like I got incredible support for me flying the flag overseas. But when I came back, there was zero help, apart from Davina, who is the only nice person on this panel."
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