She may be known as Scary Spice, but Melanie ‘Mel B’ Brown is nothing but a delight, and now, she’s bringing her larger-than-life personality to the guessing panel on The Masked Singer.
After appearing on the UK version of the show in 2021, she was excited to put her connections in the industry to good use, making her the only panellist on the show who has had experience under the mask.
But when she landed on the panel, guessing the identity of the secret celebrity was harder than she expected.
Mel B joins panellists Dave Hughes, Abbie Chatfield and Chrissie Swan on The Masked Singer this year.
(Image: Getty)“I don’t think I am that good at guessing,” Mel, 47, admits to TV WEEK. “But I have met a lot of people so I can go into my dossier and figure it out from what I know about them.”
So far, filming the show has been a blast for the Spice Girl. Sitting alongside her hilarious panellists Dave Hughes, Abbie Chatfield and Chrissie Swan, she says there’s never a dull moment between them… but she has been a bit late to Dave’s ongoing joke.
“It’s interesting because we all have to work together, so we are taking each other’s leads in a way… well apart from Dave because he says ridiculous things like it’s Barack Obama or it’s Hilary Clinton. There were two people he has mentioned so far that are dead like Queen and Meatloaf.”
This isn’t the first time Mel B has been on our Aussie screens. Between 2011 and 2013, Mel was a judge on the X Factor, The Voice Kids Australia and even co-presented Dancing with the Stars with Daniel McPherson.
During that time, she decided to move her family down under. While she now lives in Leeds in the UK, she calls Australia her home away from home.
“I just love it here,” she says with a smile. “I lived here for three years and my kids went to school here.”
While Mel’s legacy remains strong for Spice Girls fans, and basically anyone alive during the 90s, the recent resurgence of Y2K culture has inspired a whole new generation to fall in love with the iconic girl group.
“It has come back around in a way that even my kids have said to me that I am vintage,” she exclaims. “I don’t know if that is an insult or compliment but I am always going to be Scary Spice and I am always going to be a Spice Girl – forever and always!”
Mel poses with fellow Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.
(Image: Instagram)In 2018, Mel released her best selling tell-all book Brutally Honest, which explores all facets of her life, including her experience of alleged abuse during her marriage to ex-husband Stephen Belafonte.
Since sharing her story with the world, she’s felt a new sense of freedom.
“To be living in that life for 10 years and married to it…it’s so good to break free and bring awareness of domestic abuse,” she says.
More recently, Mel received The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, or an MBE, for her contribution to conversations about domestic abuse. It’s one of the proudest achievements of her life, but she says the grand, unexpected arrival of the award, accidentally terrified her mum.
“The MBE comes in a private envelope in a black chauffeured delivery car sent to my mum. It was delivered all the way from London, about four hours away. My mum didn’t open it because it said ‘From her Royal Majesty the Queen’ and she thought I was in trouble with the police,” she laughs.
“She said ‘I’ve got this letter here and it’s been hand delivered to me. What have you done? And I said “I haven’t done anything!”
Once she realised what it was, and Mel discovered that she was the only member of the Spice Girls to get one, she was blown away.
“It was just for the work I had done highlighting awareness of domestic violence so that was amazing for me,” she says.
