Manx singing sensation Samantha Barks has been unmasked at last - after being crowned winner of ITV’s The Masked Singer.

The Les Misérables actress was revealed as Pufferfish after triumphing in the grand final of the hit Saturday night show, winning the audience vote in a head to head with Dressed Crab.

Three of the four judges correctly guessed at the end that Pufferfish was the Laxey-born West End and Broadway star.

Each week, the panel of famous judges has been listening to karaoke renditions performed by a number of secret celebrities.

No one knows who the celebrities are, as they are disguised and dressed as outlandish and sometimes bizarre characters, their true identities only revealed as each is eliminated at the end of each episode.

Examples of these characters included ‘Queen Bee’, ‘Sausage’, ‘Panda’, ‘Rhino’ and ‘Piranha’.

The show, hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, returned for its sixth series on January 4, and after three episodes, viewers had their suspicions that West-End star Samantha could be behind the mask of ‘Pufferfish’.

A series of cryptic clues was given out to help viewers guess the identities of the singers.

There was, for example, a photo of Gail Platt from Coronation Street which was supposed to be a reference to the plaited hair of Elsa from Frozen, a role Samantha plays in the West End.

After being unmasked as winner, she said: ‘I’ve really had the best time. Underneath the mask I’ve been smiling so hard. It’s been amazing,

‘I feel like I’ve lived this double life because I’m having these crazy experiences but nobody in my life knows this. I love it!’

Asked by judge Maya Jama about there being so many references to swimming and under the sea, she explained it was ‘because I’m from the Isle of Man and so there were lots of island things.’

Earlier in the Grand Final, Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow was revealed as Wolf and then after being pipped into second place, Dressed Crab was unmasked as singer-songwriter Gregory Porter.