Watch the moment John Lydon is unveiled as Yak on The Masked Singer UK

12 January 2026, 16:52

The PiL frontman and former Sex Pistols singer was revealed to be the animal on the celebrity singing competition over

John Lydon has been unmasked on The Masked Singer UK.

The original Sex Pistols rocker and Public Image Ltd frontman revealed to have taken part in the ITV series, which sees celebrities from all walks of entertainment compete in a singing competition while hidden in elaborate costumes.

The Yak character performed a rendition of Olivia Newton-John’s Physical on Friday (9th January) before having to face a sing-off against the Monkey Business contestant.

Sadly, the sing-off was to be The Yak's last, as the crowd and judges ultimately let him go, meaning it was time to "take it off," as per the show's well-worn chant.

Watch the moment he was unveiled below:

John Lydon is unveiled as Yak on Masked Singer UK

Asked how his stint on the show was, the punk legend replied: "Unbelievable," adding: "This thing weighs... as much as a yak" adding that he "couldn't see a thing".

When host Joel Dommett remarked that it made sense considering he was faced the wrong way for most of his performances, the Rise singer joked: "Just thought you liked the rear-end of a yak".

A post from X celebrated the reveal and also teased that work on a new PiL record was set to begin, with a series of photos from the show and the caption: "John's got the sad sack yak off his back and now he's off to record the new PiL album".

If Lydon does head back to the studio, the album would be the first record released by PiL since their 2023 End of World album.

The record will also be their 12th studio release after Public Image: First Issue (1978), Metal Box (1979), The Flowers of Romance (1981), This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (1984), Album (1986), Happy? (1987), 9 (1989), This What Is Not (1992), This Is PiL (2012), What the World Needs Now... (2015) and their latest effort.

John Lydon is not the only rocker who's stepped onto the stage for The Masked Singer UK, with Skunk Anansie's Skin, The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins and Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson taking part in previous seasons.

Read more:

• John Lydon thinks The Rolling Stones should retire
• John Lydon tells fans who still want Nevermind The Boll***s Part 2: "F**k off!"