‘The Masked Singer UK’ fans believe they’ve worked out the identity of Knitting.

The hit singing series returned on January 1 with a new cohort of celebrities disguised as characters for the judges and viewers at home to guess.

During the opening episode, Knitting, Jellyfish, Otter, Ghost, Cat & Mouse and Phoenix battled it out, with Ghost becoming the first to be eliminated and unmasked as footballer Chris Kamara.

However, viewers are convinced they know the identity of another singer, insisting that Knitting is Steps vocalist Claire Richards. 

Before their performance, Knitting said the riddle: “Knitting is easy, it’s the crossing of sticks, count all of your stitches, there should be 26.”

Taking to social media, viewers were quick to point out that the number could be a reference to the band’s debut single 5,6,7,8, the sum of which equals 26.

“’count the stitches, there’s 26’ 5+6+7+8=26,” tweeted one user. “Yeah, Knitting is Claire Richards from Steps #themaskedsinger.”

“5+6+7+8=26, it’s claire from steps 100% #MaskedSingerUK,” said another, while a third penned: “Should equal 26…. 5+6+7+8= 26. It’s Claire from steps #Knitting #MaskedSinger.”

Sharing a post featuring Knitting from the official ‘Masked Singer UK’ Twitter page, Claire’s close friend Rylan Clark simply penned: “Easy.”

The opening episode of series four of ‘The Masked Singer UK’ saw Rita Ora, Mo Gilligan, Davina McCall and Jonathan Ross return as judges, all of whom shared their shock at the first eliminee. 

Talking about why he took part in the show, Chris said: “I did it for the grandkids. I want to see the surprise on their faces when they see me unmasked on the show.