TrueBliss star Joe Cotton made it to the final three on The Masked Singer NZ in Sunday night's grand final - but she nearly didn't make it on the show at all.
Speaking to The AM Show on Monday morning, the More FM radio host revealed she had just come out of hospital with a serious back injury before filming started and "couldn't really move".
"I was meant to have an operation, but I was like, 'I've got to shoot this show - is there another option?'" she explained.
"So they just shot me full of steroids and gave me a bunch of pain relief and sent me on my way."
Cotton said she was "terrified" of moving, especially in the high heels that came with her Medusa costume, so there "wasn't much dancing".
"And to be fair, I was hopped up on a lot of codeine, so it was probably good I had the mask on!"
Still, the singer said she had enjoyed her time on the show and had even been able to pick the identity of the winner - Opshop singer Jason Kerrison as Tuatara - from the first time she heard his voice.
"We were all separated, but I heard Jason singing at one point and I knew instantly who it was, and I was like 'I'm never going to win now!'"
Cotton said she didn't mind being beaten by Kerrison and fellow singer Troy Kingi, who was unmasked as Sheep because they were both "so incredible".
