Spice Girls Tour: Mel B's Bandmates Poke Fun At Her Lack Of Discretion In Lead-Up To Announcement

"They felt sorry for me because I'd been through a lot, they were like, ‘let’s not have a go at her’.”
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The Spice Girls have spoken out about Mel B’s rather loose-lipped approach to the announcement of their upcoming tour.

While the rest of the band at least attempted to play coy in the lead-up to their reunion announcement, Mel B took a rather different tact, spending the last year telling anyone who would listen that the band was heading off on tour.

This included on the day of the announcement itself, when Mel B went on ‘Loose Women’ to confirm pretty much everything that had already been rumoured about their 2019 tour, just hours before the news was supposed to have broken on the band’s official Twitter account.

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Mel B
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When asked about how they managed to keep everything under their hats in a new interview with Jonathan Ross, Mel B came clean about repeatedly spilling the beans, joking: “I never kept the secret, I just kept on saying we’re definitely going to get back together.”

Bandmate Emma Bunton added: “We just kept telling Melanie [B] that it wasn’t going to happen and then she couldn’t let it out.”

The group went on to reveal they came up with a code to discuss their plans privately so nothing could get leaked, with Melanie C even applying this at home. 

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Jonathan Ross with the Spice Girls
ITV

“In my house we did have a code for Spice Girls because I was so paranoid,” she revealed. “Because I’m a good girl, and I do as I’m told, and so I kept the secret.

“My little girl said ‘Mummy, why don’t you call it Cucumber?’ So any time I spoke about Spice Girls it was called ‘Cucumber.’ And then at the other end of the spectrum, Melanie just went on national TV and said we were doing it.”

Mel B added: “They felt sorry for me because I’d been through a lot, they felt sorry for me, they were like, ‘let’s not have a go at her’.”

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The newly-reunited Spice Girls
Spice Girls

In earlier interviews to promote the 2019 live shows, Mel B has been trying to get the rumour mill going that the band are going to record an album, and their ‘Jonathan Ross’ appearance was no exception.

When the subject of new material came up, Mel offered an intriguing “well…”, though her bandmates seemed less enthused.

“I think it’s got to be an organic process,” Geri interjected. “If something happened and we felt like it.

“We think first things first, get out there and sing the hits, people want to hear that and if something else happened, that’s great.”

The same was true when it came to adding more dates to the tour, with Mel B needing “reigning in” by Geri, when she professed the tour would be “all over the world”.

“It’ll be one step at a time,” Geri said. “We’ve got families and we want to do it for the fans.

“We’re going to do Britain, it’s our home, it’s where we started and Britain means the world to us. We care about our fans, we want to celebrate, let’s see what happens.”

Watch the group’s full interview on ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, airing on Saturday night at 10.05pm on ITV.

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1996The Spice Girls at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party (credit:PA)
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1996Victoria Beckham (credit:PA)
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1996Melanie Brown (credit:PA)
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1996Geri Halliwell (credit:PA)
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1996Melanie Chisholm (credit:PA)
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1996Emma Bunton (credit:PA)
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1996Girl group The Spice Girls in the studio (credit:PA)
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1996The Spice Girls backstage at the Capital Radio Roadshow (credit:PA)
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1996The Spice Girls at Radio One Roadshow (credit:PA)
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1996The Spice Girls (credit:PA)
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1996The Spice Girls arrive at the Lloyds Bank British Fashion Awards in London (credit:PA)
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1996The Spice Girls show off their latest award during a visit to a record store in Birmingham (credit:PA)
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1997The Spice Girls celebrate Red Nose Day (credit:PA)
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1997The Spice Girls lend their support at the launch of TV station Channel 5 (credit:PA)
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1997Prince of Wales & Spice Girls at the Royal Gala (credit:PA)
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1997The Spice Girls pose outside the Martinez Hotel in Cannes, during the 50th Cannes Film Festival (credit:PA)
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1997The Spice Girls are shown at the MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall (credit:PA)
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1997The Spice Girls at the European MTV Music Awards (credit:PA)
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1998The Spice Girls at a premiere for their movie Spice World (credit:PA)
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1998The Spice Girls at the Brit awards (credit:PA)
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1998The Spice girls at a press conference in Modena (credit:PA)
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1998Spice Girls arriving at the Empire, Leicester Square, for the gala premiere of the film Spice - The Movie (credit:PA)
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1999Mel G, Victoria Beckham, Mel C and Emma Bunton, the Spice Girls, withtheir wax doubles at Madame Tussaud (credit:PA)
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2000The Spice Girls at the launch of their new album Viva Forever (credit:PA)
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2001The Spice Girls get back together to record at the famous Abbey road studios (credit:PA)
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2007The Spice Girls pose for the photographers with a British flag on the grounds of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, (credit:PA)
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2007The Spice Girls at the Victoria's Secret 25th Anniversary Fashion Show (credit:PA)
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2007The Spice Girls perform at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (credit:PA)
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2007The Spice Girls unveil the new name, Spice One, of a Virgin Atlantic Jet at the Flight Path Museum at Los Angeles Airport (credit:PA)
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2008backstage prior to the start of the Roberto Cavalli Fall/Winter 2008/2009 men's collection (credit:PA)
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2012The Spice Girls during a photocall at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London to launch Viva Forever the musical (credit:PA)
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2012Victoria Beckham
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2012Emma Bunton
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2012Geri Halliwell
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2012The Spice Girls - Viva Forever musical launch (credit:PA)
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LONDON - NOVEMBER 6: British pop stars (L-R) Victoria Beckham, 'Mel B', 'Mel C' and Emma Bunton of the ex pop group 'Spice Girls' attend their album launch held at the Red Cube restaurant on November 6, 2000 in London. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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LONDON - NOVEMBER 6: British pop stars (L-R) Emma Bunton, 'Mel B', Victoria Beckham and 'Mel C' of the ex pop group 'Spice Girls' attend their album launch held at the Red Cube restaurant on November 6, 2000 in London. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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LONDON - NOVEMBER 6: British pop stars (L-R) Victoria Beckham, 'Mel B', 'Mel C' and Emma Bunton of the ex pop group 'Spice Girls' attend their album launch held at the Red Cube restaurant on November 6, 2000 in London. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: The Spice Girls' Ginger Spice (Geraldine Halliwell) (L) -- Scary Spice (Melanie Janine Brown) (2nd from L) -- Posh Spice (Victoria Adams) (C) -- Baby Spice (Emma Lee Burton) (2nd from R) -- and Sporty Spice (Melanie Jayne Chisolm) (R) -- arrive atop a double decker bus for a screening of their new movie 'Spice World' at Planet Hollywood in New York 14 January. AFP PHOTO Henny Ray ABRAMS (Photo credit should read HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 01: WEMBLEY ARENA Photo of SPICE GIRLS, Group performing live on stage, sitting in chairs L-R Victoria Adams (Beckham), Geri Hallliwell, Melanie Chisholm (Mel C), Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown (Mel B) (Photo by Peter Still/Redferns) (credit:Getty Images)
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UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 10: BRIT AWARDS, LONDON ARENA Photo of SPICE GIRLS, Group portrait L-R Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm (Mel C), Melanie Brown (Mel B) and Victoria Adams (Beckham) (Photo by JMEnternational/Redferns) (credit:Getty Images)
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UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 10: BRIT AWARDS, LONDON ARENA Photo of SPICE GIRLS, Group performing live on stage L-R Melanie Chisholm (Mel C) , Geri Halliwell , Victoria Adams (Beckham) , Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown (Mel B) (Photo by JMEnternational/Redferns) (credit:Getty Images)
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UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 10: BRIT AWARDS, LONDON ARENA Photo of SPICE GIRLS, Group performing live on stage L-R Melanie Chisholm (Mel C), Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown (Mel B) (Photo by JMEnternational/Redferns) (credit:Getty Images)
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UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 01: WEMBLEY ARENA Photo of SPICE GIRLS, Group performing live on stage Spiceworld tour L-R Melanie Chisholm (Mel C), Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams (Beckham), Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown (Mel B) (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns) (credit:Getty Images)
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Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage) (credit:Getty Images)
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Portrait of UK pop group The Spice Girls (Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell) photographed in London in 1998. Job: 34206 Ref: SDD - Non-Exclusive - World Rights Only (Photo by Steve Brown/Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Portrait of UK pop group The Spice Girls (Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell) photographed in London in 1998. Job: 34206 Ref: SDD - Non-Exclusive - World Rights Only (Photo by Steve Brown/Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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English pop group the Spice Girls in concert, circa 1998. From left to right, Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Victoria Adams (later Beckham, aka Posh Spice), Melanie Brown (Mel B or Scary Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) and Melanie Chisholm (Mel C or Sporty Spice). (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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The Spice Girls filming the video for '(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World', the official theme song for the 1998 World Cup football tournament, London, 1998. Assisting the girls are co-writer Ian McCulloch (back, left) of Echo And The Bunnymen and singers Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene (centre), and Tommy Scott of Space. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)