Count Binface's carefully guarded cover was blown moments before he was due to appear for an interview with the ABC.While we were setting up our equipment in a central London studio, Jonathan Harvey, the man behind the most famous bin in Britain, poked his head around the door, and we locked eyes."Whoops," he said, before turning to a woman in his entourage and asking: "Is that a journalist?"She nodded."Sorry for ruining Christmas," the comedian quipped, before hastily heading off to finish putting on his space-themed bin costume and returning to the room for our scheduled interview.Harvey's alter ego, Count Binface, has been a sideshow in British elections for about a decade, but has risen to particular prominence recently after deciding to contest a high-profile by-election.He is now a man in demand, having spent an entire day in London this week giving interviews in the lead-up to the vote.Count Binface will next month try to unseat one of the most prominent politicians in the United Kingdom, Nigel Farage, when constituents in Clacton-on-Sea head to the polls.Mr Farage, leader of the right-wing, populist Reform UK party, is the subject of a parliamentary investigation into his finances and political donations.He denies any wrongdoing and has styled his resignation and decision to contest the seat again as a way for the community to judge his action.Britain's major parties describe it as a stunt In fact, they believe Count Binface is Mr Farage's primary challenger for the seat.A total of 32 candidates are standing in the by-election, and several appear to be doing it as a joke