Scott and the team conduct an experiment to test public honesty by dropping money in the street, then embark on a comedic stakeout to confront one man who kept the cash instead of returning it.
Following up on an experiment from the previous day, Scott reveals that Joe Cole is down £20 after Laura dropped £50 in the street and asked passersby whether it was theirs. Most people honestly said no, but one man—a bald, well-dressed bloke in his late 40s or early 50s—took the money and made off. After being described on air, the team received a tip-off from an informant working in the same building opposite Radio 1, who provided the man’s name (Mark Chairman) and work phone number.
Scott calls Mark directly to confront him. Mark’s defence is muddled and contradictory: he claims the money was given to him, then that it was his all along, then suggests Scott shouldn’t “go around giving money out like that anyway.” Scott points out that Mark clearly knew it wasn’t his (since Laura had asked if he’d dropped it), but Mark refuses to return the tenner, arguing he needs it more than Scott does.
Undeterred, the team gets the informant to tell them when Mark will leave for lunch, and Laura sets up a stakeout outside his office building. When Mark appears, Laura confronts him again as he heads for a waiting cab, demanding the money back. Mark insists it’s his and gets into the taxi. As he drives off, Laura shouts that she’ll be watching him and will be back every day—a dramatic, tongue-in-cheek finish to an otherwise unsuccessful money recovery mission.


COMMENTS