Scott investigates a dodgy chat-up artist who claims to be a famous American record producer, leading to one of the show’s most brilliant on-air stings featuring an actual Akon confrontation and a hilariously unconvincing fake accent.
A listener named Beth gets in touch after being approached by a man calling himself Jason Travillian at a bar in Edinburgh. He claimed to be a record producer who’d worked with major artists like Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Akon, and Mario — and tried to convince her to come back to his hotel room. His American accent struck Beth as suspicious from the start, with odd pronunciations and gaps in his credibility.
Scott decides to investigate by setting up an elaborate on-air con. He has Beth call Jason back, and when he answers, she introduces Akon (the actual artist, who’s apparently in the studio) as a promising new singer needing a producer. The aspiring “artist” launches into a freestyle that explicitly name-drops Akon as his influence, asking if Jason thinks he could be produced like Akon was.
Jason plays along, offering vague encouragement — until Danny Howard reveals the truth. It turns out Jason has never produced Akon or anyone else, and his American accent is genuinely awful. Akon himself comes on the phone to deliver the final humiliation: Jason admits he’s not American and was just trying to chat Beth up. The whole thing plays out as a perfect reversal of the con, with Jason caught completely red-handed on national radio.
The episode also features discussion of the new BBC Three series Wedding Stories, which follows couples through wedding planning and the big day itself, with particular focus on one couple named Chavon and Darren whose second marriage involves some questionable poetry and a dove release.
COMMENTS