Scott and the team unveil a brand new Flirt Divert phone number to replace the old one, complete with instructions on how to use it — and a hilarious voicemail example featuring someone repeatedly demanding their shoes back.
The show opens with the reveal of the new Flirt Divert number: 07774 914 (or variations thereof — the transcript suggests some confusion in the live announcement about the exact digits). Scott explains the concept clearly: listeners should save this number in their phone under a false contact name (like “My Number”) and hand it out to people making unwanted romantic advances. The messages left on the Flirt Divert phone are then played on air.
To demonstrate how the feature works, Scott plays an extended comedy voicemail from someone named Sophie (and later Tina and Dougie) desperately trying to retrieve their favorite shoes, leaving increasingly frantic repeat messages asking for a callback. The bit plays on the absurdity of someone thinking they’re reaching a real person on the listener’s phone when they’re actually leaving messages that will be broadcast to thousands of Radio 1 listeners.
Scott emphasizes the new number’s importance: it’s different from previous Flirt Divert numbers, and listeners need to add it to their phones immediately. He also mentions that the show will now be monitoring texts and photos sent to the Flirt Divert number as well, with content published online where appropriate. The core message is repeated several times — this is the number to hand out when you want to avoid giving someone your real contact details.
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