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9 October 2012: Chris offers to revolutionise The Archers

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9 October 2012: Chris offers to revolutionise The Archers

 

Falling asleep on strangers

Chris arrived after travelling from Brighton and admitted that he had slept against a man for much of the 90-minute train journey. He woke with his head resting on the stranger’s shoulder in a position that looked almost romantic and apologised when the train reached London. The man said it was fine, although Chris worried that he might also have spoken in his sleep, having previously recorded himself saying the unexplained words “the Chinese man”.

Scott remembered being placed between a couple on a flight. Neither offered to swap seats, so he eventually relaxed into the larger man beside him and fell asleep against him. Other listeners described waking on an elderly woman’s shoulder or discovering that a sleeping passenger had remained there for so long that the other person might have missed their intended stop.

Ace returns to Innuendo Bingo

Ace from BBC Radio 1Xtra returned to face Chris in Innuendo Bingo, bringing back the explosive laugh which had made his first appearance memorable. A Formula 1 driver twice raised a hand to his helmet before Hayley Williams complained that her thighs could not take a squat and that her bottom was slow first thing in the morning. Both players immediately demonstrated that the studio’s protective sheeting would be needed.

Grand Designs Australia supplied a host who understood why somebody’s deck had been in line, while local radio again admired a boned-out bird and its duck niche. More Formula 1 commentary involved a driver expecting to get cream in the right rear, leaving Ace struggling to recover before the next clip.

The Archers provided several classics, including questions about taking something up there, a farmer who had only recently finished milking himself and somebody who wanted to get something straight down his throat. Hadrian’s Wall became a place where people could meet and gaze, and The Great British Bake Off finished the game by putting a long meat man in the oven. Ace’s forceful sprays repeatedly hit Chris and left both players soaked.

Chris redesigns The Archers

For Show and Tell, Chris introduced his unexpected enthusiasm for The Archers. His parents had always listened, but his own interest began through the programme’s frequent appearances in Innuendo Bingo. He liked the stories and characters, yet believed the Radio 4 soap’s endings were too gentle to persuade people to download the next episode.

Chris compared its closing scenes with EastEnders. Albert Square episodes could end with death, the threat of a mother losing her child or the famous revelation that Kat was Zoe’s mother. By contrast, The Archers had recently stopped after somebody considered buying a cat, another character admitted having nowhere to prepare ready meals, and a pair debated whether to “go mad” and order garlic bread with their pizza.

Scott found the garlic-bread question more gripping than Chris did and genuinely wanted to learn what happened next. Chris nevertheless offered himself as a new writer who could strengthen the cliffhangers and increase the podcast audience. He assumed the programme’s producers would be listening because he had made the effort to hear their show.

Fat Joe, sushi and an absent hit

Show introducer Louise said she once shared food with a famous rapper. During a night in Marbella, Fat Joe entered a bar with his entourage and invited Louise and her friend to join them. They later went to his concert and ate sushi together, giving her the experience of appearing in a hip-hop video.

The team questioned how she recognised him because he was no longer particularly fat. His dramatic weight loss had involved smaller portions, fruit, vegetables, lean meat and regular exercise, prompting suggestions that he rebrand himself as Medium Joe. The story faced another challenge when Louise said he did not perform “What’s Luv?” at the concert. Scott compared it with The Temper Trap refusing to play “Sweet Disposition”, but Louise remained certain she had spent the evening with the real Fat Joe.

Chris takes on Adele’s viewing figures

The programme continued trying to push its unofficial Skyfall trailer past Adele’s official video. Scott and Chris treated the fact that their upload had only one dislike as evidence of superior quality, ignoring the substantial difference between roughly 7,000 views and nearly 20 million.

Listeners were encouraged to search for the video and close the gap before four o’clock. The counter barely moved, but comments praising Chris’s song and Scott’s Bond performance allowed the campaign to continue. Scott suggested the figures might simply have frozen while millions of new views were waiting to appear.

Real or No Real

An official rock-paper-scissors league really did exist, an activity the team imagined taking place alongside the themed clubs at a nearby pub. Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” was genuinely Poland’s biggest hit, supporting Beccy’s report that she had heard it constantly during a recent visit.

Roast lamb heated to 200 degrees did not have the explosive force of dynamite, and a chemical in moose antlers could not cure tennis elbow. The final statement, that everybody liked trumpets, was accepted as real only after Scott withdrew his initial indifference and agreed that he liked them well enough. The scoring remained disputed because Chris had recorded it on a napkin which nobody trusted.

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