The interview travels around the world
Less than 24 hours after Radio 1 published Chris’s interview with Mila Kunis, the clip had attracted about 447,000 views and appeared on news sites from Australia to the United States. Good Morning America and NBC’s Today had shown it to their national audiences, while websites described it as awkward, charming, career-defining and a masterpiece.
Scott and Chris struggled to understand how a deliberately underprepared interview had become an international story. Reports promoted Chris from radio contributor to “BBC One journalist” and presented the conversation as a first date in which Mila had agreed to visit Watford. Chris was particularly excited by an appearance on FHM, while Scott tried to make him appreciate that Newsweek was also covering it.
The one outlet still missing was the local paper which Chris’s mother could hold. The Watford Observer had put the clip online but had not yet printed it. Scott decided that Chris needed to call the newsroom without admitting who he was.
Fernando Alfonso contacts the local paper
Chris adopted the name Fernando Alfonso and attempted an Australian accent while pitching “local boy” Chris Stark to the Watford Observer. The journalist immediately recognised the story and explained that a print report was already likely, focusing on Chris’s local background, support for Watford FC and time at Watford Grammar School for Boys.
Fernando pushed for a large photograph and suggested the headline “Local legend”. The reporter then asked directly whether the caller was Chris. He denied it, but his insistence that Chris’s mother would love to see the story in print made the disguise increasingly transparent. The call secured no new promise beyond what the newspaper was already planning, but it did show just how quickly the interview had reached home.
Phil Taggart plays Innuendo Bingo
Phil Taggart arrived before presenting a late-night Live Lounge with The xx. His waterproof-looking nylon jacket appeared perfectly chosen for Innuendo Bingo, although he planned to shave before his own programme and had brought a razor and foam to work.
The clips included Saturday Kitchen asking for something to be bashed down and put into a thing, while Bargain Hunt admired lovely knobs. A breaking-news report described a fisherman’s ring being smashed, Linda Bellingham compared a larger oven unfavourably with her Batty and Janine from EastEnders complained about getting meat in her eye.
Dot Cotton remembered Ian Beale as a boy who liked to lick out the bowl, an athlete reported that her pole was too stiff and Jeremy Clarkson announced that the Top Gear team had entered “Jezza”. BBC London asked a cyclist whether his helmet was special, and Escape to the Country found something which became exciting when switched downstairs. The combination produced an exceptionally wet game, with both players struggling to keep control long enough for the clips to finish.
Learning a complete rap
Scott wanted to learn an entire modern rap so he could produce it unexpectedly in a car, club or party. The theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was too obvious, while older staples such as “Informer” no longer seemed impressive enough. His friend Tony and Tony’s girlfriend set each other songs to memorise on long journeys, inspiring Scott to search for people with the same party trick.
Emily had learned Tinie Tempah’s “Written in the Stars” during a taxi journey and was working on Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”. Other listeners still remembered songs learned a decade earlier, including Eminem’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” and Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”. Scott liked the idea that once fully memorised, the performance might remain available for life.
Real or No Real with Charlie Sloth
Charlie Sloth arrived feeling ill and attempted to reconstruct everything he had eaten on an A4 sheet, a difficult task for somebody who enjoyed a very wide range of food. Scott replayed the Loving the Trolls comment calling him fat, while Charlie preferred to treat the word as the complimentary “phat”.
Original Monopoly sets had not included handcuffs for players sent to jail, and the World Wildlife Fund panda had not been selected because it could sit still for the artist. Shakira really had identified chocolate-covered balls as a favourite food, while bubble wrap really was first marketed as wallpaper. Charlie defeated Scott by 20 points to ten.
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