A different kind of break-up
Scott’s friend Dino had been dumped, but not by a romantic partner. His regular gym buddy decided to train with somebody stronger and suggested it would be best if he worked alone for a while.
Dino felt genuinely wounded and delayed finding a replacement because the rejection made him feel inadequate. His best friend eventually offered to train with him, creating the awkward prospect of taking a new partner into the same gym and encountering his former one.
Listeners recognised the emotional seriousness of gym partnerships. One man escaped a training companion who rang up to nine times a day, only to receive a later Facebook message addressing him by an old nickname. Others admitted secretly exercising with different friends or losing people whose food and training plans had taken over their lives.
Holly returns
Holly, the listener who had volunteered to replace Chris, called again to ask whether Scott still needed help. Her persistence sounded less like a one-off contribution and more like an attempt to secure a regular role.
Scott happened to have a new game requiring a second player. Holly therefore returned for another afternoon, explaining that university life had left enough spare time to make herself available.
Emoji Top Trumps
A list of the world’s 100 most-used Twitter emojis inspired Emoji Top Trumps. Scott and Holly each nominated an emoji, then discovered which sat higher in the international ranking.
Holly’s ordinary smiling face beat Scott’s smiling pile of poo, which appeared at only number 88. Both were surprised when neither the nail-polish emoji nor the aubergine made the top 100, despite regarding them as essential tools for sass and innuendo.
The game produced broader questions about how emojis acquired meanings their designers may not have intended. Holly admitted that choosing the wrong symbol in a family message could create immediate trouble, while Scott believed his own use of the aubergine should have lifted it into the chart.
Holly eventually won the deciding round when the winking face with its tongue out beat Scott’s “OK” hand. Scott refused to reveal the overall number one so the game could be played again.
Real or No Real
Dev and Robbie Savage considered whether Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Cressida Bonas was playing a health-and-safety-conscious male wolf on stage, whether Sam Smith had posted a Fray Bentos dinner and whether Dan Smith had once been booked on a flight under the surname Bastille.
They also heard that Kanye West had performed an entire forthcoming album to Seth Rogen in a limousine, rapping live because only the instrumental tracks were ready. That unlikely story was real, bringing a suitably excessive end to a day about relationships, replacements and online behaviour.
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