Maya Jama officially joined the Radio 1 family
Maya Jama joined Scott and Chris for her first Friday programme as part of Radio 1’s new weekend line-up. She would appear with them on Fridays and then host her own Saturday morning Greatest Hits show from 10am.
The practical realities of joining a new workplace appeared immediately. Maya needed the Wi-Fi details, wanted to know where the toilets were and then discovered that even taking the first official photo together was more complicated than expected because Scott and Chris could not agree how everybody should stand.
Maya had spent the week promoting the new job across television, including *Good Morning Britain* and *Loose Women*. Scott noticed she repeatedly described Friday as a “warm-up” for her own Saturday show and made sure she knew he had heard every version of it.
Scott and Chris raided Maya’s old internet life
Because Maya was new to the programme, Scott and Chris treated the show as an opportunity to excavate her online history. They found old YouTube videos in which she discussed relationships, bodily functions and how to behave around somebody you fancied.
Maya took the embarrassment reasonably well, pointing out that the videos pre-dated the modern era when YouTube careers were as established as they had since become. She had originally been posting largely for fun and to show friends.
Miss Baker remembered the real schoolgirl Maya
Maya had recently mentioned that her favourite teacher was Miss Baker, who taught psychology and had been unusually good at treating pupils as people rather than just students. The show therefore tracked Miss Baker down.
Maya said she had loved school but was far more interested in drama, dance and performance than traditional academics. She admitted she still did not have a maths GCSE after receiving an E and never completing the resit.
Miss Baker remembered Maya fondly as class entertainment, but came up with a description nobody in the studio had heard before: “a walking stag do”. Maya accepted that she had always been there for a good time, although her punctuality was less impressive.
That detail had apparently survived into adulthood. Maya had been slightly late for her first Friday programme too, although she insisted this time the booked car had failed to turn up rather than the problem being her own timekeeping.
Could Maya blag a complete stranger into lying?
Maya had a reputation as a good blagger, so Scott and Chris devised a test. She called a hotel in Grimsby pretending to be a junior showbusiness reporter called Layla and said she desperately needed a story on her first day.
Her proposed scoop was completely invented: Kendrick Lamar was supposedly staying at the hotel. Maya asked a member of staff, Sophie, whether she would simply confirm the story when her boss called. Sophie, apparently wanting to help a nervous junior reporter, agreed.
Then Chris rang as the senior reporter “Don Witton” and started fact-checking. What began as a simple yes-or-no lie expanded rapidly. Sophie confirmed Kendrick was staying there, suggested he might be recording a music video nearby and tried to answer increasingly detailed questions about breakfast and his contact with hotel staff.
When Chris suggested Layla’s notes said Kendrick liked poached eggs, Sophie found a way to go along with that too. Eventually the pair revealed they were from Radio 1.
Sophie was shocked but delighted rather than angry. Maya’s first major Friday challenge had therefore succeeded: she had persuaded a complete stranger not only to lie for her but to improvise an entire celebrity hotel stay under pressure.
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