Radio 1 had been searching all night
Greg James and Nick Grimshaw were still hidden.
Their game had taken over the station for more than 20 hours.
Listeners had analysed every sound, phrase, photograph and background detail.
Nottingham had been considered.
Manchester had been considered.
Birmingham was investigated so seriously that Dev was physically sent there.
He arrived only to discover he was completely wrong.
Belfast was ruled out too.
Scott and Chris took over the hunt during their show and began narrowing the evidence.
James the PI became an obvious resource
The show already had a professional investigator on speed dial.
Scott brought James the PI into the search.
Normally James used surveillance to follow cheating partners or locate people who did not want to be found.
This time the entire country knew the targets were deliberately hiding and had invited everybody to track them down.
The skills were still useful.
The team began concentrating on visual clues, buildings, roads and the things Greg and Nick had mentioned while broadcasting.
Liverpool started to fit
Listeners increasingly focused on Liverpool.
Nick had gone to university there.
References in the show and background noises seemed to fit.
Pictures posted from the hiding place showed distinctive chairs.
Listeners searched for rooms with similar furniture.
The Royal Liver Building emerged as a serious possibility.
A caller said the chairs appeared to match a conference room there.
Another listener phoned the building pretending to enquire about booking a room and thought the response sounded suspicious.
Greg then accidentally said “here” while they were discussing Liverpool, creating even more excitement.
Scott asked what the weather looked like outside.
The answers were deliberately vague.
Then came more visual evidence.
A blue car and a large lorry visible from the window appeared to match what people could see around the Liver Building.
The case was becoming strong enough to send somebody inside.
Faye went up to the ninth floor
Listener Faye reached the Royal Liver Building.
Scott guided her through it live.
She went up towards the executive areas and followed directions through corridors and double doors.
The tension changed completely once she reached the part of the building the team had identified from photographs.
Eventually she reached the final doors.
She opened them.
Greg and Nick were there.
The gong sounded.
After 22 hours and 38 minutes, the country’s biggest game of Hide and Seek was over.
Greg and Nick confirmed they had been broadcasting from the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool.
They had deliberately hidden in one of the city’s most famous buildings rather than disappearing into an anonymous house or hotel.
For Scott, the best part was that the solution had not come from one clue.
Listeners had collectively assembled chairs, cranes, lorries, university history, restaurant references and tiny verbal mistakes until the location became unavoidable.
Radio 1 had essentially crowdsourced a private investigation.
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