Dev was going on Strictly
Radio 1 colleague Dev Griffin had been announced as a contestant on *Strictly Come Dancing*.
Scott had competed himself five years earlier.
That meant Chris knew exactly how to react.
He accused Scott of being crabby.
The reference went back to Scott’s own Strictly run and the famous crab movement which became part of his show identity afterwards.
Scott insisted he was genuinely delighted for Dev.
Chris kept looking for signs of resentment anyway.
Scott thought Dev could actually be good
Scott’s assessment was surprisingly serious.
Dev was fit, competitive and likely to commit properly.
Scott did not expect him to be cast purely as the comedy contestant.
Having lived through Strictly himself, Scott understood how consuming the programme could become once training began.
The show would naturally follow Dev’s progress throughout the autumn.
Chris also realised there was a useful new running joke available.
Every time Dev succeeded, Scott’s old crab could be brought back.
The hand-model rejection still hurt
Listeners continued reminding Scott that his hands had been rejected.
After spending Monday imagining £5,000-a-day work, he now had professional evidence his fingers did not fit the brief.
Scott tried to argue that different clients wanted different kinds of hands.
Chris treated the rejection as definitive.
Radio remained Scott’s safest career.
Chris opened his locker
Then came a physical piece of programme archaeology.
Chris had not properly cleared his Radio 1 locker for years.
The contents reached back towards 2013.
He began pulling out forgotten items connected with old broadcasts, promotional material and pieces of rubbish which had somehow survived several years of office life.
Scott was both fascinated and appalled.
The locker had become a time capsule.
Objects Chris had completely forgotten could instantly bring back an old feature once removed from the pile.
Radio 1 housekeeping became entertainment
The clean-out worked for the same reason the Friday archive podcasts had worked.
Scott and Chris had been making the show for long enough that even an untidy cupboard contained history.
A normal office might throw old material away.
Radio 1 could turn it into another link.
The source also revisited an extravagantly complicated washing-machine programme and other pieces of television which Scott had rediscovered, continuing the show’s interest in objects and programmes which did far more than anybody seemed to need.
Curtis Pritchard was coming next
Thursday’s major guest was already announced.
Curtis Pritchard had left Love Island only days earlier.
Scott and Chris would introduce him to Superfan Steve.
After Cheryl’s viral encounter in June, the risk was obvious.
The character was now famous enough that celebrities might recognise the trick.
Curtis would be the next test.
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