Dinner depended entirely on one green pepper
Scott had been trying to cook more.
Lockdown had produced a cake phase and a slow-cooker phase, but both had eventually faded.
He was now using a Jamie Oliver book built around meals with only five ingredients.
That sounded manageable until one recipe demanded a green pepper.
The shop near Radio 1 had none.
The shop near home had none.
Scott told his boyfriend the entire dinner was in danger because the recipe specifically said green.
His boyfriend pointed out that they already had a red pepper.
Scott refused.
Jamie Oliver had said green.
Green it had to be.
Scott discovered peppers were less straightforward than he thought
The discussion then became unexpectedly botanical.
Scott had assumed red, yellow and green peppers were effectively separate things being grown independently.
Listeners explained that colour can reflect ripeness and variety.
The show also descended into the familiar collection of pepper myths: whether the number of bumps on the bottom affects sweetness, whether peppers can be described as male or female and why small peppers sometimes grow inside larger ones.
By the end, Scott had learned more than anybody expected from a very boring dinner story.
Cry Dancing officially produced Crancers
Listener Emma confirmed that the Cry Dancing phenomenon had happened to her too.
Her trigger was Swedish House Mafia’s *Don’t You Worry Child*.
For Emma the song carried so much nostalgia that hearing it could overwhelm her even while she was driving.
She had recently found herself driving and crying.
Scott played the track.
Emma began going again.
Then Chris found an acoustic version.
That was worse.
The show now had a name for people capable of simultaneously crying and dancing:
Crancers.
One hundred days to Christmas was enough for Scott
The calendar reached 100 days until Christmas.
Scott treated this as permission to play a festive song.
A significant number of listeners strongly disagreed.
Emily in Leeds rang specifically to tell him he had ruined her day.
Scott could not understand the level of fury.
It was only one song.
Listeners argued that playing Christmas music in September represented the beginning of the annual attempt to drag the festive season earlier and earlier.
Scott remained unapologetic.
Classical covers took over Don’t Look It Up
The quiz transformed familiar pop records into classical arrangements.
As with the previous bagpipe and metal rounds, removing the original production made songs listeners knew extremely well suddenly much harder to recognise.
The whole format was becoming an excuse for the production team to find increasingly unnecessary ways of performing pop music.
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