Craig David and Chris’s camel-costume video debut
With the Red Nose Desert Trek about to begin, Scott and Chris arrived in matching camel costumes. The outfits were part of Comic Relief’s fundraising campaign, with two branded camel characters set to tour towns and cities around the UK while the actual trek took place in Kenya. Scott found the large camel heads unexpectedly unnerving, while Chris was ordered to bounce in time to the music so the webcam audience could appreciate the full effect.
The costumes also allowed Scott to explain what lay ahead: the group would set off for northern Kenya, cover 100 kilometres and sleep outside in the desert. The fundraiser had already brought in £25,317 by that morning, then £38,482 by the time Scott announced a new total with Craig David later in the programme. The show was clearly amazed that listeners had donated so much before the trekkers had even left the country.
Chris had his own adventure that day after appearing in a video for the Wideboys with McLean and Sway. He stayed at Scott’s the night before and was collected by an artist called Majestic, which made the assignment sound far more glamorous than it was about to feel. At the shoot, Chris discovered that the others had been told to expect “a non-cool guy”, a description Scott insisted had not come from him.
Scott had lent Chris a suit jacket and sunglasses after deciding his normal clothes were not suitable for a UK garage video. The artists were not convinced. They compared the look to the Blues Brothers, Suggs, a charity-shop customer and “Vanilla Ice’s unsuccessful brother”, leaving Chris horrified that Scott’s supposedly perfect outfit had made him stand out for all the wrong reasons. Scott nevertheless remained certain that shades and a suit were exactly what the video required.
Craig David then joined Scott to discuss the trek, their departure the following day and the alarming practical details they had begun to absorb. Each trekker would have a camel, though not one they could ride, and Craig was less than thrilled by talk of snakes, spiders, hot water and no proper toilets. They balanced the nervousness with the reason they were doing it, raising money for Comic Relief, and Craig even sang the required donation terms and conditions to make them less monotonous.
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