Chris takes to the ice
Champion figure skater Sarah had briefly lost the services of her regular partner George, a tall Bulgarian, and invited Your Plan B to supply a replacement. Chris arrived at Lee Valley Ice Centre in jeans after watching football and drinking the previous evening. He had assumed the assignment would involve little more than running around and had not seriously considered that skates might be required.
Training began away from the rink with stretches, positions and lifts. Sarah explained that ice dance demanded physical trust between partners, a difficulty when she and Chris had only just met. His natural balance was reasonable until he watched her skating backwards at speed and almost fell over on the concrete. She advised him to keep his head up and bend his knees, because looking down made it more likely that he would end up there.
His first steps on the ice ended exactly that way. Sarah gradually towed him around while Chris held his upper body in what he considered a graceful swan pose and allowed his legs to struggle beneath it. From the camera’s distant position, he believed the arrangement might resemble proper skating. Asked to smile on demand, he discovered another unexpected weakness.
The routine built towards Boléro. Chris attempted to channel Christopher Dean, rolled his body with confidence and resorted to his familiar panic dance while barely moving his feet. Sarah allowed him to lift one of her legs, then demonstrated that it could rise considerably higher. She praised him as a different but enjoyable replacement and said they had made the working day memorable. Online, clips of his repeated falls were already becoming animated GIFs.
Chris takes over the bedroom party
Chris returned delighted by Phil and Alice’s anniversary show. What he had expected to be forced workplace fun became a proper party with food, balloons, hats, numerous Radio 1 presenters and Gary Lucy DJing near the bed. He introduced himself by saying Scott had bailed, then claimed their carefully selected records as entirely his own work.
While others played obvious party tracks, Chris changed the atmosphere with Ginuwine’s “Pony”, D’Angelo and Another Level. The initially startled room began moving towards the bed. By the time “Freak Me” played, seven women were gathered around Chris as he sat in the middle and declared it the greatest night of his life. Scott was glad the plan had worked, but even happier that he had not been there.
Testing Bangor’s hospitality
Nick Grimshaw was beginning a tour of schools previously visited by Radio 1’s Big Weekend, taking Union J to Bangor on Monday. Scott tested the city by telephoning the Blue Sky Café and pretending to represent Britain’s biggest boy band.
The patient employee agreed in principle to a table for eight and a roped-off area. Scott asked whether staff were discreet, whether paparazzi could enter, whether Josh could receive a child’s portion at half price and whether four men with unusually large elbows would have enough room to stretch after waking. The woman tried several times to return to a queue of real customers, but Scott added a final concern about photographs of Gabrielle Aplin on the walls before she ended the call. Grimmy and Union J appeared likely to receive a far warmer welcome when they arrived as themselves.
Introducing Rudimental
The Official Chart offered a listener and three friends tickets to Rudimental in Manchester, signed items and the chance to introduce the group on stage. The responsibility reminded Scott of presenters announcing the wrong city and Chris of Jessie J apparently finding her microphone unexpectedly at Hackney Weekend.
The band’s name generated possible introductions throughout the show: “Go mental for Rudimental”, “Don’t be judgemental, it’s Rudimental”, and references to credentials, the Intercontinental and experimental music. Scott promised lasting respect if the eventual winner used one of them in front of the actual audience.
Matt Edmondson plays Real or No Real
Matt joined Scott and Chris ahead of his Saturday show. Quince skin was not used in plastic surgery as an alternative to human grafts, despite the fruit resembling an oversized yellow lemon. Hot water really was presented as heavier than cold water, a result which unsettled both contestants and revived Matt’s recurring nightmare about having to resit his science GCSE.
In Malaysia it really was legally possible to divorce a partner by text message. Jordan Stephens from Rizzle Kicks had not grown up with the world’s tallest dog, a 170-centimetre animal named Barbara. Matt won by 30 points to 20 before previewing his own games with Gemma Collins, Stephen Mulhern and Craig Revel Horwood.
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