Rhianna Dhillon gets her own Innuendo Bingo set
Rhianna Dhillon had a practical problem with Innuendo Bingo: she was going out for dinner with her parents afterwards and did not want to arrive drenched. Radio 1 responded with one of the game’s most elaborate modifications yet. A large plastic screen separated Rhianna from Chris, a small hole was cut into it and a vuvuzela was pushed through so she could send the water in his direction without sitting directly in the firing line.
The arrangement looked more like a strange television set than a radio studio. Chris poured water into Rhianna’s end of the vuvuzela, she attempted to propel it through the tube and the laws of physics immediately became part of the entertainment. Water sometimes reached Chris, sometimes ran back towards Rhianna and occasionally appeared to go almost everywhere except where it was intended. The screen protected her in theory rather more effectively than it did in practice.
The clips included Location, Location, Location, B-Traits talking about Canadian wildlife, Linda Bellingham discussing a dirty old book and the Hairy Bikers advising viewers about greasing the inside of a ring. David Attenborough described a huge gash in the Earth’s surface, Radio 4 discussed David Cameron wanting to ram something through, and an Australian weather programme introduced the phrase “riding the Morning Glory”. By the time Bargain Hunt and the Today programme completed the game, everybody agreed the vuvuzela system was slightly flawed, but that was precisely what had made it work.
Big Weekend hair and Clare from reception
Chris arrived with a freshly cut side-parting which Scott thought made him look as though he had deliberately adopted a Great Gatsby style for Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Chris insisted he had simply visited his normal barber. The conversation returned to the delicate politics of “cheating” on a regular hairdresser, something Chris had already done once when his barber was away.
The Big Weekend face-mask scheme was also gathering pace. Listeners were printing and even laminating the faces of Scott, Chris and Clare from reception, with Clare still attracting the most enthusiasm despite the audience previously having no idea what she looked like. Scott was now imagining television shots of a crowd filled with Clare masks during Calvin Harris’s set.
His own preparations were less dignified. Scott admitted he was often a nuisance in public without intending to be. At the cinema he scattered popcorn around the seat and aisle and annoyed somebody by rustling his bag. With a flight to Belfast ahead, he pre-emptively apologised to whoever would be sitting in front of him because he expected his lack of legroom to cause another awkward encounter.
A listener wins the chance to introduce Olly Murs
The Big Weekend countdown produced a major listener competition: one person would travel to Derry-Londonderry with a friend, attend all three days and join Scott on the main stage to introduce Olly Murs. Three callers faced questions based on answers Olly had supplied in advance.
They had to know or guess details including his favourite sport, how many pairs of trainers he owned, which celebrity he would most like to kiss and the last thing he did before bed. Mila Kunis appeared as one of the answers, immediately catching Chris’s attention. The final surviving listener also correctly identified Man on Fire as Olly’s favourite film and Homeland as the last box set he had bought before winning the trip and the stage introduction.
For Scott, the prize captured the scale of the weekend more effectively than another ticket giveaway. The winner was not merely going to watch the event, but would walk onto the enormous stage with him in front of the Derry crowd and introduce one of the weekend’s biggest acts.
Chris bows to the stars of The Hangover
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis passed the Radio 1 studio ahead of an interview with Greg James. Scott had intended to rush out for a photograph and handed Chris his phone ready for the moment, but the sight of the three Hangover actors reduced the plan to complete fan panic.
Instead of going out to meet them normally, Scott stayed in the studio while Chris repeatedly bowed as the actors walked past. Ed Helms offered a thumbs-up, but the resulting video was painfully awkward. Scott hid his face behind his laminated Clare-from-reception mask while watching it back and Greg James later agreed that it was difficult to sit through.
Chris was about to have far more opportunities to embarrass himself. He was heading backstage at the Big Weekend with Dan and Phil to make videos with artists throughout the event. Scott wanted him to prepare, while Chris argued that he should simply be allowed to see what happened. The brief encounter with The Hangover cast suggested the weekend could produce plenty of material.
Daft Punk family history on Real or No Real
Greg James joined Scott for Real or No Real. Pete Doherty and Macaulay Culkin really had ended up sharing a home in Paris, a fact which prompted a bewildering diversion through Home Alone and Chris learning more about Mila Kunis’s former relationships. The claim that will.i.am was the Foursquare mayor of Elstree Studios was invented, as was an elaborate story about Ben Foden using a hawk to deliver an engagement ring to Una Healy.
The best fact came from Daft Punk. Thomas Bangalter’s father, Daniel Vangarde, really was one of the writers behind Ottawan’s 1979 hit “D.I.S.C.O.”. Scott and Greg liked the neat idea that one generation’s disco success had fed directly into another. Scott finished the round 30–20, with Big Weekend now close enough that almost every conversation eventually returned to Derry.
—
COMMENTS