The full Serbia story
After teasing the footage on Tuesday, Scott was finally ready to show listeners what had happened at X Factor Adria judges’ houses. The result played almost like a miniature documentary, with Scott narrating the main characters while video from the weekend appeared online.
At the centre was Kiki Lesendrić, the Serbian rock star Scott had met in Zante and the man responsible for inviting him. They were filming at an enormous mansion in Belgrade, where six girls would perform before Kiki reduced the category to three.
Scott was impressed by the contestants and took the judging seriously. Kiki was sometimes more relaxed, including discussing the singers loudly enough that Scott worried they could hear exactly what he thought.
Meet Serbian Dermot
The first character to repeatedly derail Scott’s attempts to film was presenter Bane Jevtić, quickly nicknamed “Serbian Dermot O’Leary”. Bane would appear halfway through Scott’s links, sing, dance and at one point open his shirt. A Serbian listener later reassured Scott that spontaneous singing and dancing was not as strange locally as he thought.
Una Senić, who presented the accompanying show, became “Serbian Caroline Flack”. She interviewed Scott while lying on a bed, discussed her ambitions and produced one of the trip’s more awkward moments when Kiki suggested she find a husband, only for Una to explain that she already had both a husband and child.
Scott was equally fascinated by executive producer Sandrina, who had partied with the team until the early hours before appearing completely functional for a huge filming day. The British visitors had left at 3am; some of their Serbian hosts apparently continued until six.
The video is almost too awkward to watch
Listeners began watching the film during the programme and reporting back. One said she could only manage it in short bursts because the awkwardness was too intense. Scott accepted that as part of its charm.
He had gone to Serbia worried the whole booking was fake and returned with something better: a genuinely affectionate film about a version of The X Factor learning how to make its first series while an overenthusiastic Radio 1 DJ tried to help.
One Direction suddenly sounds like The Lion King
The show also had a short preview of One Direction’s forthcoming “Story of My Life”, ahead of a first play on Friday. Scott became convinced its opening carried strong Lion King energy and began comparing it with “Circle of Life”.
That theory would become slightly more awkward when Liam Payne himself joined the show two days later and agreed with him.
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