It really happened
The most important fact on Tuesday was that Scott had returned from Serbia and the job had been real. There was no Ant and Dec reveal, no fake mansion and no confession that Kiki Lesendrić had spent a year building an elaborate prank.
Scott had genuinely sat at judges’ houses for X Factor Adria, listened to the girls category sing in Serbian and English and helped Kiki choose who should progress.
He described the trip as his “weirdest weekend ever”, but in an affectionate way. The production team had been generous hosts, liked tequila, stayed out astonishingly late and still appeared ready for a 14-hour filming day the following morning.
Scott had even started offering production advice. When Kiki discussed contestants while their photographs were visible, Scott pointed out that British X Factor avoided showing viewers exactly who the judges were debating before the reveal. The Serbian team treated the observation as useful rather than wondering why the visiting radio presenter was suddenly producing their show.
Ben Hanlin brings his own trick to Bingo
Magician Ben Hanlin from ITV2’s Tricked arrived for Innuendo Bingo. Scott already knew what Ben could do because he had recently been targeted for the programme himself.
Ben brought a trick before getting soaked, involving needles and thread apparently disappearing into his mouth and re-emerging in a way that made listeners’ throats hurt simply from imagining it. Scott repeatedly warned people not to attempt anything similar themselves.
Then Ben faced Chris and discovered that magic did not provide much defence against a mouthful of water. He had brought a trick but not spare trousers, which Scott considered a rookie error.
Mel Giedroyc checks in before the Bake Off final
With The Great British Bake Off final that evening, Mel Giedroyc joined from a car while eating biscuits. Scott was fascinated by how a programme built around ordinary baking had become one of the biggest shows in the country.
The conversation inevitably reminded him of Chris’s Washing Up Show. They realised too late that Mel would have been exactly the person to pitch it to.
Serbian stories are only beginning
Scott offered a few more glimpses of the weekend: the executive producer who seemed powered by tequila, a huge ornate mansion, and Una, the presenter he quickly nicknamed “Serbian Caroline Flack”.
There was too much footage to organise immediately. The full video story would come the following day, meaning the Serbian adventure was no longer a bizarre one-off trip. It had become the main serial on the show.
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