Scott returns from his holiday
The first Scott Mills Daily in almost three weeks began with Scott correcting the stories Chris had spread in his absence. He had not spent his holiday at Pig Beach or on the Ivory Coast, but at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. Chris had confidently given different answers to different listeners because he did not know where Scott had gone.
The holiday had been excellent, although the resident steel band became harder to enjoy after several nights of hearing the same small repertoire. Scott demonstrated how even Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” and Jessie J’s “Do It Like a Dude” had been transformed into steel-pan and reggae versions. He had also eaten an enormous amount of macaroni cheese, acquired the compulsory all-inclusive wristband and learned about conch only after returning home.
A boat tour had pointed out homes belonging to Mick Jagger, former boxer George Foreman and Radio 1’s own Trevor Nelson. Scott was particularly amused that Trevor had become one of the local celebrities named to tourists alongside international stars. One newly married couple at the resort recognised Scott from Innuendo Bingo and invited him to their home for Sunday dinner within about 30 seconds of meeting him, an offer he found more suggestive than they may have intended.
Chris catches Scott up
Chris supplied a selective account of what had happened while Scott was away. Viewers of Channel 4’s Secrets of the Living Dolls had become convinced that a masked participant called Sophie sounded like Chris. He repeatedly denied being the person on the webcam, while Scott pointed out that the mask made the denial impossible to prove.
The Voice press launch had been another difficult assignment. Matt Edmondson had passed the microphone to Chris after already asking the useful questions, leaving him to ask Kylie Minogue whether she enjoyed living in the UK. She replied that she lived there. His recovery attempt was to ask about her favourite curry, only to discover that she had apparently never eaten one. will.i.am then rescued the conversation with ideas including curry tacos.
Pixie Lott had learned the identity of Chris’s secret “catnip” aftershave, the fragrance he believed made women unusually interested in him. He had also told another Radio 1 presenter despite promising to keep it secret, forcing him to consider finding a new scent.
The Radio 1 post is finally opened
Scott and Chris emptied a post box which had gone unchecked for months. It contained belated Christmas cards from Jessie J and The Saturdays, a paperback copy of Scott’s autobiography which had probably cost more to post than to buy, and an invitation to the Australian High Commission which Chris had missed in November.
The calendars were more memorable. One featured staff posing around office photocopiers, while the Warwick University Boat Club calendar showed naked rowers arranged carefully around boats, fields and water. Somebody had also bought Scott a novelty English title and a tiny piece of land, allowing him to announce himself as Lord Scott Mills. The backlog convinced them that checking the post more than once every few months might be worthwhile.
Will Poulter and the BAFTA nomination
Will Poulter visited after being nominated for the public-voted BAFTA Rising Star Award. At 20, he still found it strange that a short career stretching from school plays to Hollywood had produced a BAFTA nomination. He admitted feeling badly out of his depth while making We’re the Millers, but said Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis and the rest of the cast had made the experience manageable.
He had originally flown to Los Angeles for an audition and was packing to return home after failing to get the part when his hotel telephone rang. Expecting reception to tell him to leave, he ignored it at first. A producer was actually asking him to remain for another night and another audition. Meetings with the director, Jason Sudeikis and Emma Roberts eventually secured him the role.
The film’s most notorious scene involved Poulter’s character suffering an extreme spider bite. Will explained that the prosthetic required a long preparation involving special underwear, glue and a prosthetics specialist named Tony. The process lasted about three and a half hours and created a professional relationship he was unlikely to forget. A previously unused section of Chris’s Jennifer Aniston interview also revealed her amusement at filming the scene beside a road with Will’s trousers down.
Will credited years of watching Friends with helping his American accent, an appropriate route into a film with Jennifer Aniston. He was still able to perform the rap from TLC’s “Waterfalls”, had been invited to join TLC on stage and was completely prepared to embarrass himself if the invitation became real.
His forthcoming work included Kids in Love, with Cara Delevingne and Alma Jodorowsky, and The Maze Runner. Scott and Chris offered to help write a BAFTA acceptance speech, even though Will was reluctant to presume that he might win.
Happiness Week and Real or No Real
Radio 1’s Happiness Week ran beneath the programme. Scott was glad to be back, but accepted that dark weather, post-Christmas debt and failed resolutions made January difficult for many listeners. The station’s lighter features included Dan and Phil’s guide to happiness and Phil Taggart and Alice Levine’s nightly comedy shows, while a Sunday Surgery special would address depression, anxiety and mental health with Aled Haydn Jones, Sarah-Jane Crawford and Dr Radha Modgil.
Greg James returned from Australia for Real or No Real. An Iron Man version of Mr Potato Head called Tony Starch was real, while will.i.am did not have to visit Armenia annually to retain a “.am” web address. National Cheese Awareness Week was invented, but Oprah Winfrey really had given every member of her studio audience a car, although the recipients then faced large tax bills.
The show also premiered Shakira and Rihanna’s “Can’t Remember to Forget You”. Scott was expecting to speak to Shakira later in the week, giving Chris another opportunity to explain why he considered “She Wolf” one of the greatest pop records ever made.
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