Category: Show Diary
Scott becomes an Only Connect answer
Scott is delighted to appear as an answer on Only Connect, a programme he normally watches only to feel intellectually inadequate. A sequence of Radio 1 handovers begins with Newsbeat and Danny Howard and requires contestants to identify what follows.
The players do not reach Chappers at 13:00, but Scott considers the mention a major personal achievement. The far more difficult questions elsewhere in the quiz preserve his belief that its contestants are opera [...]
Chris is refused at the dump
Chris's latest attempt at adulting takes him to the local dump, now hidden online beneath a much grander waste-management title. He carefully sorts a car full of cardboard only to be told there is “absolutely no chance” of leaving any more that day.
The rejected load has to return home with him. Scott enjoys the reversal: a place created to receive unwanted possessions has refused Chris entry because his rubbish is the wrong kind.
Rinder enters the Blackpool bubble
J [...]
Two very different ceremonies
Scott and Chris compare their previous evenings. Scott attended the Student Radio Awards and delivered his speech with a selection of Donald Trump hand gestures, while Chris switched on the Christmas lights at Watford's intu shopping centre alongside players including Troy Deeney.
Chris's mother regards the hometown light switch as one of his greatest achievements. Fireworks appear above the shopping centre's glass roof and a huge crowd watches, even if Chris accept [...]
Chris survives the black chair
Chris returns from filming Celebrity Mastermind and describes it as one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. In the green room he mistakenly calls a contestant's brother Steve, having decided that a leather jacket made him look like the first winner of The Apprentice.
The silent walk to the chair is even worse. Chris stands at the wrong moment, begins moving before he should and cannot reveal whether his eventual performance was triumphant or disastrous. [...]
Scott faces the whole country
With Chris travelling to Manchester, Scott plays the Whooo Game against a full bank of listeners. Red-eye photographs, sewing swimming badges onto trunks, Ask Jeeves, “Calm down, dear”, the Sugar Puffs monster and Fort Boyard all receive suitably powerful calls from the past.
The game continues at such speed that nobody actually runs out of ideas; the clock defeats them instead. Bamboleo Wednesday then supplies the required school-orchestra gap for listeners dancing [...]
The specialist subject is chosen
Chris films Celebrity Mastermind in Manchester the following day. He will not be told who his competitors are, but he has finally selected a specialist subject and performs extremely well when Scott tests him during the programme.
The subject remains secret, despite listeners offering suggestions ranging from number-one singles to Watford Football Club. Dev is recording an edition on the same day, although neither knows whether they will be placed in direct compe [...]
Scott returns with airborne mash
Scott returns from holiday looking suspiciously refreshed, although he insists nothing has been altered. His principal discovery is much less glamorous: mashed potato mixed with gravy tastes completely different on an aeroplane, and he now considers the strange in-flight mush one of the highlights of the trip.
He also recognises a very posh former Apprentice candidate on the flight without remembering his name. Hours of searching finally identify the man as Raj D [...]
Toby returns to Breakfast
Twelve-year-old critic Toby joins Real or No Real during half-term. He has heard Honey G's Innuendo Bingo but complains that one of the week's podcasts failed to appear, prompting Scott to promise that somebody has received a stern word.
Toby's authority now extends beyond reviewing the afternoon show. He questions the schedule, catches up on missed editions and continues speaking as though he has a permanent production role.
The Music Awards line-up grows
Scott and Chr [...]
Candice chooses a Banger
Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown looks back on watching the final with the other bakers, friends and family. She remains proud of the three-tiered pavlova, pig-shaped sausage rolls and elaborate gingerbread pub that included relatives behind the bar.
Candice then judges Bangers, choosing Gwen Stefani's “The Sweet Escape” over DJ Snake's “Turn Down for What”. The baking link helps Scott reclaim a song he believed was unfairly rejected the first time.
Joanne mee [...]
Old emails and a tiny helmet
Scott's phone unexpectedly downloads thousands of emails from 2009 and 2010, creating an unwelcome archive of old work, plans and forgotten conversations. He cannot explain why they have appeared or how to make them disappear.
In Real or No Real, Steph considers the claim that Matt Edmondson has demanded an X Factor parking space for his scooter and a tiny helmet. It sounds entirely plausible, but Matt is actually driven between Radio 1 and the television studio in a [...]