The Scott Mills team hit the road on a tour bus to hold X-Factor-style auditions across five cities, searching for a boyfriend for Laura, a researcher on the show who hasn’t had much luck in love. Highlights from the Southampton auditions reveal an eccentric mix of candidates—from poetry-reading oddities to overeager hopefuls.
This week, Scott Mills, Joe Cole, and Laura’s dad are touring the country to audition potential boyfriends for Laura in a pop-culture-meets-dating-show format. The auditions are being filmed for a daily video diary on BBC Radio 1’s website.
The first standout candidate arrives with garage flowers and metaphysical poetry that nobody understands. He takes the flowers back for a photo op, then reveals he’s taking them home to his actual girlfriend—not a promising start.
James, single for four years, walks through next. He admits to a “wandering eye” and a history of pursuing girls with boyfriends or unstable lives. When pressed on this weakness, he doesn’t back down, instead attempting to win Laura over with a self-written song where he claims people say he sounds like Comedy Dave. Scott and the judges are unimpressed by his song choice, but Laura ultimately votes yes to put him through.
Then comes Rory, who makes an immediate and terrible impression by describing what he likes about Laura as “big rack”—repeatedly, including in front of her father. Joe Cole interrogates him about his complete lack of self-confidence, and Rory admits he’s more interested in drinking than actually taking girls out. Every answer makes things worse. However, Rory suddenly redeems himself by having a respectful conversation with Laura’s dad, then performs an original poem for Laura. Despite the crude comments earlier, Scott decides Rory has “a good heart” and votes him through, though Laura’s dad expresses disapproval of the focus on her physical appearance over her character.
COMMENTS