Paul McKenna
Paul McKenna joined Scott while Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration played on a studio television.
McKenna said American politicians employed specialists in persuasion and communication. He cited Bill Clinton’s use of advisers who helped make speeches and campaign messages more powerful.
He had moved to Los Angeles and described it as a city full of overachievers where he felt comparatively relaxed. He said he had helped Ellen DeGeneres stop smoking and had also worked with Daryl Hannah, but could only name celebrity clients who had publicly discussed seeing him.
McKenna distinguished his work from Derren Brown’s. Brown, he said, was a magician and showman using illusion and misdirection, whereas McKenna now used psychological techniques to help people change habits.
His latest book was I Can Make You Sleep. Beccy had attempted one piece of advice — getting up half an hour earlier — but pressed snooze instead. McKenna recommended listening to the accompanying hypnosis recording and joked that she could “take me to bed with you”.
Scott mocked some basic-sounding advice, including going to bed when sleepy and lying down, but McKenna explained that many people went to bed while wide awake and expected sleep to arrive immediately. Reading repeatedly about sleep could itself make a person drowsy.
He also described meeting David Beckham in Los Angeles. McKenna introduced himself, but Beckham already knew his work and said he liked the programmes.
Chappers on Celebrity Mastermind
Beccy said she had finally watched Chappers’ edition of Celebrity Mastermind, recorded over Christmas rather than going on a planned romantic evening with her boyfriend.
Chappers’ specialist subject had been Jeremy Spake. Scott then played a heavily edited montage that made his answers appear absurd, replacing the real responses with phrases including “Chemical Brothers”, “Frank Lampard”, “Madonna” and “he’s a penguin”.
The edit ended with presenter John Humphrys apparently accepting one of the nonsense answers. Chappers stressed that the montage was not an accurate record of his performance.
Obama versus Unofficial Mills
Scott complained that nearly everybody using the Unofficial Mills forum had abandoned the programme to watch Obama’s inauguration on television.
Only a contributor called Emma remained in the live discussion. Scott argued that the site was called Unofficial Mills rather than “Unofficial Obama”, although the team accepted that the inauguration was a significant event.
Oh, What’s Occurring?
Paul McKenna competed against Beccy and Chappers.
The first round counted how often Lily Allen said her own name while presenting on Radio 1. The montage included “I’m Lily Allen”, “I am Lily Allen” and “Hello, this is Lily Allen”. The final total was 18, making Beccy’s estimate of 13 the closest.
Scott then asked seven people what they would like Paul McKenna to make them. Answers included intelligent, a helicopter, a sandwich, a vegetable meal with coconut, lunch every day, pasta and “a lesbian”. Pasta was the most common response, defeating predictions of thin, rich and orange.
The final round tested the tact of Lorraine from Stoke-on-Trent. Scott phoned with a banana in his mouth and waited to see how long she would take to mention that he sounded strange. Lorraine first suggested he had visited a dentist or that somebody had done something to him. She eventually asked what was wrong after one minute and ten seconds.
Paul and Beccy finished level, meaning the game would theoretically roll over.
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