Aston prepares for Bingo
Aston Merrygold had admitted online that he was scared of Innuendo Bingo. Scott’s reassurance that it was “only water” did not help, particularly because Aston had arrived with a tan likely to run as soon as Chris sprayed him.
The former JLS singer was launching his solo career and looking for a name for his fans. “Aston Martians” was among the suggestions, although he had not found anything convincing enough to adopt.
An orange soaking
Aston faced clips from television cookery, sport and factual programmes. A report about unexpectedly large animals in a forest and Glastonbury commentary provided the kind of slow-building lines that gave both players time to realise what was coming.
The water carried some of Aston’s colour with it, just as Scott had predicted. Fans waiting outside were instructed not to let him change his wet white T-shirt before they saw him, while the full game was placed on BBC iPlayer.
The language spreads
Listener Harriet and her housemate had adopted so much of the programme’s vocabulary that ordinary conversations were conducted in “yes”, noises and phrases from the show. Their example confirmed the previous week’s warning from Beccy and Grant: the Scott Mills language was spreading through relationships and shared homes.
Scott recognised the habit because colleagues now greeted him with a shouted “yes” instead of a sentence. Harriet was worried that she could no longer stop, but neither Scott nor Chris was prepared to offer a cure.
Exams are over
At 3.15pm, Hayley called immediately after completing her last exam. The programme gave her the celebration promised on Monday and extended it to listeners finishing GCSEs and A-levels around the country.
Hayley admitted that an elaborate exit would probably have been embarrassing, vindicating the decision not to find a horse. Scott reminded everybody still revising that their moment would arrive soon, then allowed the people already free to enjoy the fact that no more papers remained.
Alan Dedicoat also played Real or No Real, giving the afternoon an appropriately formal voice. Between Aston’s soaking and the exam fanfare, Tuesday produced two very different graduation ceremonies.
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