The Jennifer Aniston interview finally plays
Scott began Thursday almost as nervous as Chris had been before the interview. Chris remembered only fragments of the previous afternoon, while Scott had seen photographs of Jennifer looking variously amused and confused. At around ten past eight they finally played the video and listened along in the studio.
Chris opened by apologising for his appearance and saying the team had put so much makeup on him that he felt “like a pig in a wig”. He then explained that Jennifer Aniston could be rearranged to “fine and not in jeans”, briefly reaching the extraordinary position of explaining the concept of an anagram to Jennifer Aniston.
The conversation wandered exactly as Scott had feared and hoped. Chris talked about the awkwardness of strip-club situations after discussing We’re the Millers, asked about the strange experience of seeing trivial stories about Jennifer simply walking across airport tarmac or eating crisps, and presented her with a Watford shirt bearing ANISTON on the back. Jennifer handled the entire thing with patience and humour.
Back in the studio, Scott replayed the most uncomfortable moments while Chris relived the nerves. The interview was undeniably awkward, but that was precisely what made it different from the polished film-junket questions surrounding it.
A-level results opened live
The show also had a much more serious piece of live radio to handle. Five students from Sharnbrook Upper School came into the studio with sealed A-level results and allowed Scott to open them on air.
Scott repeatedly reminded everyone that a set of grades did not determine an entire future and promoted the official exam-results helpline for anybody whose plans had changed. Then came the envelopes. Ryan got the grades he needed, while Georgia, Jasmine and Amy produced strings of A and A-star results. Ella, who particularly wanted an A in sociology, got it.
The relief in the studio was immediate. Scott had built the sequence like a talent-show result but treated the actual students with unusual care once the envelopes were in his hands.
Challenge nine: announce the film in a cinema
To prepare for their BBC Three continuity job, Scott and Chris had separately stood up in real cinema screens and attempted to introduce the next film over the end of the trailers.
Scott adopted a strangely formal cinema-announcer voice, reminded everybody about popcorn, drinks and nachos and successfully introduced Despicable Me 2. Chris tried the same thing but stumbled over Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, reducing it to “Alpha… Papa” just as the screen changed.
Jen Long, the BBC Three announcer whose job they were borrowing that evening, judged Scott the winner. The score moved to 5-4 to Scott with one Breakfast challenge remaining.
Jen Long prepares them for BBC Three
Jen explained that television continuity was tightly timed, often with a countdown in the announcer’s ear, and that live links could not simply drift the way radio conversation sometimes could. Scott wanted to introduce EastEnders and toyed with doing the famous drums himself; Jen advised against it.
At seven that evening Scott and Chris would take over the microphone between BBC Three programmes. After Jennifer Aniston, live exam results and nine competitive challenges, it somehow felt like the most stressful assignment of the week.
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