A message from Ed
The Student Tour reached Harper Adams University, where the programme came from a working farm as well as a campus. Shortly before transmission, Ed Sheeran sent Scott a direct message asking whether he could visit with Jamie Lawson. He then appeared without warning and stayed for almost the entire programme.
Jamie discussed his long route to success and his friendship with Ed, whose record label had released Wasn’t Expecting That. The day repeatedly drifted into a surreal chat show in which one of the world’s biggest artists sat on a sofa in a Shropshire agricultural university while Scott attempted to continue the planned features.
Laura loses Hot Lecture Guy
Laura’s friend delivered the news that Hot Lecture Guy had a girlfriend. He had not attended the social, but the discovery meant Laura could no longer ask him out. During the same night, she had spoken to another man working at Costa, creating the possibility that the week’s promised date could survive with a replacement.
Scott refused to abandon the happy ending. The story was no longer about securing the original crush, but about ensuring Laura had somebody to meet when the tour arrived in Southampton on Friday.
Pull the Udder One
Harper Adams’s rotary dairy parlour became the set for a dating game called Pull the Udder One. Charlotte stood in the centre while male students occupied the stations normally used by cows. She could stop the rotating platform, hear a contestant’s pitch and choose either “date” or “rotate”, but could not bring back anybody she had already rejected.
The candidates included a man with hundreds of acres and his own zoo, another who claimed sleeves could not contain his arms, and a red-haired student introduced as “Shed Sheeran”. The last contender said he would love Charlotte until his girlfriend got home, but she chose him anyway after the real Ed Sheeran unexpectedly joined the feature. The game ended with Charlotte and Shed in the “box of love”, despite the rather obvious girlfriend problem.
Bamboleo and the livestock auction
The farm crowd joined an enormous Bamboleo Wednesday. When the gap arrived, the whole audience froze completely, producing a video almost as strange as the dating game. Ed and Jamie remained in the middle of the action while tractors and farm workers joined the listener shout-outs.
Harper Adams student Rosco had expected to practise auctioneering on Scott. Instead, Ed was placed in the livestock pen at the last minute and auctioned to a delighted crowd. The combination of a professional chant, a global pop star and an agricultural sale ring made the surprise even more effective.
In Real or No Real, the frequently asked question “Can I bring my horse?” really did appear on the university website, reflecting how many students arrived from farming and equestrian backgrounds. Ed then left the tour with Jamie, and the bus moved towards Aberystwyth.
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