Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - 59: DIG IN: The Most Unhinged Revenge Story We’ve Ever Heard

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Friendship gets tested, wardrobes hide secrets, and someone makes a decision involving a Nokia that can never be undone. Jo and Zoe cover the stuff no one warns you about - from what really happens after a friend has a baby, to the most deranged act of revenge we’ve ever heard.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTERStay up to date with Dig It — new updates every Friday straight to your inbox.👉 https://digitpod.substack.com/subscribeGET IN TOUCH📧 Email us: [e-mail]📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp:⁠ ⁠https://wa.me/447477038795SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORSThis episode is brought to you by QVC &  Ancient + Brave✨QVC – Click below to discover QVC’s range of wellbeing products and support. And don't forget to use the code QDIG10 for £10 off your first purchase (minimum spends apply, see QVC website for full terms and conditions) https://www.qvcuk.com/content/health-and-fitness.html?cid=PR-IF-Digit&e22=janwellbeing ✨Ancient + Brave – This January isn’t about being “good”, it’s about having energy that actually lasts. Ancient + Brave’s True Creatine+ supports strength, cognition and steady energy without the jitters or crash. It’s neutral tasting, dissolves easily and fits effortlessly into real life. They’re also a certified B Corp and members of 1% for the Planet, so it’s good for you and good for the planet too. Subscribe and save 20% on your monthly wellness rituals, plus get a free ritual scoop. Head to ancientandbrave.earth to get started.CREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanAssistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Danny PapeDig It is a Persephonica production

Coming up on Dig It. My granddad used to say, make you friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold. And so, you know, if you have an enduring friendship with this person, they will be there for you years down the line. I can't believe of all the stuff that's happened in this film. This is the moment when you choose to walk in right in the middle of some real hardcore sex scene. You're like, Dad, just go Steve walked around behind me. And he went, what the hell are you watching to chop your onions?

Someone needs to design something that you put these things in some Digget merch. The box in which to hide your sex toys. Yeah, dig in. Dig in. Dig in. Dig deeper. All of that right after this. Hi and welcome to Digin.

So I'm struggling at the moment to tell whether I'm talking to Zoe Ball or Cameron Diaz because you are wearing a very, very fetching two-piece. One is a really beautiful kind of tangerine woolly jumper and then a matching hat. It's a tangerine dream. And it's like something from a Christmas movie. from the holiday. Is it a bit much? Have I gone too far?

No, I love it. No, I saw this jumper in one of my favorite shops in the lanes in Brighton and it is, I've called it the Tangerine Dream. But the best thing about it, not only is it this beautiful thick knit. And I wore all black last week, Joe, and I thought, I'll put in some colour and it's hilarious. You've actually gone black this week in your outfit, having been in colour. But it came with a matching hat and I couldn't resist. It looks a bit much.

here in this situation and I will have to take it off because I'm already quite hot but on a blustery walk it really brightened me up on a dark gloomy January day anyone had to show you the full look I love it no I love it

it's a really good gardening look it's very very good you can take it off now the hat's coming off I'm taking the hat off now because I'm going to get a right sweat on otherwise can I just say how great you are looking at the moment and how amazing you looked

in the Sunday Times style magazine that was out a week ago now. I'm sorry I didn't mention it before but oh those photographs they were so cool. They were so cool. They were black and white and they were very, they had a kind of a 60s sort of vibe to them. I love them. You look great and you talked a lot of sense as well as you always do. Oh, thank you. Do you know what? Even even talking about it makes me a bit sort of like, I, you get me some great advice and you said, so doing photo shoots can be fun. And after you'd said that and we'd seen that amazing shoot that you'd done, I thought, oh, maybe I need to approach this differently.

And I was so lucky at Darren Skeen, who is the most amazing photographer. He worked so hard. He was working on his own that day, didn't have an assistant, and the lighting he does. And it's really funny

because I think we did about eight, maybe nine outfits, and our favourite photographs of the last few shots of the shoot, of the whole shoot. But I had my amazing glam squad, Heather and Hadley and Arabella and Merrill,

who looks after me and we whacked on that you said put on the music we whacked on the disco music and we had such a laugh and arabella said to me right you're going to do a shot in a jacket and some tights i was like no i'm not and she said yes you are i was like are you mad and that was the shot and i'm laughing i think at that point i'm laughing going i cannot believe you've got me in a pair of tights saying here but i really enjoyed it good super cool super sexy thanks my friend fulfilling me with the joys and the comfort. I mean, that will be the one of the year. That's it.

I always say to Merrill, I'll do one. Yeah. Because I hate it. But I really enjoyed it. And I'd just like to say thank you to. I had so many lovely comments about it. And so thank you to everybody for saying nice things. It makes me completely cringe.

And let's talk about something else now. Time to dig in. I've just had, literally just had four tons of mushroom mulch turn up in my garden. I had no idea what it would look like. It's a lot. God, it's so much. So much. You've got big borders.

I'll say that about Joe Wileyish. Got big borders. Yes, I have. You've got a lot of ground to cover there. So that's a lot of mulch. It made me laugh, though, because I've got, I went to the garden centre, bought myself some mulch and I've got two little bags like this. I'm thinking that's not going to go very far.

So I might need a bit more. If you've got any left over, Joe, I'll swing by and pick some up. Yeah, pick it up. If you're mulching your borders, when should we be mulching? Is it now? Well, mulching is happening this week, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I've got this incredible Gardner Tabs who comes every other week and she's like this, I've said before, Garden Ninja, she has so much energy and she rocks up and she gets everything done. And she's organised the mushroom mulch because I've never used it before. I've never, never done that. It's normally me buying loads of bags and getting cast, buying cast to come and help me put it around all the roses and all in the borders. And it's incredibly hard work, right? Really backbreaking and your fingers and your hands hurt. But Tabbs has assured me she's doing it all tomorrow. So let's. see, that's great. Go tab. And of course, if we want to know what mulch does, it's sort of like,

it's goodness for your soil, isn't it? Yes, vitamins. It enriches the soil so that you will get bigger, better, healthier plants for the next year. You don't have to do it every single year. I think you can wait and do it every two or three years because the goodness is in the soil. Great. But it's a really, really great thing to do. It really is. It really benefits. Otherwise, all the nutrients and the soil dries out. So it's good. Every so often, just give you, give you soil a tonic. Great. Mulsing season.

Fabulous. All right. Should we go on? We've got a text from Sandy who said, I saw this on TikTok and I had to share it with you both. I would love to know

the pettiest thing you or a friend has ever done for revenge. Guys, when I worked in the trade shop, obviously a lot of men were trying to give me the numbers or they would ask my number and I was just like,

fuck off. Do you know what I mean? I'm 17 years old and you're 40 and you smell and I'm gay. Leave me alone. They should never really got the hint. Anyway, this one guy,

he gave me this number. He was like, going to want to ring that. And I was like, I thought my friends. Why are you doing this? He was like, no, no, no, it's not my number. It's not my number at all. Just call it when you're drunk. And I said, what are you talking about? Tell me, what is this? Essentially, he had this dickhead client, right? This fucking arsehole who expected him to do loads of stuff, but he wasn't going to pay him and he was just being really difficult and being really rude and just awful and horrible. So he was building some built-in-wall droids for him. It was like the last thing he had

to do. And he was building against this wall that had a plug in the bottom. So he bought a Nokia phone and plugged it in. So it was always on charge and always on loud. And he built the wardrobes in front of this phone so that it was never to be attained again unless you knocked down the wardrobes that are made of wood built into the wall. And he just gives everyone this number and says, just call it.

When you've had a couple of drinks on a Saturday night, just call it. It won't pick up. Just keep ringing. So this guy has this noise coming through his house at any hour of the day. and he cannot locate the source. Yes!

Yes! That is the kind of petty behaviour I can get behind. And honestly, I'm going to call it right now. Sandy, thanks for thinking of us. That is amazing. Oh, God. I would knock down that wardrobe quicker than you could say. I think I'd get an axe.

I'd go full Jack Nicholson. Here's Gianni in The Shining. And it acts it down like, where is that ringing? But what a great revenge story. that is so good. I wonder if any of our diggers are listening and they've got, I mean, I don't think anybody could top that story or come close to that story

but have you ever done anything? Kind of petty and for revenge. We would welcome your stories. Send them through to us in the show notes, have all the details. I was trying to think about this when it comes to revenge and I asked Coco last night and she went,

Mum, I think you're the least vengeful person I know. That's a good thing. Thank you. I'll have that on a badge or a t-shirt or on a mug. But I haven't. I honestly can't think of it. I believe in karma though. You know, I don't think you necessarily need to take revenge because I think karma is a bitch baby and it will always come back around. You know, when people, you hear about people

who you work with, it can be wankers sometimes and you're like, that is not cool behavior. That is just, you don't treat people like that. You know, because you should treat people with kindness. You should treat people as you expect them to treat you back. I'm not saying I've not ever been a dick because I think I've done some very dicky behaviour things. But karma tends to serve and things come back around and you'd be like, that will come again. It's that phrase, isn't it? Be nice to people on the way up because you never know who you're going to meet on the way down.

On the way down, exactly. It's that thing, I think always be good to everyone around you, wherever you are, being polite, being chatty, being kind, thinking, tipping people, you know, stopping to help people. But I think my family very like that. My granddad, I always talk about my granddad, Fred. You know, be good. It'd be great, by the way, if you do send in any revenge stories, voice notes are really good because we like him and your voices

because then we get to know you even better. So if you want to leave us a voice note, that would be really lovely. Thank you. Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe wherever you watch or listen. That way you get new episodes directly. We got this email from Ali. Hi, Ali. She says, hi, Joe and Zoe.

I'm in my early 30s and my best friend has just had her first baby. She's the first one in our friendship group to become a mum and we're really close. We've been friends since we were kids and until recently we texted pretty much every day. Since the baby arrived, I've barely heard from her at all. I completely understand that she must be exhausted, overwhelmed and living in a totally different world right now. I don't expect constant updates. I know a newborn takes over everything, but the sudden silence has thrown me a bit because it's so unlike her. I feel torn. Part of me doesn't want to bother her or add to her mental load by asking how she is all the time.

But another part of me worries about her and doesn't want her to feel isolated, especially if things are harder than she expected. I want to be a good friend without being a nuisance. But what's the best way to show up for someone who's just had a baby when you're not hearing back from them? Should I keep gently checking in, offer practical help like dropping food around, or even offer to babysit? or is it better to give her the space and trust that she'll reach out when she's ready? Basically, how do you be there without accidentally making it all about you? Oh, that's really sensitive of you to ask this question, Ali. It's so tough for having a baby. You can't possibly imagine how exhausting it becomes and how life-changing it is

because it is your every waking moment. And often, Ali, there is not a lot of sleep with, new babies because, you know, trying to get them into a routine. She might have a baby that's not sleeping very well. She might have a baby who's struggling to feed. It is exhausting. And it is 24-7. You know, there's just not really much of a let-up, is there, Joe, in the early days. So, yeah, what would you say, Joe? I think, and you mentioned dropping food round, I think that's a really lovely thing to do. So you can just, just calling around, because quite often you haven't got a hand-free when you've got a baby to actually text or.

to make a phone call. Or brush your teeth, things like that. Yeah, or go for we. I mean, you literally cannot do a thing. So if you're thinking, blind me, she's not texting me like she used to, she hasn't got hands free. She's just completely doing a million different things at the same time. It doesn't mean that she doesn't love you just as much as she did before the baby.

That does not change. That does not go away and your friendship will continue. It's just this is a period of readjustment. So I think turning up on someone's doorstep, I'm totally fine with that. I know some people would not like that. I think that's fine. I think just dropping, turning up with a lasagna or with a cake. Something that is a treat, a really nice candle,

and either leaving it on the doorstep or knocking on the door and just going, hi, I mean, I can come in if you want, but if you don't want me to, I'll just leave it here. And then your friend will dictate. They will tell you what they want and what they're ready for. And then in due course, when the baby gets a little bit older, going for walks. Walks will be great.

Really nice because then the baby quite often, they just fall asleep when you're going out for a walk. So you will be able to have the conversations that you used to have, maybe late a night with a glass of wine in your hands. But you'll be able to chat more freely and you'll have lovely deep conversations. You can have a coffee in your hand. Your friend will really need to talk to somebody. And that is a lovely way to be there with your friend. I don't think you are making it all about you at all.

I think you're being incredibly perceptive. And I know when you lose friends, when they kind of fade away out of your life, it's really hard. Like you really miss them for whatever reason, whatever is going on. but very, very often those friends then drift back into your life. You're so right, though, about the walks. Walks, I mean, that's the moment that saves you. I always see people down the seafront walking out with the babies. That's such a good idea, Joe.

And I also think you're right. If you're calling round, give the option, I could pop in or I could just leave you this. And you've seen their face. Because if someone is struggling when they've had a baby, and I have lots of friends who have struggled in the early days, and I mean, I've found it pretty tough. sometimes, you know, they might be a bit overwhelmed and not able to tell someone else because you feel that pressure as a new mum that you should know what you're doing and you

should be off to handle all of this stuff and it can be really, really tough. And sometimes, like, you can't even, you literally can't have a bath or wash your hair. And so you feel like a state, you're just wearing milk-stained pyjamas for days and days and days. And so sometimes you're a bit embarrassed to see your friends. And if you're a really, really good old friend, that won't matter at all. But if you're in a bit of a mental thug about being a new mum, it will matter and you won't have the confidence and you'll just hide yourself away. My granddad used to say had this amazing saying, which I've just remembered, make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, the other is gold. And so, you know, if you have an enduring friendship with this

person, they will be there for years down the line. I was one of the first moms to have a baby in my friendship group. So when I had Woody, I'm so grateful to my friends who didn't have kids who really stepped up and helped. And they helped entertain him. They made him laugh. They'd come with me on walks. You know, they'd play with him to let me have a little break and stuff like that. So those friends are, you know, Woody always calls them his real family because he's grown up with a lot of our friends. And the same with Nellie, you know, so many of my friends who didn't have their own kids would just help and be on hand. And sometimes they could say, actually, it's really boring.

I remember my kids hated going on walks and going for pub lunches. I remember forcing my friends to come on this walk and the kids moaned the whole time and then they moaned that it had to go to the pub and I remember two really good friends of mine who had been there through these two growing up were like, we're not coming on a walk with you kids again because you are driving us mad. But that's the great thing with great friends. You're there for the good, the bad and the ugly. But yeah, I think, yeah, a subtle reaching out to your friend is probably a really good idea.

Right, we're going to take a quick break at this point. If you like these episodes ad-free, become a subscriber to the potting shed. You will get ad-free and early episodes. But most importantly, you'll be supporting the show. Yeah, to subscribe, head to digipod.com.com. Or tap the link in the show notes. Okay, a bit of a bit of gear change. On to sex toys again.

Oh, hooray. One of our favourite subjects, one of your favourite subjects. As ever, you lot have been in touch with this. And Toolbelt Tiny returns on the subject of sex toys. toys in incorrect places. So Tallbelt Tini is from Leeds and writes, many years ago when my daughter, who's now 32, and my stepdaughter and stepson were all in their early teens, my partner and I decided to take a short break. We asked my mum to stay at the house and look after the kids while we're away for a long weekend. A couple of weeks after we came back, one romantic evening, I reached

to my secret hiding place under the bed for my trusty rabbit. It had gone. It had vanished. It was not there. After much deliberation and stressful, discussions with my then partner as to who might have moved it, but obviously not wanting to ask the kids or my mum. I decided to ask my sister because if anything untoward ever happened, my mum would be sure to tell my sister. It turns out that whilst my mum and three kids were happily eating dinner around the kitchen table, my Labrador Charlie had discovered the rabbit, not the right sort of rabbit, joyfully pulled it out of the hiding place, carried it downstairs and proceeded to drop it at each of the kids.

my mum's feet, barking for them to throw her, her newfound exciting pink vibrating stick. Bravo, to this day, I have never spoken to my mum about this. I also never found my rabbit, but my sister assures me, mum has hidden it in a safe place in my house. Oh, tool belt tidy, you never fail to make her smile. Oh, that's so good. It's also that thing of what's this? What's this? That kind of slow dawning realisation of mum in front of kids as to. Oh, yes. Someone needs to design something that you put these things in. Oh my God, I can hear some merch coming up, some Dig It merch.

Digit merch. Dig it, sex toys. The box in which to hide your sex toys. Yeah, dig in. Dig in. Dig in. Hey, sorry. Hey, on the subject of raunchy stuff, heated rivalry, we haven't discussed heated rivalry.

Have you watched it yet? So I've only watched episode one. And I watched episode one with the lodger. It's a queer story about two lads who play ice hockey, one's an American, one's Russian, I think. And it's just about the friendship. Now, the first episode is quite racy and raunchy and is can be awkward to watch. I was thinking, is this, are they doing really bad acting? Is this just going to be pornographic?

But I have heard from so many people to stick with it because apparently what develops is this incredible friendship, this wonderful story between two lads who can't, you know, be that open about their relationship, I think. I think one of them is by and one of them is gay because I've heard people describe it as being a gay story and then a lot of people are like, no, it's a queer story. But they have taken the world by storm these two actors. Oh my God, they have. How much have you watched? Well, I walked into the room and Cocoa was sitting there and we'd heard about heated rivalry, didn't really know too much about it. So I plonked myself right down next to her.

And she went, oh, I'm just watching heated rivalry. And I went, great. I've heard all about this. Let's watch it. And we sat there in a few moments of silence. And she just went, Mom, I just can't watch this with you. I'm really sorry. Yeah.

Why? What? What's the problem? I just really can't. It's quite intense and it's quite sexy. I'm really sorry. All right, then fine. And then she has been obsessed with it.

She's watched the whole series right to the very end. And she came in last night to the kitchen. And she was like, oh my God, the best ending ever. It's so sweet. And it's so lovely, but it's a massive cliffhanger. So I thought, right, I'm going to start watching it as well. So I was getting the dinner ready. And I was chopping garlic and I was chopping onions.

I'm doing this, chopping my onions. And I'm watching the opening scene when they're in bed together. I'm like, oh my God. And I, as the rest of the family come into the kitchen, I was like, I cannot. And I pause it. Disco Steve walked around behind me. And he went, what the hell are you watching to do? chop your onions. I think if you can get over the initial sort of, sort of the fact that it does feel

like you're kind of really prying on quite a private scene. It made Jonathan our producer believe in love again. That's how good it is. It reminded me so much of that awful squirming feeling when you're watching TV with your mum and dad when you're really young and then something comes on TV. I can't remember what it was something like Lady Chattel is lover is on the screen and you're so aware that something is going to happen and like, God, how? How do I get out of this? You start sweating. He goes cold.

You're like, mum and dad, are they going to turn it off? Where do I look? What do I do? So I was really, really happy that Coco just went, I can't do this with you in the room. He'd been banished, mother. I bet people listening or watching this now will have their own stories of when they've been watched in front of a TV screen with their parents, with their kids, and they are dying inside. What was the scene? What did you watch?

What was it that had that effect on you and what happened? So all those stories of raunchy sex scenes that you might have happened upon with your, your parents or your family and what happened. Tell us. Show notes. Head there and you can leave us a voice note. That actually happened to be on Gogglebox, sat between my son and my father, and they did it deliberately. They made us watch something really saucy. I think it might have been a story about putting a condom on something. It was like, I cannot believe you are making me watch this in front of my father and my son. It was excruciating. I don't know who it was worse for. I think Woody was just laughing. But,

My dad making sort of slightly smutty quips was quite hilariously painful. I remember my dad walking in on me watching, you know, it's like, I can't believe of all the stuff that's happened in this film, this is the moment when you choose to walk in right in the middle of some real hardcore sex scene. You're like, Dad, Dad, Dad, Mountain. My dad saying, I think it's not past your bedtime, young lady. Shouldn't you be going to bed now? Oh, brilliant. I look forward to reading more of those stories. We've had a text from Shoka. She says if it's not too late,

I wondered if Zoe and Joe might give my mother a shout out. It was her 80th birthday recently and we all love her so much from her three daughters, Shoka, Georgia, Annika and her husband, Raymond. Can we celebrate your gorgeous mom? What beauty. She does not look. 80.

We've got a picture of her up now. If you're watching this, you'll be able to see. If you're listening, let us tell you. you. She doesn't look a day over 60. She looks fabulous. Amazing spirit, obviously, radiating from her. She looks wonderful. Happy birthday, Angela. And Angela, can you learn us know your secrets, please? Because you don't look a day over 60 and you're 80 years young and we want to know what your secret is. We also got a lovely text from Vanessa, who said, I started Couch to 5K last year and used Joe as my guide. I really found her calming tone and positivity help me through it. This January, I'm running 31 miles for MND.

My brother-in-law David was diagnosed in 2023, and I wanted to do something to raise money. I'm doing this challenge alongside my teenage son, Isaac. He's running separately as I'm a way slower runner than him, and may be a little embarrassing for a 15-year-old to be seen with, but I've been listening to your podcast as I run. I'm not a natural runner and really struggle with the breathing. So listening to you two has given me something to focus on when running and makes those miles go so much quicker.

Thank you both. So this is something I relate. to, Vanessa, I am not a natural runner. I struggle with my breathing. I struggle with running just like you do. And I'm running with Cass doing the London landmark half. And he would just go off and do his own thing. And I really am finding podcasts a really good way of passing the time. You just don't focus on putting your feet in front of each other. You just don't focus on what you're doing. Your brain is taken elsewhere. Running with music doesn't work for me. But running the podcast absolutely does. So Vanessa, all.

power to you. I hope it goes really, really well and report back. Really want to hear how it goes. And well done doing something for MNDA. We lost my stepdad to Rick to motor neurone disease. It is a cruel, cruel disease. So anybody doing anything to support is wonderful. And we send you both lots of love. And let us know how you get on. Do you know what? That's about it for today's episode. But if you want even more questions and answers, become a member of the potting shed and get longer episodes. Details on how to subscribe to the potting shed and how to get in touch are in the show notes and we'll see you on Wednesday. Because I had one more thing. We were talking about merchandise and getting ideas for

Digit merchandise. And my amazing friend Amy just voice message me earlier on and she was like, I've got it for you. The Digit Dibber. Ooh, a dig it dibber to put your seeds in. That would be a good thing going to spring. You put it in the ground, make a hole, put your seeds in and then it grows over. So I just want to say Amy with Double E at the end. Thank you for your idea. It's in consideration along with all the other ideas we've had sent our way. A Digit Dibber sounds great. It does sound good. Dibbit.

Right, have a terrific week. Yeah, and you. And I'll see you on Wednesday? Yes, you Wednesday. See a Wednesday, darling. Bye. Digit is a Persephonicah production.