Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - 87: DIG IN: 90s Wedding Hair & ‘Maranoia’

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Disappointed diggers kick things off this week. If you don’t like your friend’s partner, do you say something — or keep quiet? And what do you do when your daughter gets a truly questionable tattoo?There’s also iconic 90s floral wedding hair, wonky robots attempting a marathon, and a brand new invitation to have a PROPER rant.Got something to get off your chest? This might be your moment.  Drop us a line on 07477 038795!Watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/E5y_uR-vyUMGET 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 Starling and VisitScotland 📱 Starling: the bank that helps you organise your money, build great habits and stay in control of your spending. Find out more at starlingbank.com/good-with-money 🌍 VisitScotland — Make the most of festival season in Scotland, from the vibrant energy of Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival to the community spirit of the Orkney Folk Festival and the soulful sounds of Edinburgh’s Jazz & Blues Festival. Start planning your spring escape at www.tripadvisor.co.uk/scotlandCREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanProducer: Samantha PsykAssistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Danny Pape and Jack Whiteside

Coming up on Diggett. Do you remember the Radio One bus went missing? Did it? We had to wait. Wait for the wedding until they got there? Yeah, we had to hold the wedding until the Radio One bus arrived. Oh dear. What's your tattoo? What have you got? I had this done for Billy because Billy had roses on his arm.

That's it, yeah. I love that it's here in it, and it's sort of in a place where I always remember him. The thing that really made me laugh watching the report of the robots running in the marathon was they would fall over. And then there's footage of them being stretched off. All of that right after this. Digit is sponsored by Starling, the bank that helps you organise your money, build great habits and stay in control of your spending. We talk a lot on this show about how a great garden starts with a bit of a plan and the right environment. Well, money is the same.

It's not just about what you have. It's about being intentional with it. how we choose to spend, save and plan. That's what really shapes the way we live. That is so true. Being good with money isn't about being perfect. It's about building a relationship with your finances that actually works for you and your life. And that's what Starling is all about. They believe that with the right tools, anyone can grow those healthy habits. One habit I found so helpful is separating your spending. It's that peace of mind of knowing exactly what's for the bills, what's for the fun stuff and what's actually left over. And that's a tool that Starling often. And that's the tool that Starling often. offers in their app. They call it Spaces. It's basically a pot of money sitting within your Starling current accounts kept separate from your main balance, so you're never dipping into the wrong pot by accident. I desperately need one for the garden. Anyone who knows me knows my plant budget can get, well, a little out of hand. Exactly. And you can even create free virtual debit cards linked to each space. So you can only ever spend what you've planned to making life

that little bit easier. Search Starling to find out more. Good with money starts here. Hi, welcome to Digin. It's a Monday morning and this is where it's all about you. It's about all the diggers and we have some lovely questions from you lot that we're going to try and share with you all and answer. Zoe, you're right? I'm all right. Top of the morning to you all diggers. We have a question from Ella. Joe. She says, my friend has just got back with a guy who she dumped six months ago. It wasn't a healthy relationship and I never really liked him. To be honest, I tried my best to not make this known as all good. friends would. So I was relieved when they broke up. I made a big effort to be there for my friend and assure her it was the right decision. But I recently found out they got back together and she'd been hiding it from me as she knew I'd be disappointed. Now I feel like I'm being pushed away when I was just trying to do the right thing for her. I feel like I need to sit back now and let her find out alone that he might not be right for her, which feels really hard. Is this the right thing to do? Have you ever had to step into a friend's relationship and how

did it affect your friendship if you did from Ella? Oh, bless you. It's sort of, yeah, I've had this, you know, you have this with your kids, you do, you have it with friends, sometimes you have it with parents with relationships that from afar you look in and think, I don't know if this person is good for them. But yes, I think, Ella, you're probably doing. all you can do. Just the fact that your friend didn't tell you they were back with the person because they know that you're not sure about this person. You know, it's, that's such a tricky one, isn't it, Joe? It's really awkward. It really is, yeah. I mean, you've made your feelings plain and clear and she completely understands that. So I think all you can do is just take a little

bit of a back seat and accept that it's got to play out and they've got to find their way and maybe he will prove himself to be better than you thought he was. Maybe he will have learnt. And it will, you know, it'll come good in the end. But there's nothing that you can do, apart from being there for your friend if she does make contact. And, you know, you can't completely go, oh no, I've totally changed my opinion about him and it's all good. There's no point in lying. You don't want to kind of present any kind of falsehood. So I think just kind of be there in the background. And I think you need to interfere anymore because I think you've made everything, your feeling is quite plain. So I think you just need to be in the background

and just watch it play out. That's all he can do to see if he's maybe suddenly he'll prove to be an amazing person. Their relationship will flourish and they'll be very happy. That would be the best case scenario and then you can get involved because you'll like him more if he's turned out to be a good guy. But otherwise you just have to watch, I think it can be there for your friend.

Just kind of keep in touch texting. Sometimes people do deserve a second chance, don't they? And yeah, you know, I think that's the thing is we're all growing. We learn more about ourselves and it's so key in a relationship to grow in a relationship to learn about each other, to be able to be honest, to say, well, that doesn't really work with me and does that work with you and hopefully grow? And sometimes you do need to sort of step back and think, okay, all right, I understand. And maybe he has gone away and done some, you know, deep thinking

and maybe there's something that's brought them back together. Maybe hopefully it's not just convenience or, you know, hopefully it's the right reasons they've got back together. I'm trying to think of friends of mine who haven't liked boyfriends or relationships or friends. I mean, I've had it with my kids where they've been with someone who I wasn't sure was right for them. I think it's a case where silence is deafening, isn't it? I think I remember various people from my past and when your friends suddenly go silent, you're like, oh, oh, I think maybe they don't approve. I haven't heard from them. Oh, okay, they're not saying anything. That's when you get the inkling that there might be something quite wrong with this person for you.

I definitely remember having some deafening silence from various friends. And if I see anybody in a situation, then I can see it's not working out. I would definitely go silence rather than speaking up. I have one amazing friend who is so brutally honest and she can't be anything but. And she was always the hardest nut to crack for any, you know, potential partners. And it would always be that sort of, you know, like the litmus test. Oh my gosh. Are they going to meet the approval of this friend?

And if she's listening, she'll know who she is. I love her dearly. And actually, she was often right. In fact, yeah, she was often right. But sometimes you've got to give people the benefit of the doubt. Because if people you love, love someone, there must be something in that relationship. Also, not everybody gets on. not everybody

you know there can be personality clashes you know and there are friends who just sort of wind each other up a little bit

but it sounds here Ella like you have your friend's best interests at heart so fingers crossed we'll watch the space hopefully the guy has gone away

done some work but communicating well and maybe things will be different this time round and if they're not different your friend will definitely need

you further down the line and maybe you will one day have that conversation of you were right you were right we've given it a second chance

and still the same problems, or perhaps positively thinking, you might later on say, okay, all right, giving him a second chance. He's making him a friend happy. She seems happy in a healthy way. Maybe that will work out. Yeah, you're doing the right thing, Ella, just sitting back. Fingers crossed, he does turn out to be a good and not a complete wrong un. If you're loving dig it so far, hit follow or subscribe, and that way you'll get brand new episodes as soon as they're out. Next up, we've got a voice note from Marianne. Hi, Zoe and Joe, firstly, loving the podcast.

It really does cheer me up. So thank you. My adult daughter of 24, she's an incredible, kind, beautiful and intelligent being, who has really made me a much stronger and better person than I ever used to be. She has gone and got herself a tattoo. I won't say what it is. It is quite inoffensive, although quite ugly, oh no.

Which is now sitting prominently on her arm. She knows I hate them, and we have talked about it many times before. She already has a few other small ones, albeit quite discreet. I'm trying not to be, but it has really upset me. I keep telling myself it's her body, her life, but I'm struggling to move on from it. we can blame it on the generational differences perhaps which is increasingly growing wider. Anyway, some words of advice and how to deal with my feelings would be really appreciated.

Thank you. Mariam, I can really hear it in your voice, actually. How tough that is. Oh, gosh, yes. You see, I haven't had this yet. Woody doesn't have any tattoos. The closest I've got to this is Nell talking about getting a nose pierced, which both her father and I said, oh, for goodness sake, do you really need to do that?

And then I think, oh, no, I mind that person now. The thing with tattoos is they're so evident, aren't they? And if it's something in quite a prominent place, Mariam, it's something you can't even escape from. And it's not something she's going to particularly hide from you. But like you say, she's grown up, is her body. Maybe you'll get used to it with time. You know, we've talked about it before, Joe, haven't we? Like, you know, the things that you don't like about someone's belongings or things about them that often you can grow to really love in different ways and appreciate.

And tattoos are all about self-expression, aren't they? And they're things that mean so much to the person who has them done. So maybe in time, Mariam, you'll get used to it. And maybe one day you might even like it. I mean, I'm desperate to know what it is. Yeah. I've got all kinds of images going through my head right now. What is it?

I wonder why, Marion, this bothers you so much. because you said she's got other smaller tattoos. So I wonder if it's that you think it's ugly, if it says something, if it symbolises something that you don't like. It sounds like you're having to come to terms with the age gap between you and the distance between being the mother

and being the daughter and maybe the independence, something else is going on. It feels to me like there's something else going on. And this tattoo symbolises your struggle with your daughter. I might be reading way too much into this. But it is hard giving up the having control of somebody, I think,

and just sort of going, you know, acknowledging that it's their body and they can do what they like with it. Jude's got three tattoos, two tattoos. Anyway, abstract tattoos. And I'm a really big fan of tattoos. I love tattoos. I think they're really nice and I've never dared to have a decent one myself. I'd love to.

But I think it is that thing of you just desperately want them to have something that looks cool or aesthetically beautiful is in the right position. And when you can see that they've maybe made a bit of an error, it's really hard to bear. You just have to bite your tongue and you have to just accept that they've made that decision for themselves and you've just got to live with it. You've just got to not look at it and you've just got to move on. But it sounds like a complex one for me, Mariam. I really hope that you are able to move past this and just accept it because that's all you can do.

Acceptance is all you can do. There's nothing else. You can't make her take it off. You can't change it. Unless it's like a cross, a knuckles or something or other. And she did say it's inoffensive. It's not anything like that. So that's why I'm wondering why it's an issue. Maybe it's just big and in a rubbish place. I mean, some people do get terrible tattoos in terrible places. We think, wow, that was a very strong thing to do. So diggers, bring it on. Yeah, has anyone had tattoos somewhere that they've kind of regret it? It's interesting as well. I've heard it's a bit like when you get a boob job. Apparently, sometimes when you go and get a boob job, apparently sometimes when you go and get a boob job, job. This is what I've been told by friends of mine who've had boob jobs, is that when you go in, you say you want a certain size. And then the doctors generally say you kind of have to go a bit

bigger than that. And I'm like, well, surely you're not then getting the boob job that you asked for in the first place. Is it a bit like that with tattoos? Or you go to get it in a certain place and then the tattooist will say to you, actually, that is a really difficult place to or that's a really painful place or have it in a slightly different place. Or you end up with something slightly bigger. I mean, I loved that show where they were undoing the terrible, often hilarious tattoo mistakes. Mispellings, yeah, misspellings, they're always really good.

Mispellings, really bad drawings. That's supposed to be your mother? My God. Things that you've had done when you're very, very drunk or very, very young. We would love to know all that kind of stuff. Pictures would be even better. If you can send through photographs of your terrible tattoos,

I would love to see those. The thing is, Mariam as well, that if she does change her mind, one day. You can have tattoos removed. What's his name? Pete. He's an actor and he was a comedian. Pete Davidson. Thank you, Eve, who works on the podcast. He's just recent. I think it's taken him three years. He has had all his tattoos removed off his arms, I think. And I was thinking, wow, that is, I think it's quite painful having them removed, but you can. I think it takes time as well. I remember years ago saying to a friend of mine, you know what we should get. We should invest

in a tattoo removing machine because there's going to be so many people in years to come going, why did I get that tattoo? When I had my tattoo done, actually, the tattoo artist, he was amazing. He was on Frith Street and he was so lovely. And he just said, look, you might not want to do that. He might not want to do this. Just have a think about that and da-da-da-da-da. And he really kind of helped me with that.

It was great. And I've always thought, I'm going to get way more and get, but I've never really had something done since I had that. What's your tattoo? What have you got? I had this done for Billy because Billy had. roses on his arm. That's it, yeah.

That went down his arm. They were beautiful. And quite a few of us after he died, we went and got roses for him. So his sisters have them, and my friend Beth, there's quite a few of us. And I was going to do,

I liked it here because I thought, I always thought about my nan. I thought my nan would be like, what have you meet the king? So I thought I could always cover it up if I had to be in fine company. But then I love that it's here, and it's sort of in a place

where I'll always remember him, you know, and it's quite special. And I was going to carry it on up here and do more things, but I kind of haven't. So now I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll just leave it. Maybe that will just be my one for a very special reason. I kind of like the idea of getting something with my kids at some point, but I'm not sure if we will. It's not been mentioned yet. We would love your tattoos that you've regretted. Please send us stories about the whole process, about the reactions, and photographs will be even better.

That would be lovely. We're going to take a quick break for some ads. But if you're keen to listen to these episodes early and ad-free, you can subscribe to the potting shed. Become a member of the potting shed and you'll receive bonus bits. You get longer episodes and yearly subscriptions get a free dig-it tote bag, very cool, and father gills sow and tell seeds. Just click the link to subscribe in the show notes. Right, time for a break. So Jen has been in touch and she writes, Zoe got married the year before I did and I just loved the clean, simple and

wildflower hair do. I'm so not one for taking a picture to a hairdresser, but I just knew that look was me. I attach a picture taken by a guest showing off my wildflowers, which I kept in for two days afterwards. And don't judge our baby faces. We were actual children. We were just 23 and 20. Lots of love from Jen. And we have a photograph. Oh, wow. That's amazing. Just like yours. Do you know what? You really, I don't know where they're. I don't know where they're that idea came from, Jen? By the way, you look gorgeous. So it's an updo. Yeah, you've got your hair up with flowers in the top. It was just pinning it up and then using wild flowers pinned in. And then those similar flowers to those were in all the displays. Yeah. But I remember on the chaos

of the morning, my fabulous bridesmaids who had had a lot of champagne to drink. My wonderful hairdresser Kevin had disappeared and was found in a cupboard with some other friends of mine from the wedding. So cute. I mean, it was carnage. And then the bridesmaids had helped themselves to pretty much all the wild flowers for their hair. So there was none left for my hair. My hairdresser was missing. It was utter carnage. So the fact that it looked that good in the end was a flipping miracle. I'll tell you. And also, I remember saying to all my bridesmaids, oh, choose anything you want to wear, because I hated the idea of being made to wear a matching bridesmaid's dress. But as it was, they were in the most dementedly eclectic array of clothes.

It was very funny. Oh my God, I can't remember. I want to see pictures. I've got loads of pictures of that day, Joe. Do you remember the Radio 1 bus went missing, got lost? Did it? So we were waiting for like 40 people to turn up from Radio 1. And we had to wait because they'd all come.

wait for the wedding until they got there. Yeah, we had to hold the wedding until the Radio One bus arrived. Oh dear. It was it. Funny, funny, funny. By the way, have you, Joe, have you taken a photograph into their hairdressers? I mean, this always makes me think of flea bag with the reference picture, which just cracks me up. It's exactly the picture.

I did the Purdy haircut with the Joanna Lumley. Oh, wow. I might have talked about this before. But yeah, the Purdy. The Purdy. The Purdy. I did the Meg Ryan short cuts, which was also a bit of a Gwynness. I definitely took the Rachel in.

Everybody had the Rachel. That was a big era for me. I think I've taken a Bridget Bardot, French Bangs in quite a long time ago. That was another great inspiration. Yeah, all the different looks. Today I've gone Farrah Fawcett. Yeah, your hair's long. I've just bought a tong.

And I was thinking, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this. I've never owned a tong, Joe. And so I did it this morning. And it's worked. I mean, I know it's not perfect because it's quite far a forcet. But I'm like, oh, wow. And I probably said this before, Hadley, who's brilliant, does my hair, has put pieces in so that to make it a bit fuller because my hair's getting really thin as I get older.

So I thought, well, I'll try and copy what he does with the tong. And I've sort of done it. But it's slightly freaking me out because I feel like it just goes, wee, like that at the moment. But I'm quite proud of this work. Talk about the half marathon. We heard from Ali. I was talking a lot about how stressed I was,

how anxious I was before I did the half marathon. So the lovely Ali has been in touch. Hey Joe, hey Zoe. It's Ali here from Burgess Hill, fellow runner. And while Joe was doing her half marathon, I was doing the Brighton marathon. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. And I say that as someone who I think was very,

prepared but I thought I would share in light of the latest episode and Joe talking about feeling unhinged and high cortisol that I also experienced what is known as Maranoia the paranoia before a race day where you're kind of having to taper and relax and let your energy muscles or your muscle restores we kind of store with energy and relax and everything and your head is on a completely different planet with that it's ultimate sabotage of the mind I think, and I had it so bad last week. And I just thought I would say to Joe that she's not alone in that kind of panic of having stress

dreams or stress thoughts about things going wrong. It's actually really normal when you've been building up to something like this. I'm not a pro and I'm not trained in any way to talk about it, but I absolutely experienced the same thing. But we did it. We got out the other side. We're aching, breaking messes. but we did it and yeah I'm proud of us that is it yes oh Ali I'm proud of us as well thank

you thank you sharing that marinaoya that's such a good phrase London Marathon of course is coming up and the Manchester Marathons just happened so they're all all over the place at the moment they are loads of people have Maranoia it's just you just don't feel sane I've got so many friends doing London go on Mike yeah on Patrick go on Hitting go on Emma, you're all going to be incredible. I know you are. Emily and Claire, I want to shout them out as well because they're doing it for such good causes. So yeah. Did you see the footage of the robots running a marathon in China? It was so surreal and hilarious. What's the story behind that? I don't know. I think they used the opportunity to show off some of their incredible new tech, which can be incredible, can also be terrifying. But the thing that really made me laugh watching the report of the robots running in the marathon was obviously there was this one that just sailed through and you know it was quite slightly terrifying but the movement of them but there were loads of incidents when they would fall over and it's I mean I always laugh at people falling over there's

something about people falling over I laugh when I fall over um there's nothing worse than falling over on your own and you've got no one to laugh with but there was something about these robots Just when they fall over that, I mean, they properly wipe themselves out. And then there's footage of them being stretched off. You know, some of them when they get, look, look at this guy. Oh, my God, yeah. He's exploded into a million pieces. He didn't even get across the line.

And then the stretcher comes to carry them off. I mean, in... Pick all the pieces. That's literally what happens to people when they do marathons, I think. And then they carry them off. We saw one on the news last night where his arm was hanging over the side. It was like, oh my goodness me. If you had a robot.

Yeah. It's kind of a scary thing. I guess when we were kids, I thought we'd live like the Jetsons and we'd be in flying cars. And we're nearly in driverless cars, equally terrifying. But if you had a robot, I know you've got your robot lawnmowers. Yeah, which I love. But if you had another robot in the house, what would you have it do? What would it be useful for?

Maybe ironing. I never iron. I don't particularly, but I've got a bunch of ironing that needs doing at the moment. So maybe a robot to do the ironing. would be really handy. And make the beds, make the beds. That would be the thing because it's such hard work.

The massive, because I always have super king-sized duvés and then they're really heavy duvets. And it really hurts your fingers, especially if you've got the arthritic finger thing. So yeah, I'd have a robot that would make the beds. I'm just imagining a Trevor and Simon we don't do duvets robot.

I think I would have a handyman robot. I'd quite like a handyman who could put things up, who could do, you know, I mean, like, the showers both need, you know, sealing at the moment. I keep looking, I'm thinking they're leaking, they're leaking. I need to get that sealed. I've got a leaky tap. So quite like a handyman robot.

But there is always the idea that if you did have a robot in the house. I mean, he used to quite enjoy that program, Love and Robots, which was a series. And there were loads of different animations of robots. And generally, the story would always be that the robot would go wrong. and try to kill the household. So there is always that thing that I don't think I'd be able to have the robot living in the house. The idea that you've got a handyman robot

but you wake up in the night and the robots above your head. You're like, turn it off. I can't turn it off. So yes. Amusing watching robots go kaput. Apparently there's footage of them putting themselves to bed as well. Putting themselves away. This is just very weird.

At the end of the day, which is quite rude. really. Here is the robot. Putting the robots, putting itself away. I'm folding myself into a box. It's like me getting into bed. Oh my gosh. We are now watching the footage. What's he going to do with his legs? All right. So he's lied down and he's led down and now his legs. It looks like he's probably just left me off a massive fart. He's put the robot has led down. He's put his legs over his head into a position that I used to be able to do but can't do it anymore. And he's sort of holding his his bum cheeks and then he's put into his little case. Yeah, that's very surreal. See, that's why it's worth watching this podcast so you can see the things that we're describing. I don't want a robot handyman anymore.

I've changed your mind. Thank you very much. Okay, got another comment from Joanne. She sent us an idea for the show and she said, I heard you talking about feeling overwhelmed. Well, me and my mates have a WhatsApp group which is called Busy Bitch Corner. I love that. Busy bitch corner. It's basically a space where we can have a proper voice note.

about what is annoying us or just generally how overwhelmed we feel. No judgment. Just get it out. That's what we do. We tend to keep it light so it can actually be quite funny. And I wondered if that's something you could try on the show. Oh, yes. Rants.

Busy bitch corner. Yes. Everybody send us your rants, the things that are like, I used to call the mind bubbles. It's those things that just pop into your head all the time. But it could just be stuff that you have to do or is really annoying you. Send us your voice notes. It can be yet anything like, you know, it could be about your kids. It could be about somebody at work.

It could be about something you've got to get done. It could be the state of the pavements. This is what I rant about all the time. I walk to the station around here. The pavements are a mess. And I'm just really worried about people. I mean, I've got a dicky hip. But, I mean, I'm struggling with them.

I'm thinking if anyone's got a walker or something like that, it's really difficult. I'll give you 10 years time. You're going to be in trouble. I'd have a right rant about that. We've got a phone number. It's not quite 0181, 8, 8,1. Oh, I love it. If you feel like you want to get something off your chest, send us a voice note in our busy bitch corner.

We can't nick the name, Joanne. I appreciate that. It's probably copyrighted. But it's 07-477-038-795. That number again. That's 07-4-7-0-3-8-795. Did you see? I was trying to put it into a song.

But it didn't quite work. work. Yeah. Okay. I'm never going to remember that phone number without a song. We'll put the number on the show notes. And if this week diggers you feel like having a good old rant about something, get it off your chest. You feel better afterwards.

Rant away. Although will you be able to delete it later if you later on site that actually I really shouldn't have ranted about that and I feel really bad, which is often what happens to me. It happens to us on this. And when we do dig it, isn't it all the time? It finishes and you go, oh, I don't think the kids are going to like me saying that. Why did I wang on about that? Yes. I'm in trouble now with my children and my parents.

All right, we're done. Thank you. Nice to talk to you, Zoe again. And nice to talk to all our diggers, of course, and bring on your questions. Head to the show notes and you can get involved in the show. I'm looking forward to the ranting on the Dig It Rant line. Absolutely. 077.

I'm going now. You'll all be glad to know. See you on Wednesday. I'm backing away. I am reversing out of this podcast. Leave the room. Beep. Beep. Shot down.

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