Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: Can we double our Money?

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

We sent Troy to the casino to double our money. We talk about the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Ben's dog has been doing something that he really shouldn't be doing Megan went along to the Military Tattoo What is the best chip flavour? Jono left his phone behind somewhere and had an awkward interaction Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The John O'Ben and Megan podcast, thanks to Dilma. Goodness really does taste great. Dilma, making the world a better tea. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, the hits. Hey, welcome to the podcast here. Friday heading into the weekend, and you just mentioned something to us just before we started recording the podcast, Megan.

I conveniently forgot my gym bag today because I usually go straight to the gym. Well, I mean, I had a big night, and I was like, Friday. There's a little bit of CBF going on, and my husband texts. and said, you forgot your gym bag, so I took it through the gym,

and I've left it in the locker for you. Oh, monster rat. Monster is it. It's going to be nice, obviously, but yeah. Is he, or is he saying, get your ass to the gym? No, he's not saying, he was trying to be nice.

I don't think anyone, like Andrew would say, get your ass to the gym. I don't know, Andrew, as well as you do. So what are you knowing the best out of any of it? No, because he always struggled with, he's like, is this a moment where you want me to encourage you, or are you going to be angry at me thinking I'm calling you fat?

Oh, does he ask? Does he ask before he's like, Do you need encouragement or do you want me to like go with you and say, no, you need time off. You need to tell me. Yeah, because you don't know. Because sometimes you're like, end of the day, he's like, encourage you. But in the day, he's like, well, he doesn't have to leave the thing. You know, if it's going to be an issue, he doesn't have to put the bag at the gym.

He's like, everything is like, oh, what is the pain? He's like, dude, I don't care. Either way, you do you. I'm going to give him to someone and say, this is for me. And that's the time of his day is like, if it's going to cause an issue, it's easier for him not to, right? But there is now an obligation on your part. I know. maybe I'll just go pick it up and come home

Hey you're saying Did someone leave a bag here for me? Thank you and then walk out Yeah Great, or you just leave it there on Monday It's clearly a gym bag It's got the gym name on it Monday's our option It's gonna be, I mean is there anything there

That's going to go off? I'll be like, oh did I leave it here From earlier when I was here Yeah, I've been here all every day last week Jesus, oh Yes Or you could pretend like you could Spray your face with water

Pretend you have been working out And going great Working out in your blazer in your work clothes. It's not going to work. There was a dumb idea. I'll just go and get changed and then leave.

Yeah. You can do that. Do they judge? I don't know. They probably don't really care, do they? No, no, you're right. I don't care. Is it a busy one?

No, it's one of those 18 plus ones. It's quite nice. 18 plus? Yeah. Don't go wool. You go to the same gym. What do you mean 18 plus though? The simplicity ones.

The 18 plus. I don't know if I go the same gym. City Fitness. Yeah, but I don't go to an 18 plus. What's that mean? Simplicity. It's the same gym. I don't know anything about it.

They haven't told me about the 18 plus. He's only in the all ages. Yeah, they haven't come up to me. You want to come to this door? Someone carry your bag to reception. You can come pick it up. Welcome. To the paradise.

The cardiovascular paradise that is 18 plus. Who would you like to talk? I don't know anything about that. We try and keep the refrape out. I didn't even know that was an option for my thing. Now you've let the roof rat fit. Yeah. Oh, thank you.

Andrew can drop my bag off there. I'll pick up later. Anyway, enjoy the podcast. Have a great weekend. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hats. Just getting a head around the news, the big news overnight.

It's come to hand. So the artist formerly known as Prince, Prince Andrew. Andrew Mountain Batten Windsor. Yeah, he's no longer a Prince anymore, is he, right? It's not a Prince. So you've never said Prince Andrew, but he's no longer. No, that's why everyone's saying Andrew. batten Windsor, that's their last name.

You just never hear it. The Kings, you know, there's always an awkward uncle in a family, isn't there? And Andrew is the awkward uncle in the royal family. There is always one man like, oh, Christmas and stuff. Oh, God. I feel like I have a few. Yeah. So the king, he cut him from the family,

and so he really hasn't been part of royal life for a number of months now. I think everyone knows what's going on in the world. You know, the Epstein thing, we don't need to dig too deep into that here on a light commercial radio station in morning. but he's obviously, his name's been associated with that in the news for a while now, right? Tell you what, Megan, you're in a hole, bro? Yeah. So are you.

Yeah. We're sending each other. Ben's like, I don't want to talk about it. And me and John are just sending videos back and forth. Oh, it just makes me sad. It's horrible. It's so grim. And that's why we're not talking about it.

Just because it's so bloody grim. You know, like, you know, I've got daughters the same age as people that are talking about. It's just, it's just, it is heinous. It is horrible. It is heinous. Yeah. If any of this has announced a truth, then it's just. It's disgusting.

Oh, horrible. It is. And you go so far down the hole, you're like, what is truth and what is conspiracy? You just don't know. But what we do know is he's been arrested overnight, and it's not for anything related to sexual actions. He was handing over sensitive UK government information to Epstein. So that's what they've kind of got him.

Well, they hope they think they've got him on. They've arrested him on that. Misconduct during public service or something of the sort. The king didn't even know about it, according. So King Charles didn't know that he was going to get arrested. No. He had no idea. I don't think they can, like, pre-s.

Hey, we're going to arrest your brother. Are you okay with that? Maybe about that sort of stuff, but maybe not. Okay, so on his birthday, too, 66 birthday or something. 66 birthday. I could have left it till tomorrow. Let him blow the candles out. Let him blow the candles out.

66, big achievement. Now, the British Prime Minister's come out. Kea Starmer's got something to say about it. One of the core principles, in our system is that everybody is equal under the law and nobody is above the law. And it is really important that that is applied across the board. Isn't he in a bit of hot water because the minister that he really pushed for is involved? Oh really?

So he was on the Epstein files. Who isn't in the Epstein files? It feels like everyone. But then the people that have been like referenced and stuff and emails that aren't, they've just been brought up and, you know. Everyone's floundering to be like, I borrowed it. that's why I'm in there. I'm being surprised

with Ben, voices pops up. What was he doing? Oh, he wanted to play a prank on Epstein Island dressed as a palm tree. You imagine if Ben was listed. He would just be like, backpedaling, explaining, he'd be flapping.

I'd say the majority of people mentioned in there are innocent. There's probably a handful who had been involved in the misconduct. The comedian John Stewart, like he was on his show, the daily show and he was like, I've been mentioned in there, but there was an email chain

that he wasn't part of saying, basically they could get him to be a narrator for something you know and it was nothing to do with Troy come in here Troy's just searched the Epstein files oh yes what

how many how many what just search the Epstein files there are 250 hits for B-boys oh B-boys not me guys

explain yourself I'm back drinking I just wanted to pull a brain gone in the Epstein files, Ben. Okay, we're going to wrap this up right now. That's all we can do. No more questions. Jesus. I told you he'd be flapping.

It could not have ended better. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The heads. I was just searching the Epstein files to see if Ben Boyce was in there, and B-Boyce pops up 200 times. Although it's on the good side, right? Sorry, he's a criminal prosecutor. Great. But I really enjoyed you sweating for three minutes.

He was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I was someone, some guy the other day whose name is Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, no. You'd change it. You have to change it. It's terrible branding. And then I thought I was clear. Troy, Troy buzzes me.

You're laughing away at Ben. Ben's in the Epstein files. And then, Jay Pryor, nine hits. Nine hits. I'm nine times in the Epstein files. Not as bad as 200. Please tell me he's not part of the Hansy team. No, he's a FBI investigator, special investigator.

The good guys, we're the good guys in the Epstein Files. Megan? Megan, the name is clear, no hits. Ah, yeah, the two guys on the show, the Epstein Files. I'm clear, guys. But in them, you know, we're on the right side of it. You know, on the right side of history, Megan? I'm just out of it.

I'm not involved. It's not involved. It's not as, too, by the way. I mean, ideally, you don't want your name in the Epstein Files, but if you were in there, you want to be on the good team. Yeah. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. Hats.

Yesterday we had to, we're just pulling back the curtain here, sometimes we go to advertising agencies after the show, don't we, and try and sell the dream that is the hits breakfast. Trying to woo them. Yeah, we go around and we make sort of like travelling salespeople, don't we? Yeah, we do. Amazing offices, some people have. Really?

We had like a drinks fridge, a fancy coffee machine. Water with bubbles inside of it. Lunch, I think something gets provided at this place. Yeah, it's good. But there's nothing quite like the humbling experience of a more. morning tea presentation, you know, really. I mean, the people you can tell the people you're talking to, all lovely people, but they're like, I really don't need this in my day.

Could have been an email. Meetings, call. But you don't want to face to face, you tell the dream, we go play the Alpha Quiz live. Yeah, we do. I mean, we have fun. We have a lot of fun. It's the personal touch, isn't it? So what we did after the presentation, we left, we did a textbook departure.

Left on a good hymn, bit of a gag, bit of a wave, walked out the room, shook some hands. We've given away tickets to symphony and stuff. We did. We left on the ultimate high. Someone had won a rapture, it was. If you had scripted it. Ben and I were marching down the road, happy as back to work.

And then all the way down the road, I kept patting my pockets, padding my bottom, I wonder what was wrong with you. I was padding the front of my thighs, padding the top pocket on my chest. And I was like, oh no, I've left my phone in the air. I've left my phone in the room. Now, when we left, the meeting was continuing on. There were more presentations to come. We were the start of the meeting.

Yeah, we were just the open. So I was like, I'm going to have to go back. I'm going to go back and get my phone. And there's no more humiliating experience as an adult, I think, than leaving a room and then realizing you've forgotten something that's still inside that room and having to return back to the room. Isn't it like keys and phones and all sorts of stuff? Like 30 professionals that you don't really know.

Yeah. And so then I managed to have my head pressed up the glass window of the door. And Jess, who we were, she was doing her presentation. She was distracted by me at the door. And she's like, oh, oh, she had to stop her presentation. Oh, no, you stopped. Beck and me in, a whole room turns towards me. And she's like, oh, can we help you?

I said, I think I'll leave my phone here. And then I couldn't find where the phone was instantly. So then I'm fosicking around. They've stopped the presentation. Oh, God. This is just, this is so you. This is you in a nutshell. It wasn't there.

Mortifying. And then I'm like, okay. There's a little ferret going around the room. Excuse me, can move, can move, can move. Sorry, sorry. People were standing up and checking and looking for it, and I'd cause the scene. And then Jess was like, okay, well, where was I?

I'd throw in poor Jess, left, and I was like, came back here, my phone was at work. I was ready to, you know, change my name, number, everything. I'll take the loss. But God it's. Yeah, it's a bad time. I've got secondhand embarrassment. It's good.

I had first hand embarrassment. You can have 30. in embarrassment bed. Oh my God, we bought them along. I'm so sorry. It is humbling. I don't know why it's so humbling going back to something you lost. The other day happens to me because we park, not Megan,

Jono and I park a long way away from the studio right here. And sometimes you get over there and you're like, key stuff, the swipe card to get in. I'm like, oh, the back of the studio. I've done a textbook exit. You know, there was a whole thing going on in reception for Chinese New Year. And I've been saying goodbye to them and a dragon. I was like, do you say, happy new year.

They're like, yeah, you're doing. I was a happy new year. Goodbye to the Dragon. Oh, it was an epic exit. Yeah, I was an episode. I said, happy year. They're like, yeah, happy new year. So I had to walk back past five minutes later.

I go, hey, guys, hey guys, I just come back and give a case. And they were all stoked that I'd happy year. I couldn't happy new year them again. Oh, you didn't do it again. No, I could do it again. I'd only wish one happy new year. I couldn't do another. You've lost momentum.

John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. Last week, of course, we headed off on the 10K race against Maddie and PJ. we had the North Island. They had the South Island. It was the race to Wellington to win $10,000. They kind of gave us four grand out of their winnings, which we mowed through in a couple of days.

Recklessly. We gave it all the way to you very, very quickly. So we've got a lot of prizes to give away today, but that's not part of it. Yeah. On the trip, actually, I was accused of some ill-purchased chips. Yeah. So we were staying in Northland.

Yeah, B&B, all staying together in the house, we're going? Yeah. Swung by Pack and Save on the way. there and I picked up some chips to share with the team. Now, do they kind of feel like a flavour you'd choose if you didn't want to share? Yeah, they felt like you were confidently ordering because you wanted the chip. You're like, going to try these flavours guys.

And everyone would be like, hey. If you wanted to share, you'd go like, you know. Okay. Well, except we're all new. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well, I committed a social crime apparently of trying too hard with the snacks. Now, I like to go exotic with my chips. I wouldn't have thought you're an exotic chip-bye.

Well, a dear friend of mine put me on to Bluebird Roast Lamb. Now, I am with you. When you first hear roast lamb chips, your face screws up. And mine did when he sort of suggested them to me. But I saw them in the supermarket and I gave them a run. And they were a game changer. The roast lamb chip, the Bluebird roast. I won't say compared to bloody Lee Hart's chips.

He runs a magnificent line. I say they were okay. They weren't a game-changer for me. Like I wouldn't buy them again. The thing is. I wouldn't go out and buy them if I was like, you've got a roast lamb's for everyone going, this is what you've got to try. Sorry I've got, sorry I have gourmet tastes when it comes to chips.

They do legitimately. They taste like a roast lamb dinner, like identical. But I don't know that I want that on my chips. Yeah, I'm okay. So then I'm getting like, why would you buy this exotic flavor? Because, you know, Larissa, who works in the office, she came on the road with us. She's like, just get ready salted. Ready salted.

I'm not ready salted. No, don't do ready salted. missionary of chips. Yeah, it is. And then in the other packet I bought was Greek Sizaki. Zizaki. And I love Siziki. Do you not love that chip?

Oh, I do like that. That's right. Yeah, that brand's quite good. Delisio. Yeah, a good sweet chili one or something. It's really good. Yeah, but apparently, you know, you're really salted. Your salt and vinegars, the Toyota corollas of chips, they're the stocksy.

You know what you're getting. You know you're planning on sharing the big group. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, we talked about that the other day, the DMMegan, about the guy coming in and ordering him the date and she was a bit put off. This is the same situation. Controlling behavior? Gourmet chips.

And then you were like, have you tried prawn cocktail? Oh, absolutely. I haven't. Prawn cocktail is all that. Okay. Oh, 800. Oh, no. No, you're going too advanced for your chip.

It is so. Lee Hart does a good prawn cocktail as well. Okay, oh, 800 of the hits. You phone us up and you tell us a chip flavour. We must try. There's plenty out there nowadays. Yeah, there's probably too many. I'd say there's too much out there.

Bree and Clint, Brian Clinton on Zedm, they've just launched the, what flavor they've gone? Honey. It's hot honey chicken or something. We did the same thing with Heartland, didn't we, a few years ago. They did a good one for us. Yeah. What was your chip flavour? Wasn't it weird? No, it was good.

No, it was really good. It was, yeah. They still make it, the extreme crunch. They still make the packaging, sorry, the flavor, but we're not associated with. But it was a tasty one. I can't remember what the flavor was. Stuck with me. It was out of this world is what we called.

John O'Ben and Megan The podcast The hits Talking about the best Flavourid Chip We brought out some From Heartland chips A couple of years ago

We're just reminiscing about And we sent them up Because we were out of this world Was the kind of the mash-up Of the flavour That was kind of the catchphrase So we decided We'd send them up into space

See if we can get us It was quite cool Isn't it? Let's do it in Canterbury Didn't we? The launch site With the Space Engineering Students there

Built us a rocket To put the chips in It's kind of like a weather balloon that just kind of goes up and it goes out into the atmosphere and they had cameras on it. They went it and they were tracking it and it's gone to space and we felt like, woo, we've been space mission and stuff. But then obviously the bloom kind of explodes, pops and then it comes back down. But could we find it when it came back down?

No. No. So the GoPro's on there. They don't have any tracking on it? They lost sight of the tracker. They think the tracker ended up somewhere different from when their cameras ended up as well. A farmer found it like a week later in his farm. Oh, wow.

But we spent all this money on seeing to get up there, and they're like, Amazing, got it to space, but no one could see, obviously, the footage. It was all on the GoPro. So, yeah, luckily the farmer contacted, and, yeah, we got their footage back. It's a gamble. It's a gamble when you go to space. You just ask, you know, Bruce Willis.

That's right. You'll tell you. Space race is hard. That's why we haven't been back. That's why people haven't been back to the moon. Like, why don't it? We'll go back to space again. We dipped our toes in it.

Not for us. Not for us. So, yeah, we're talking about the most exotic flavored chip that we must try. I was lambasted for. it for bringing some gourmet flavors to a roast lamb. Roast lamb. Sozak.

Sizaki. Sizaki. Love that. Prawn cocktail. Mm-mm-mm. Nothing exposes you like presenting some gourmet chips to a group. Yeah. Does it?

So Hannah, it's good to have you on. The exotic chip flavors we must try. Good morning. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Show catchphrase. Catch on. Slowly starting to irritate some people.

It is. It's really winding up some people. but anyway, what's your favorite chip? Mrs. Ball's fruit chutney chips. It's available at South African schools. It is 100% the best flavor in the world. Fruit chutney chips. Well, Mrs. Ball's Chattney, you can get it at the supermarket.

It's divine. Is it a co-lab with the chutney? So the actual chips, they're not like cheese balls or the flavor of Mrs. Balls or anything like that. They're actual chips that are flavored like chutney. Yeah, right? Yeah. I know what you're talking about, the green packet, right? but I've never actually tried them.

Try them, you won't regret it. I'll tell you what we're going to do, Hannah. Next week, why don't we gather all these chips and we'll give them a taste test? Okay. Should we do that? Yeah, that sounds good. I say that because I don't have to deal with the airmen.

Emily, the exotic chip flavours, we must try. Happy New Year? Happy New Year. Unprompted now. I know, that's what I love about it. What's the best flavour of chips that we need to try? It's from Copper Kettle. They are roast, chicken, sage and burnt butter.

Oh, burnt butter, did you say? They really pushed the boat out there, haven't they? Say it again, I'm writing the flavours down. So, roast chicken, sage and burnt butter. Oh, okay. Copper Kettle do some good chips. They do. Nice and crispy, the old copper kettel.

No, that's good, okay. Burnt butter, it sounds like someone made a mistake in the kitchen, but there we go. Oh, no, no, try it. And then they got away with it. Okay, we're going to try that next week too, Emily. We'll take a couple of more. Mate, Jimmy, how are you? Morning.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year. What's the chip we must try, mate? Well, if you like salt and salt and belisone it, vinegar. I have tried that. Oh, yes. Yeah. She sounds like they've just gone, like, I mean, what's the difference between sea salt and salt?

Yeah. Really? It is nice. I know that. Is that a Deliccio one as well? I think so. Yeah. It's been a while since I've had it, but it, yeah.

Yeah, it's very, very nice. I tell you what, the chips are so internationally respected, aren't they? As a cuisine. We'll take one more quickly. Anali, the chip flavour we must try. Happy New Year, guys. Happy New Year. Right, you're going to have to find a UK import shop for this one.

Okay. So if you like C.mphorn cocktail, which I love as well. Worcester sauce. Oh, Worcester sauce chip. What's the cheese? Yeah. Well, yeah, okay, so is it good, is it? Oh, yeah, so walkers in the UK do a great.

It's in a purple packet. I can tell you exactly what it looks like, and it's amazing. And if you like those tangy flavors, like, I say, like the prawn cocktail and tapeakee. Yeah, amazing. Well, a lot of people like it on hot chips that, you know, that's a source, so, yeah. We do know a British shop.

We will go there and we will check it down. And, Anna Lee, thank you so much. We'll taste test it next week. You're going to have a wonderful weekend. John O'Ben and Megan The podcast The Hats It's a big show today

The Winter Olympics on I've seen at the moment A lot of winning going on there But I'd say Pails in comparison to what we got going on there Well they've got three medals Which is magnificent for New Zealand

Oh I wasn't trying to single out New Zealand Don't make it about New Zealand The whole event Don't start saying we're better than New Zealand I'm just saying I'm just saying if we're talking numbers They've got three medals And we've got four magnificent prizes to give away

Back and back now I'm getting off the top of the Mountain. No, I was just saying as far as the Winter Olympics goes, they're giving away a lot of stuff, so are we. That's what I was saying, not singling out where we've got more medals in New Zealand. Yeah, what a hater. I didn't start the conversation, think. You're zeroing it on New Zealand. No, definitely wasn't. Now, we've got trips to Queenstown to give away, trip for two to Queenstown, thanks to New Zealand. We've got all the items we've been putting in for the last couple of weeks in our Woolworth's Bricks house tickets, first tickets to the manifest

and a chance of one of a thousand bucks today, all this morning. That's four compared to three. incredible numbers. Now, Megan, we're going to talk very shortly. We went along to the military tattoo last night. The Royal Edinburgh, Military Tatu! Yeah, that was in my head the whole time. It is. Once you hear that radio had, you cannot not do the accent.

That, the South African and the American feel like the Italian accent. They feel like the four safe ones. Oh, I don't know. Oh, you can't do the Italian one. Oh, who knows? Even like Super Mario Brothers don't do the accent anymore. Yeah, they don't actually right. Yeah.

Okay, we can't do that. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. At least it's a fun one left. Yeah. You had a good night? It was incredible the amount of rehearsing those people have to do because not only are they

playing instruments, but they're walking completely in sync. Even their little hands and their little white gloves are like, shoo, shoo, shoo, it's amazing. Yeah, that's what you do in the military. Yeah, but they all come out together at some points and they only had a couple days to do that, obviously, because people around the world, that's the thing I was like, oh, yeah. Obviously, they have their different. acts is like 30 different acts and stuff but you know it's like oh the people who only get together a couple of days beforehand so it's military bands from the world over like 30 different yeah

acts and stuff but then there's a guy you know the kappa harka group there's you know from gzeland as well you know the dances yeah uh Megan thank you so much you have provided some audio from the military tattoo and uh it's continuing on with the theme of this show's coverage of live events uh singing all over all over the top of the performer so it was so it was so it was so loud. You know what bagpipes are like? There's like hundreds of them. So I was like, they will not hear me. Now, this is going off the back of Troy at Laneway.

No, that was at Laneway. Did you sing the National Anthem at Laneway? And this is Megan at the Military Tattoo. With the boomers froth and shenoyer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's the New Zealand Army band, that one, right? They were cool. Yeah, they're very cool.

They did songs that we all knew. you. Yeah, that's where I really liked it when I got to see it. When you know the song. Because obviously there's a lot of traditional things, but it was nice when they broke away some of them to that. I was like, oh, cool, it's Shania or it's a little bit of Ozzy Osbourne or it's, you know, 660. Candyman, you know that.

There's a controversial line in there about her underwear dropping on the floor, which they sung. So I tried to record it, but I kept missing it. That songs from like the 50s and stuff, isn't it? It makes my head drop. Oh, there we go. She's spicy content. She's wearing them, though.

What do you make? Oh, she could just drop her underwear. Like, sometimes you take the laundry in from outside. And if you've got a big pile, yeah. Drop some stuff. You're like, let's not take it to the gutter, Megan. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Like. Is anyone else singing around you or not? No, at this point, Andrew's like, can you show? Shut up. I feel like you had a great time. That was good. And it continues on tonight and Saturday.

90,000 people attending this military tattoo. And the trains weren't working. Champagne stuff. Yeah, except the general audience of that show is a little bit older. They'll be phoning ZB. They'll be calling ZB today, don't you worry about that? A lot of older people out in the cold and the rain last night because those bloody trains. To like 12.30 or something, I was here.

Oh, that's sad. I saw some sweet old people like, walking along holding hands going to the tin. I was like, oh, it's very sweet. I hope they had a good night. Yeah, well, not if you're working for the train. Yeah, they did until the trains. Yeah, they're still waiting for that train to ride.

John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. You love that. Well, I love Hanson. I said to them, does it make you feel old that the lead thing is going to be 42 this year? Yeah, 42. What's his name? Barry.

Taylor. Barry, Barry Hanson. Steve Hanson, mate, Steve Hanson, all black coach. My favourite of the Hanson brothers? You know all their birthdays off my heart as well. Steve's, Barry's, all of them. Yeah. Now, last night you went along to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo,

which is in New Zealand for a couple more nights. Yeah, it was great. 90,000 boomers heading along to that. Hey, excuse me. I like it, and you, and you. Yeah, I just like anything arty. I just like the arts, you know. It's an incredible number of people,

tickets that have been sold. And, Megan, you recorded some audio, which was nice. Good, well done, fulfilling your radio obligations. I did, yeah. And as this show's tradition has it, we sing over the top of the actual performance. Well, it was so loud. You can imagine like heaps of, there's hundreds of bagpipers. I couldn't hear myself.

So I was like, there's no way you're going to hear me. Tell you what, the old iPhone mics, they've really upgraded, ever they? Yeah, but it was really good. It's really something to behold. They do the Royal New Zealand band. Yeah, the Army band, I think it is. Amazing mash-up, yeah. God, they were the ones doing that Shania cover.

They did like... Come out with some 660. Yeah, it was great. So all of the, well, the majority of the world's military band, bands, don't imagine the Russians are there, are they? No. No, no. North Korea?

The US are amazing. Shout out to the top secret band, if you know them. They're like the young cool, like super in sync fast guys. They're really awesome. But last night, yeah, of course, there was like a few older, more mature people there. And where I was sitting, we met up with one of the trustees of Eden Park. I shouldn't have seen who it was. And he was super lovely, and we were chatting and chatting.

And then he was like, come and sit with us. Come and sit with me and my family. And we were like, sure, sure, sure, great. And then I was like, I think I just want to sit down at the front. I want to sit down at the front of the row. She wants to be singing. You can't do that next to the member of the board of trustees. You're right, yeah.

You want to be about three or four like Pino's deep or something and singing at the top of your voice? Marsman was like, can you shush? Everyone can hear you. It wasn't really like a sing-along sort of event, though, is it? It was. You can't do I would walk by, baby, on you can't. And not expect people to da-da-da-da. Yeah, that's right.

You're doing the what-ohos and the. Let it up does. Yeah. So I was like, I want to kind of sit just us at the front. So I could sing my butt off. Yeah, right. And he was like, well, I have to go tell him. And I was like, no, he's okay.

It was a pity invite. He's like, hey. And he was like, no, I'm going to go tell him that we're not going to sit with him. I was like, okay. So off trots, my husband. Doing the polite thing. Goes over to what was essentially a bunch of strangers. We've just met them.

And he goes over, tells him we're not going to sit with them and comes back over to me. And he's like, they're all good. They're all good. I was like, well, of course. I don't care. And he was like, I just told them that my wife's got bad hips and she can't sit on those high chairs. I mean, excuse me. I mean,

Shut up, Ben. I do have. Yeah, there's some truth in that, right? I do have semi-bung hips. Well, at least you can rest assured you weren't the only one in the stadium with rough hips. I've got hip displaced you. I know what. She's out of full.

She's out of full, guys. She's at a full. I was like, don't tell them that. They just look over and they smile and they're like thumbs up. You're okay, mate. Did you use your super gold card on the bus on the way home? John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. Super Rugby back for its second week.

We've got the hurricanes playing tonight, Highlanders and Chiefs tomorrow, as well as the Blues and then a big game on Sunday Crusaders take on the Brumblies. You know what I'm really impressed by? All down, a pretty main thoroughfare that I drive through to work every morning. someone has erected tiny little blues fags all down the road just like on, you know, poles and shop windows and stuff. No one's taken them.

No one has taken one. They've all sensibly been left up. They're like they're grabable. Oh, really? Like you can definitely, yeah, you could grab them. But I'm like, surely these are going to be gone in a couple of days. So, well done to the public there. Now, these days we're at meetings and things like that.

Often people will share their screen and stuff. Sometimes if you're on a Zoom meeting, which I always say it was a risky game, right? risky maneuver, yeah, especially on a Zoom call. You're really opening up a vortex into your life. And other time people connect from, like, whether they're the laptop and stuff up to a screen for a meeting. Now, my mother-in-law, Joyce, who stayed when my wife was away overseas to help us out.

She's great, she's a great help around the place. She does a lot of work for, like, yacht associations and stuff like that. Oh, yes, she's a big backer of that, isn't she? And she had a meeting, and I didn't realize she was in a meeting. So she was going to come around and, pick up something at home in the morning after the family had gone and she just said is the right to pop round and I replied back yep but can you leave

and I was like because the dog the frustrating thing about the dog at the moment he just keeps pooping on the astroturf and he knows better than that but he's just being lazy well this is your fault for replacing lawn with astroturf he's got an area he goes around the corner but I know the dog he's like

easy to go that way than go an extra 10 metres you think of it'd be prickly be like oh no and it frustrates me like the dog pooping on some fruit I was like, you know where to go, you know where to go, just around the corner. He knows it. The dog is pooping on the astrot.

But I will know that he will just go out and he will look and he'll look and he'll just go over here. That's winding me up as well. So Joyce texts yesterday during the day she said, can I come around and pick up something the next day when no one's home? And I replied back that night saying, yep, good. Can you make sure the dog is out the front because you keep pooping on the bloody Astro too? He knows where to go. Yeah.

And I sent that back as a text, but I wanted to realize she was in the meeting at the time. in front of a whole Yacht association, her laptop on screen, and it pops up. And she didn't realize it popped up. Like, she's talking away. And up, she'll be in the bloody dog keeps pooping off the Astro Tem. Comes up in the meeting. And then everyone came up to her afterwards going, what's with the dog pooping out of the Asteriskerv? She's like, what you mean?

It was like, came up in the middle of the meeting. We all saw it. We couldn't concentrate. People really need to turn those notifications off the laptop, say. But something you don't even think about when you're there. So, yeah. So hopefully the dog's not pooping on the Astroof today, but unfortunately. I have embarrassed her in that meeting.

It's very funny. Very funny. Jono Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hits. Hi, lovely to have you with us. Now, Debs we met last week, and she was a really interesting character. You really get to know some people

when you're stuck in a car with them, don't you? Don't say interesting character, because that makes it sound like weird. Oh, sorry. She was super cool. Yeah, she was great. Yeah, it was awesome. This is when we were on our 10K trip around the country.

We were racing Maddie and PJ. Only doing it through the help of people like Debs, who had Debs and Isaac picked us up, drove us for two hours, then he had to drive home afterwards. It was incredible. People went out of the way. If someone called me an interesting character,

I'd consider that a compliment. No, no, you wouldn't. No, he's an interesting. No, there's no part of that. That's no part of that. That's not. No, that means they're interesting. No, that sounds weird.

Okay. That sounds kooky. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant she was... But people do call you an interesting character. How does that make you feel? Yeah, yeah. Interesting.

It makes me feel interesting. But you'd say that in regards to. I was interesting. He doesn't eat lines. It's always like talking out the side of your mouth sort of thing when you say that. He doesn't eat any food until it's right. Yeah, well, wonderful character. Do you know what made her wonderful to me is that straightaway we bonded over Formula One.

And there's a promotion on at the moment. This is non-spon, but you can get to Monza if you buy some Kit Katz. And so she had bought us snacks, including Kit Katz. And I was like, oh my God. She gave me the receipt and let me like enter. Oh, let you enter. Yeah. Because you are entering, you want to win this competition regardless.

I never enter anything. I've never ever like, you know, filled out a form and sent it in and done all that palava. Because it just seems like a whole lot of hoops to jump through. Well, Debs does. And she is a prolific enterer and winnerer of competitions. Listen to this. So Deb, we've just learned that you enter a lot of competitions. And a great lesson that the majority of people can't be asked entering.

So the odds really go up. Yeah, exactly. So I always say you've got to be into it. So I've won tickets to concerts like Eminem, Sean Mendez. I've won two lots of $500 from the radio station different times. I have won gift baskets, vouchers from supermarkets. I've won free power for six months through contact energy. I want a bike? I want a bike from subway, yeah, a $5,000 mountain bike. Yeah. So you just never know. I've won tickets to the Premier or the New Zealand premiere of the Barbie movie and a vinyl and everything

Yeah Okay, 2026 is going to be the year I enter stuff And is it? Well, since we've seen her I've entered I mean the one Formula One Draw a couple of times But going from zero to like

Three entries is a lot She said she won something one time Because they were the only people who entered Yeah you just don't think I'm like I'm never going to win I'm never going to win Yeah so you don't bother Maybe it's not the right at you

Maybe it's need to be in to win to Last thing I won. Geez, I was a child and I entered a seven-o. Remember seven-up the lemonade? Did they still make seven-up? Yeah. I still are, yeah. And they used to have a character called Fido-Dido.

It used to be the, this is the face of, and I won a Fido-Di-O-Di-T-Suit, and I won a triple-XL Fido-Doto T-Shuit, and the sleeves came down to my wrists, and I love that T-shirt. Fido-Dido. I'd wait, I'd go to the letterbox every day to see it for my Fido-Sepin-Up T-Sheat-A-Roy. It was so exciting to win something as a kid. Remember the joy of waiting for something to arrive. in the mail.

Now it just comes in 10 minutes from Timu. So I'm 800, the hits, 4487. What's the coolest thing, the most impressive thing that you've won? That might be why I buy so many things. Because when I get a courier on the doorstep, it feels like I've won a prize. It's thrilling. It's a thrill. In a way you have.

I mean, your bank account hasn't won, but you've won a prize. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hits. Where we are manifesting it with the manifestival. If you can dream it, you could win it. and today we give away the first two tickets to the Manifestable where you could win what you dream. It's pretty cool you put out to the universe,

a lot of people like, you know, just you've got to be in to win, and that's what we're finding right now with the people that have coming through about what the things have won. Yeah, Matt Debs, I would say probably New Zealand's greatest prize winner. She's won $5,000 mountain bikes, trips overseas, concert tickets, movie premieres.

Free power. You name it, she's won it. And her theory being no one, well, the majority of people can't really be bothered, Or just go, I'll never win it, is probably the mindset. So Megan, this is your competition era, isn't it? You've entered this into 2026. Yeah, I've entered to win a trip to one of the Grand Prix's in Formula One, like three times now.

I've gone from zero to three. Is it going to be concerned from you that the competition holder is just going to see M Pappas, M Pappas, M Pappas, M Pappas, and be like, do we send M Pappas? What do you reckon, guys? Well, no, hopefully they're like, man, this chick-Bots it. I mean, we all know how prize winners are chosen. they want to send someone who's going to represent their brand. I'd be great. You would.

You'd do a wonderful job there at Formula. But now I'm talking about it, so everyone's going to enter. No one else enter. Don't enter. Yeah, you're right. So 800 that's the greatest thing you won. That's what we're after this morning. We're going to start with Genevieve.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year, Dono. Lovely to have you on. Genave, geez, I tell you what, you have traveled the world by the looks of it. I have, yeah. What have you won? So I won a trip for two to Los Angeles to see one. Republic. I've won a trip

or two to the Singapore Formula One. Oh, there you go. How did you win that term? When Liam took Daniel's place, that was then. Megan is just, she's just what sort of experience did you get at the Formula One? Make Megan jealous. It was accommodation. It was

three days of tickets. It was traveling around. It was awesome. That's so cool. Go to Changi Airport. Airport is nice. It's one of the greatest airports. It's really fascinated. It's really fascinated. The airport. The airport's a beauty.

You go through Changi, I'll tell you what. See, you've won more than that, though. Yeah, so I won concert tickets, cash. I've won movie tickets. You've got it, yeah, like the lady before said, you just have to have your name in the drawer. Good on you. Good on you, Genovi.

That's really impressive. Hey, thanks for sharing. Appreciate your call this morning. Bex, good morning. Morning, guys, how are you? We're doing well. Greatest thing you've won, but it's not you. No, I'm not the lucky one in our member.

marriage my husband is. What did he win? He won a motorbike, an ex sort of racing dirt bike, from subscribing to the Dirt Rider Down Under magazine. Oh, Dirt Rider Down Under? I was going to say, well, yay, what's his as yours? But like, do you like dirt biking too? I did at the time, but it was actually really good timing

because we were due to get married sort of six months later so we ended up selling it and it paid for our wedding. Oh, that's cool. I'd be a wedding. That's great. I said my friend one Friday. Friday night many years ago. He won the car at the casino.

And they were like, oh, you can have the car or you can have the money equivalent of. And he's like, oh, take the money thanks. Boom, we were straight to a hotel. We did not come home for many days. And then was the money? No, no, he had some left over. He wasn't completely a response.

Wow, that's impressive. Yeah, thanks, Bex. Appreciate it. And Linda, greatest thing you've won. I want a trip to have dinner with Melby from the Spice Girls. Oh, my goodness. Are you serious? I was doing Weight Watchers at the time

and so they flew me to Australia myself and a friend and we had a couple of days there and driver and got picked up an exclusive club I don't know that Weight Watchers was the name of the game at that point of time because we seemed to have a lot of cocktail I was the dinner line

the dinner would have been about like oh my 20 points for dinner. Only four points Oh that's so cool what she like Amazing, yeah It was really It was just something out of the blue And it was, yeah

Just really, really different And she rang It was the middle of the night She rang my husband back in New Zealand To wake him up and say hi So he was five guys That's so cool What's the one takeaway you'll have

From your time with Melby Did she part with any wisdom? No, not really No, the cocktails made the memories A little hazy Yeah, it's a little hazy but yeah. Zika,

cigar, I should say Zika, Zika, you're like, yeah, very deep. That's so cool. Thanks to sharing that one. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats.

Last week, we headed around the country on our 10K race against Maddie and PJ from the afternoon. It was the first of Wellington to get their hands on a briefcase with $10,000.

They got their hands on first. They kind of gave us $4,000 of their prize money and we just, gee, we mowed through that. We did motor through. And management weren't happy about the generosity.

Oh, yeah. No, they weren't happy. management they were like they won they should have kept all the money so i thought it was a wonderful gesture it was a heartfelt gesture but i guess in terms of competition ben the winner takes all what are we teaching the youth with this sort of action that everyone wins kindness because they were like no harvies next time i'm kind of i'm good with that yeah me i'm not i think if we win we should be like you're taking away the winning they still got more than us and they got the satisfaction The world meaning's about the satisfaction of winning, you know?

Yeah, anyway, we could talk about it. Sunny Bill gave by his trophy. Oh, the World Cup medal for you. He still has a satisfaction of winning, though, doesn't it? Yeah. It looks like an amazing, an amazing human being for giving it to a child. Anyway, we can talk about this in 12 months. Yeah, we've got no more money.

This is what I'm getting to. Anyway, we've given away. Whatever money that we should have, shouldn't have got, we've got, given it all away. Yeah, we did promise Patty, who gave us a lift from Palmita Wellington. We said, oh, well, we had actually started the race for $10. That was the budget. We took it to the Hamilton Casino. doubled it, put it on red, doubled it,

had 20 and we're like, well, we'll give this to Patty as our last ride. Now, Ben ended up in your pocket, went through the wash, and you pulled it out during the week. Still got it, forgot to give it to him in the rush. I would have just kept it. In the mad rush. We spoke to Patty about this.

Do you want it? Or I'm going to pitch something else, or we try and double it again sometime this week at the casino. Why don't you try and double it for somebody else? Okay. Oh, my gosh. We have Patty's backing, his endorsement. We can keep the $20 and we can go

back to the casino and put it on it red or black, double it to 40, and here's our vision, the show's vision, for the next eight months, once a week we keep going back to the casino, compounding the money. Yes, see how much we can build it up to. Win, win, win, win, give it away at Christmas time. Oh, we do is win, win, win, win. So we never lose between now and Christmas is what you say. Amen, brother.

Well, I've never gone wrong for anyone. Okay, okay, so we're going to do that. We're going to send producer Troy to the casino very shortly, but we need to know now Reddle black. That's the thing to double our money because it doubled last time. It was red last time. Do we switch it or do we go with what went well last time? That's right. Different casino. It's a thrilling exercise. Are the odds any more likely to be black because it was red last time? It's always 50-50, right? And also different casino, different time. Yeah, it's 50-50.

I'm wearing a red hat. I'm wearing a black jacket. I've got my MAGA hat on. That's brought me a lot of good luck over the years. That's we promised to give away money all this week. Our winnings that Maddie and PJ gave us and we've given it all away. We've got no more prize money or have we because we discovered the $20 that was but we doubled from our $10 budget

trying to travel around the country. We still had that. Yeah, so we took $10 to the casino last week in Hamilton. Red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red. Oh, it's starting to lose my name, Tim. Come on. Land and red.

Oh, oh, oh. So that was a high high And this is what Radio's come to now To get its prize money As to go to the casino I mean it's the reality of the industry In 2026

Yeah We've got 20 bucks And so we're gonna go again Red or Black But which way do we go We'll put it out to you We'll go to the phones We've already had one vote for Red

We're going to go Jan How lovely to have you on Jan Good morning Happy Friday to you guys Happy Friday to you mate And what are you feeling What are your loins saying Jan red or black

I'm going for black today Okay It's a good option My loins are saying black too Are they Oh fuck You are wearing a black top Yeah

Is a black television screen behind you A lot of text coming through Well pretty mixed It seems like Maybe more red than black But yeah On the calls we've had one red One black

We'll have a tie breaker Christine You are the decider Are we really Are we very How very Weezy Christine I was

I was thinking you read. Red? Okay. No, that's good. We're locking it in. Yeah, we need something, don't we? Okay.

Red didn't do us dirty last week, Christine. Oh, it's good luck then. All right, we're going to go to Cross to Troy now at the casino. I tell you, it is a very strange thing to be outside the casino at 8 o'clock in the morning on Friday. Oh, not for some. Is it?

It's open? Yeah, I think it's open. It's open. 24-7. 24-7, baby. Anytime you want to donate your money to the casino, you can. Very noisy. A lot going on there.

Are you on the street or in the casino? I'm on the street. I'm about to walk in. Okay. So, Troy, the people have spoken now, $20. We're going to go with Red again. It didn't do us wrong last time on the roulette wheel. Okay.

Red. Red. You feel all right with that? You got your 20 bucks. You signed in because last time you had to sign up and get a card and stuff. Are you all signed it? Yeah. I actually, I thought I had signed up, but I haven't.

So I've got to go and sign up to the casino now. And then I will, what is it called? The roulette wheel? Yeah. You can't just go in and frivolously spend your money now. They like to keep track of it for laundering purposes probably. I tell you, it's a rigmarole to sign up, so we'll better let you go and do that. Okay.

We'll get to work. We'll find out if we double our money, or if that's it. If the dream's all over. Starting to get, like, too much that I don't want to gamble it away. 20 bucks, yeah. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. Today, we've got 20 bucks, and we're trying to double our money at the casino.

I'm trying to get, Elvis did a bloody good song, didn't he? What was that one? Oh, here we go. They did a lot of good songs. Yeah, in terms of what? Oh, Viva Las Vegas. Yeah.

All right, we're back live. Producer Troy. The casino has chewed him up and spat him out. He's exited. You were in and out pretty quickly. That's so fast. I can imagine. I know.

I don't feel great about this, guys. People are looking at me funny. The security guard asked me for an ID, and I panicked and gave him my F-Post card. Well, you're just going out to wait one bet It's not an Ocean's Eleven Heist This is one bet Like a legitimate bet

Were you the only person at the roulette? The problem was It's so early There were no actual roulette tables Available So I had to go to the digital roulette table And bet on a game that was happening In Berlin, Germany

Oh my God She joined the Germans, okay Yeah Okay, so this is a problem Because we had the same thing happened to us When we were at the casino in Hamilton But they kindly opened it up for us

So obviously... Maybe you didn't have the same charm. Yeah. No, I don't think I do. So you've gone digital, you've played with the exotic Europeans. I'm going to put it out there and say that his voice sounds a little disappointed. Does sound deflated, does it? Yeah. I think that's just where I've got to in life that I'm at a casino at 8 o'clock on Friday morning.

All right, mate. We understand we've got some audio to play here. Yes, I got some illicit recordings, put the phone in my pocket, and yeah, this is what happened when I sat down at the Berlin table. It looks like I'm watching a roulette game that's taking place in Berlin right now. A live roulette game in Berlin. 20 on red. Here we go, here we go.

Okay, he's at the ball go. Spinning, spinning. Spinning. It's black. Guys, it's black. I'm so sorry. Oh, no! The dream is over.

Yeah, sorry, guys. We had this dream of like continuing on. and like doubling our money, see how far we can take it. Oh, yeah, we were talking about. Every week, once a week we were going to go to the casino and give all the way Christmas. That's not going to see how casinos really work. It's not going to happen like that. The house always wins.

A good life lesson. Yeah. Good life lesson. How to win last week and, you know, the high highs and the low lows of gambling. But we'll get back in there next week. No, we won't. All right, we'll see back at work shortly. You can hang your head in shame on the way back to all you.

I'm so disappointed. I'm hooked, I'm going back.