Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: We officially kick off the start of the 10K Race!

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Matty and PJ are already wayyyy ahead of us in the race! We get tips on the safest ways to hitchhike! Megan shares her “near-death” experience that somehow turns Ben into a hero We check in with our first driver to see if they want an early out… And a surprise sponsorship saves us from hitchhiking for part of the journey! 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. Today, it's all beginning the 10K race. The Hits, $10,000 race. We are taking on the afternoon show, Maddie and PJ. We are racing the North Island from the very top to Wellington.

They are racing the South Island from the very bottom to Wellington. The first show to Wellington gets. $10,000 to give away however we want to give away to you. Now we are staying in the last piece of accommodation before you can actually get to Cape Rieanga, which is still another 50 minutes, 50, 60 minutes away. So we've gone as far north as we can, possibly, logistically. Wonderful evening last night. Megan made some wonderful taco bowls.

We'll get to that later on. I mean, it is a little bit buggy. There's a few bugs because we are in the beautiful kind of bush, really. You did watch, because I've been up here. a lot with my mum and there was like a whole evening doors wide open I'm like at mum's place it's like shut the door shut the doors bugs I was like there's going to be a lot of bugs yeah no he did say it he warned he warned a couple of times did you say that out loud yeah he did no I was listening and then I went over and suddenly closed both the doors yeah I could see him trying to slowly shut them

more forcefully insisted even this morning you're like let's open the doors see the sunrise so Maddie and PJ they are going to be starting a bluff and so the rules of this just to explain, they can transport themselves while we're broadcasting our show, and we have to stop and obviously do the show, vice versa. When then doing their show, we can continue the race. So at the moment, they join us in Bluff, no doubt showering in oysters or oyster juice, are we? Top of the morning, or shall I say bottom of the morning, because yes, we are going through Bluff this very second. We're on route team, and we're ready to win. Oh, wow, so you've got a ride, because you've got $10 is all we've got.

So we're basically got to get rides from everyone any way we can. You've got a ride already. Yeah, we've taken it up. We've got the next to us. Wait, wait, wait. What time? It's only eight minutes past six. When did she come on?

We did, we usually pick us up. She picked us up literally at the bottom. What's that point where we were at? No, I mean time. I mean time, PJ. Oh, literally she got here at 6 a.m. Well, listen, okay, we had grand plans of, you know, showbiz, Rasmataz, let's start 3-1.

You already 8 minutes into it, so we're going to reset. We're allowed to go, it's sick. We were on the road at 6th. Just pretend you haven't started. We're going to do it again. Maddie and PJ, about to go from Bluff. Are you ready to count down? Okay, let's do it.

All right, the race is about to start in three, two, one. And it's away. The 10-K race is underway. I've just got into the car. That's how I imagine. We've got Vanessa driving us. Can we talk to Vanessa? Yeah, where's Vanessa taking you to?

Well, Vanessa's driving. Hang on. Should I put you on speaker? Yeah. Okay, hang on, hang on. Vanessa's here. Say morning, Vanessa. Good morning.

Good morning, Vanessa. You want who to say that or us? Morning, Vanessa. Morning. Morning. Good morning. Could you just clarify what time exactly you picked up Maddie and PJ? 6 a.m. on the dark.

Okay. Okay. Vanessa, who do we have to sleep? what's around here for your car to break down. Go away. We let us just start cleanly. We just want to get on the road. Yeah, I know.

You guys are actually stressing, aren't you, that you're not going to make it to where you want to make it to today. It's that, and it's also, we're not used to being up this early, and we need coffee. Yeah. Well, guys, you know, good luck. We'll check it with you throughout the morning. I mean, Mattie, you've got PJ, Megan, we've got Jono.

So we've all got some things. We're all hamstrung in some way. Excuse me. It's exactly how I feel, PJ. We'll start a club. She slept through her alarm this morning. I'm surprised Jono got the way he sleeps. I thought I had to check his pulse.

All right, guys, good luck. The race is begun. Jono Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Our big race between us and the afternoon show, Amati and PJ. We've got the North Island.

They've got the South Island. It is a race to Wellington. The first show there gets $10,000 to give away however they want on their show. They have already started, of course, because we've got our radio show this morning. It feels like we just want to get on the road. We can't just yet. We can't start until 10. How are your nerves, Megan?

You're a bit anxious about hitchhiking. Ben, I can imagine hand sanitizer overload handles, hands. The things your hands are going to be coming in contact with. Yeah, I am nervous about, like, how are we going to get rides? But it makes me feel better that Jono's here because you can do the talking. but I'm just, I'm going to get in the vehicle promise there's three of us. Like if I'm a motorist and, you know,

I see three stinky people on the side of the road. Excuse me. Speak for yourself. We're going to look stinking. We're going to look, you can't help but looking stinky when you're standing on the side of the road waiting for a lot. Would you pick up three people? That's a lot of body.

I know, but then we're going to hide. Just one of us stand out there. Well, yeah, we need to sort out some tactics at some stage. Ben looks the most respectable. Okay, we'll put the bell of clavis on, hide on the bush. And he stops the car, bounce out. We'll see how we go this month.

morning. So that's hard enough. We're hitchhiking from the top of the north to Wellington, trying to make our way there as fast as we can. But now apparently there's other challenges. Bryn from the night show, he's kind of like the taskmaster. And apparently he's got a challenge for us that we need to complete today. Or there's a penalty. So let's have a listen to that. All right, guys, I want you to have fun on this trip. And so for this mission, I want you to go down a sand dune, run it, roll it, surf it perhaps. Sand and places you regret? Absolutely. Okay, sand. Well, there's the...

There's the iconic one, not far from where we are, right? We can do that. We can schedule that into... Is it far? Is it off the beaten track, though? Like off State Highway 1? No, from memory, I don't think it is, but it's a lot. I mean, there's a big walk up the top of those sand jeans, you know?

I don't want sand in my underpants. If we're doing this first thing, you're going to... Yeah, as not as if we can shower it out. We are going to be those sticky people on the side of the road. I have got shaping cream. You'll be happy to know, you know, the ones with the limbs that are all. crying on television. Who's so sad, those bosoms?

That's our challenge we need to work that into today. Maddie and PJ, they started at Bluff this morning at 6 o'clock. They're making their way to Wellington and trying to beat us. Currently they've got their first ride. Are you guys ready for your first challenge?

Oh, bring it on, team. How's Vanessa? Vanessa and Maddie are catty way in the front. I'm just trying to be polite in the back just making sure to miss my cue on the radio. Well, PJ, Maddie and Vanessa, who's kindly taking them from Bluff somewhere this morning. This is your challenge from Bryn.

Mattie and PJ, welcome to oyster territory. So this is your bravery test. One oyster each. Whole, fresh, slurp it, no faces, no running away. We're out of oyster territory. We've got to eat an oyster, Matty. Turn around, Vanessa. Vanessa, go back.

Oh, no, Vanessa, do you know where we can get an oyster? 6 a.m. oysters. It's not our problem. Not our problem. Otherwise, there should get them at the supermarket. Surely we can find a... Okay, surely we can find one. Nothing sounds reputising than a breakfast oyster.

I was going to say, that doesn't seem fair because it's a super quick thing, but you've got to find them. Find it. And plus, it is... Are we going to find it? Do you have any in your freezer? Who, Vanessa? Oh, her friend's case has one. Oh, there go, okay.

Well, you need two. You need to stop... You can't halve one. I would accept, like, PJ having it in her mouth, then passing it on to Mattie like a mama bird to the baby bird if there's only one. No hands, though, no hands. You're going to chew it first.

And we need it on video. Send it to the group chat. So just to clarify, we need this by the end of the day, or does it need to be? It's got to be. I don't know. We're not making up the rules. At the end of the day, you'd imagine. Otherwise, there's a penalty, apparently.

We've got the day to get an oyster. We can find one. We can find one. All right. Good luck, guys. We'll check in on you very shortly as the race has begun. They're already ahead of us, but will they be at the end of the day? John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, The Hits.

The day, the $10,000 race between Maddie and PJ in the afternoons and us has begun. We're racing the north. They're racing the South. The first of Wellington wins 10K to give away on their show. They are already underway. They started at 6 o'clock this morning, a bluff at the very bottom of the South Island. Yeah, and we are in the... far far north at Rawara Beach.

Beautiful beach. My gosh, that sand is whiter than a kid rock concert. That is white than my paste white thighs out there, Ben. It's like a beautiful, eh? It's like a postcard. Honestly, we'll put up an image on the Hits Breakfast Instagram. No one on it. No one on the beach.

No, no. I mean, just so you realize that, it's so isolated, you know, up here as well. Beautiful beaches that is just not crowded at all. It's great. Was this nominated for one of New Zealand's Big Bang of Beaches on the Hero? If it was and it should have been. A crime upon the beach community. We're staying together in the Airbnb tonight.

We're going to start at 10 o'clock after our show, right at the top, by the lighthouse. And you do learn a lot about your friends and colleagues when you go away, don't you? I have noticed this. Megan really does love adopting the role of the trad wife. I know. You're a provider, Megan. I do like to do trad wife stuff, but I'm quite a feminist, so it's a bit weird. It's a bit weird.

Well, listen, we can't fulfill the blue jobs, Ben and Me's. We can't bring anything to this relationship. He's been watching maths. He's talking about pink and blue jobs. Yeah. Yeah, so you wanted a plan for dinner and all sorts of years. Yeah, I wrote a shopping list. Made a lovely dinner last night.

It was lovely. Yeah, a taco bowl. Really, yeah, restaurant quality stuff, it really was. So thank you for that, Megan. And now providing coffees as she's broadcasting. Just... Very happy with the coffee here. It's delightful.

Wonderful. Now, one thing I'd like to really drill down on at this Airbnb is we have overrun with mystery feces outside the front door, aren't we? Yeah, they're definitely animal kind. Yeah, yeah. Or a very small human. Yeah, because we're very isolated, not far from the beach, beautiful bush surrounding

the place and around the decking region. I imagine it hasn't been given the water blast for a little bit, that's fine? No, that's fine, yeah. Will we give them, what star rating will we give them on a... It's been great. We'll leave no negative comments. It's beautiful. But what we'd like to do is have we got an image of that, Troy? If you text poop to 4487. Okay, we'll bounce back the image of this mystery matter

and we just want to figure out what it's what animal it's come from. I think a bird of something. You reckon? Yeah, it's not rabbit, obviously. We'd figure that out. Don't taste it. Don't taste it. Crossing live outside to the scene of the crime right now. Honestly, I'd say about 50,

50 of them all over the deck. Yeah. There's a bit of white involved. There's a lot going on. It's like I imagine sort of a minefield through the wars would be like, you know, if you walked along, at any stage it could go off. You could definitely stand on one. Do you know what? I walked out here in the dark last night.

I know, you can walk out. It was like, don't do that. Yeah, no, my, yeah, I could feel them. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, The Hits. Coming to you live from the top of the North Island, our $10,000 race is underway this morning and gets Maddie and PJ. But right now, thanks to Woolworths. The House, the Hits builds with Woolworth's bricks.

Yeah, we are celebrating bricks. in Woolworth's you can get yourself a free pack of bricks with every $30 you spend. Look very cool as well. There's cricket sets, appliances, pets and even the bricks home, all the pieces you can put together. And thanks to that, we're giving people a chance to win $100 from Woolworth every day this week and to choose

something that goes into our Woolworth's Bricks house and at the end of the week someone will win all those items. Can I give a quick shout out to our Woolworth's person because I went there with the children, terrible mistake. and I was, I accumulated three packets. I was like, I've got two kids and you're giving me three packets. She's like, I'll give you some more.

She gave me an even amount. The other option was to take the third packet away. They don't have one each. No, she gave me an even amount for both kids. I was like, thank God. That's awesome. Shout out to the Nameless Willworth's employee. Thank you very much for your generosity.

Now, Brett, let's get you on. Happy New Year, Brett. Happy New Year to you guys, too. Lovely to have you on. Now, Brett, speaking of bricks, Brett has also phoned up, we're trying to figure out the fecal fiasco that's going on at the Airbnb

and the winterless north. It's not inside, by the way. It's outside of the deck. Mystery, mystery poop. You can text poop to 4487 to try and decipher what animal created this. Brett, you've got a suspicion it could be a geese or a Dutch.

I said some geese yesterday, so that's my theory. Pookeko, Poukeko's come through on 4487? Yeah, that's what I thought. It does seem like a bird size. Pookie coes, one smaller than geese and ducks, and they look like geese and ducks. Oh, okay. How about a possum, Brett?

You're across the possums droppings? Possums are long and pretty much black, long and skinny and black. Oh, geez, you don't know your stuff, do you? Professor of poop this guy. Oh, well, you've got yourself $100 Woolworth's voucher, so well done to that. Thank you for calling us up this morning. And you get a decision right now. I'm going to open up a couple of these bricks packets.

The first one, frying pan or groceries? Okay, one of those items will go into our Woolworth's Bricks house, so you need to decide. Frying pan or groceries? We'll go to groceries. Great choice, great choice. Now, at the end of the week, you're also in the draw to win all of the appliances and the items and the groceries that people have chosen to, Brett. So enjoy that $100 voucher, and thank you for phoning through and listening. Cheers, guys.

Have a great day. You can get your bricks, as I said before. They're free with every $30 you spend at Woolworth's T's and C's Apply. After 7 o'clock, we'll get you up to speed with what's happening this morning. Mattie and PJ started in Bluff. They're racing the south. We're racing in the north. I'm very anxious that we haven't.

I know, me too. They're already on the road. They're on the road. I know. Yeah, it feels weird having a race start and we're not moving. We're talking about poop on the deck guys, you know? It's like, hey, this is prime content, buddy. This should have been at 830.

We could be moved, but we're not allowed to move until after the show. That's some rules. Anyway, we'll fill you up to speed. John O'Ben and Megan The podcast The Hits The Hits $10,000 race

It's a huge week We are racing Maddie and PJ from the afternoon show They have got the South Island They started at the very bottom This morning at 6 o'clock They're racing to Wellington to the Beehive

We're racing from the top of the North Island We're about to head there About 10 o'clock this morning First of the Beehive gets $10,000 For that show to give away however they want Yep Not all heroes wear capes, Riyanga, and not all heroes are bluffing their way up the country. What?

I don't know what you said. I thought there was something there. Oh, Cape. And the bluff, and then I was like, well, she really should have run that past a team before going live. But Maddie and PJ, coming to us from Southland, you left Bluff this morning at 6am, thanks to the generosity of Vanessa. Honestly God, Vanessa has just been our absolute savior this morning. She's the dream. She's driving us all the way to Gore.

So we're getting it. We've got a good little run ahead of us at the moment. Now, I feel like we don't know Vanessa. You've been punishing her with a lot of chat though, Maddie. What have you found out about Vanessa? Vanessa is wonderful. Vanessa is radio station. Like, what does she do for a job?

You can't just go over the sweeping. She's wonderful. Man is just re-talking about himself. Yeah, Maddie's nice. So anyway, Ryan and I have just moved with the catchery. So I like to run. That is not true. Vanessa is a teacher.

Vanessa knows sign language. Vanessa is from Hall. It's in Bluff. Vanessa has two boys. Oh, wow about Vanessa. Thank you very much. And how much has Vanessa had to hear about running? I don't just talk about myself.

I haven't even, I have not even brought up running with Vanessa. Thank you very much. Oh, we just like to wind you out. How are you going with your brink? regulating this year, Maddie. I need coffee. It's a big competition, of course. A lot on the line,

$10,000. Can Vanessa hear us right now? No, but I'll put her on speakerphone very deep. Vanessa, good morning. Thank you for what you're doing, a wonderful thing, but what if we said, if we win and we'd give you $200 if you turned around right now and we're back to Bluff, okay?

Don't do it. We'd never. You're off of that then. Can we go? I try. Can we go more than $200? Yeah. $500.

Vanessa. Put the car in reverse, Vanessa. She's as scared of Maddie as we are. I'm taking you off speaker fun. Now, Maddie, obviously Vanessa's dropping you in Gore. Did you need to put a plea out for anyone to pick you up from Gore? Yeah, gore is where we have ideas. But we might need to help him.

hand. So if anyone is in Gore, hit us up on the Hids Drive on Instagram or Facebook. All right, good luck, guys. I feel very anxious that we haven't left yet, but we can't start until 10 o'clock ourselves, so good luck. Thank you. And then don't forget, we have to, we have to stop at 3pm to do our show this afternoon. Yeah. Now, have you heard any good hitchhiking tips? Because that's what we want to open up now, 0800 the hits 4487. thankfully Larissa our promotions manager bought some cardboard

so we can make a sign Yeah what should our signs say Should we have signs Should we be dressed Like do we need to look respectable I mean how does it work Do we need to like write on the sign we're not murderers

That's a good one make it That's always good to know Is it? Okay oh 800 of the hits Have your hit shot Have you got any tips tricks for us to Seem more appealing

The three person thing I think is a big turn off For any motorist though John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The hits. Beautiful sunrise here at the top of the north this morning. Winterless north. It's moments like this where you look at Rawarra Beach.

It only took me 60 minutes to get my mouth around, Rawada Beach. And you're like, we live in Paradise. This is Paradise. If we were like visiting American movie stars, we'd be like, I want to move here. It's so beautiful. Oh, you're just really this morning. This will make you feel better as well. In the UK, they haven't had a single dry day in 2026.

so it's rained every single day so far in 2026 in the UK. We are blessed to be living in this country and blessed to be racing through it. First team out of Maddie and PJ from the afternoon or us to make it to the beehive. We're hitchhiking. The first team that gets there wins. 10K to give away on their show. You always feel, you know, I feel sorry for people inside of the hitchhiking, but sometimes I don't pick them up.

I'll be honest. I'll be honest. I'll say sometimes, you never pick them off. Megan, do you know. It's a big gamble. It feels like a big gamble. I haven't picked up a hitchhiker. Yeah.

Do you want to know a really funny story? Before you started, we were caravading through the country. Yeah, I was lying down in a ratly back of a camper van. Middle of the night, it was rattling around. It was like, you know, because it was no safe. I couldn't even hear what was going on. And there was a sweet, sweet, sweet elderly lady. You didn't tell me there was a sweet elderly lady.

You just said, hey, Ben, there's a hitcheragage you want to pick it up. And I went, oh, I'm all good, thanks. Because I knew that I'd be like one-on-one convoy. I was just like, it's been a long day. It's ratly. And then afterwards, they're like, it was a sweet elderly lady on this. sweet elderly lady on the side of the road. That's on you, John, oh, because you should have

seen. Should we pick up the switchwork? Yeah, but that could have been anyone. You should have seen it's a sweet old lady. You should have been pushing for it. It was a frosty night. She definitely didn't make it through. Oh, my God. You left her on the side of the road.

So we are hitchhiking. We're hitchhiking this morning from the top of the north, trying to make our way to Wellington as fast as possible. We want some tips because we haven't done it before. Do we need to look like a sweet elderly lady on the side of the road? I keep banging on about us being a three person, unit. It's a complicated number to add to a car. Do two of us hide?

One of us go out there. Absolutely. Because once you pulled over. Sucker, you pulled over. That's the other thing. Yeah, they're not going to drive off. That would be monstrous. Sucker.

Sucker. So yeah, have you got any tips or tricks? There's a great text through here from someone who lives in the Far Far Far North. Just Gina says, the Tasman Sea in the Pacific Ocean. Me, Ted Krianga, FYI. And also, as a bit of a tip, she thinks it'll be easier to hitchike through it down, State Highway 10 from Awanui rather than going over the Mangamuka

down State Highway 1. So, yeah, she's saying go down 10. Thank you very much for that, Jean. Appreciate it. Brett, you're on. Happy New Year. Happy New Year again, guys. Lovely to have you on, Brett. Now, talk to us. Hitchhiking tips. What do you got?

Pretty much, if you're going to have a sign, have your chance to win 10K on the sign. That's good. That's good. And then we're like, well, not you technically once you've picked us up. Yeah, and also only if we win. then get to Wellington first. We can promise some things from that money if we win, maybe. That's why you've got chance.

What? Yes. Say, we'll pay you 50 bucks if we win the money. If we win the money. Yes. And if we don't, we don't. You know, we can start like, you know. That's not bad.

Smart thinking from breath. Yeah. I mean, how much petrol are they going to use, though? What's that so good? If you go out in the Central Ireland, make sure you're staying in the State Highway 1 if you're going down to Wellington. Don't fear off. going down there. Good tip. Good tip. Now, Megan Petrel, I think we probably

should say 50 bucks and petrol money. Okay, great. If we win, but we have no money today. Basically, if we do win, we're going to have none of the $10,000 there because we just bribed people all the way. It's a big IOU. We'll see how we go. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast.

The hits. Coming to you live from almost the top of the North Island, we're about to get into our 10K race at 10 o'clock this morning to try and win you $10,000. But last night, staying in an Airbnb. You guys were deep into married at first sight. Oh jeez, we're hooked, aren't we now Megan? Yeah, watching it as a collective

was quite fun. I love watching those Aussie Bogans get married and... Not for me, not for me, guys. Not for you? No, I noticed you would dip in and out. There's no... I didn't think I actually, I couldn't tell you any of... Yeah, just don't know. I don't want to dip my toes into it. I don't love the drama, actually. Like I...

What's my sorry for everywhere? Yeah, it's a bit of a train wreck. Yeah. They knew what they signed up for, Ben. They knew they were going to get manipulated and mind-effed by TV producers. Yeah, sometimes I don't. I wonder if that's the case, but you guys very deep into that show. Well, I've watched one episode, and it was really good. Gia, Gia's uncle, oh, no one cares about this. What am I talking about?

No, I love to hear you discuss it. No one cares. Shut up, Jono. Gia's uncle spilled the beans at the wedding that she's got a daughter. So there's always drama on the show. We know how married at First Light Australia works, but the biggest drama when you guys were watching it, I don't notice was, you know,

because the TV would be blaring away, watching free-de-air television where you guys sitting around and then the ads would come on Megan would grab the remote and do what? Mute it. She would mute it and we were like that's a huge boomer move there

that's something that my dad John Pryor does he's like too loud the ads are too loud tons of cons and the key word you said was the TV's blaring and then when it gets to ads it's like come and get KMC it's so loud

also is it true that the ads are like a little bit louder and the programming. Oh, 880, 10, 80. The ads too loud on News Talk ZB. But also, like, the ads come on and we want to, like, discuss. So I can't hear the ads and you guys. I need it shushed.

This is the thing. If you had something ready to go, mute the ads and go, hey, guys, what did you think about Jair and whatever those name is? No one cares. But you didn't. We just sit in silence for like, T. It was a real vibe killer. Yeah, it is.

I thought it was like, like, you know, restabilizing yourself. I'm like overstimulated, do you know? Let's chuck it out there, text poll. Is musing the ads a huge boomer move? Why do you want to hear the ads? No, we just want some noise. Ambience. We're still a deathly silence.

We're all just sitting there. Babes, you've got to be happy in the silence, you know? It does seem like a boomer move for me. 4487, is it a boomer move? Maybe you're doing it. Maybe you're doing it. I mean, you can call me a boomer, but you two will always be older than me. But we don't mute the ads.

Young at heart, maybe. Okay, here's the text poll. I'll rephrase the text poll. Is anyone under the age of 40 muting ads? Oh, yeah. Okay. Also, are you watching Freddie on television?

That's the other big question. We won't get into that. And the other thing is, while we're on the topic, we were driving here, she's like, can we just sit down and watch the 6 o'clock news tonight?

Oh, no. I just wanted what, you did say that. I never get to. I just want to sit down with a cup of tea and watch the 6 o'clock news. No, it was a red wine and watch the news. She was very gutted about missing the chase, but anyway.

John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, the hits. We got our second medal overnight at the Winter Olympics. Congratulations to Luca Harrington, picking up bronze, and of course Zoe Sadowski's in it from New Zealand getting a silver yesterday. So that's pretty awesome. John O'Ben and Megan's epic love stories with Wuthering Heights. Valentine's Day this weekend, a perfect time to go catch Wuthering Heights in cinemas with Margot, Robbie and Jacob Allorty.

A very beautiful couple, aren't they? Jacob Malorty. Nah, I can think of better couples for Jacob. Oh, my, okay. I can't do that right now. I'm just like both beautiful humans, and it looks like an amazing movie. You can see it in cinemas this week. A double pass, we're giving away every day this week,

and we want your best romantic story heading into Valentine's, and you could win a romantic getaway to Queenstown. We are after your romantic stories. A lot of great texts coming through, people going, they would text me at 3.30 in the morning going up to. And then we accidentally had a baby. It sounds like a lot of Kiwi love stories, right? Met at the pub, yelled over some music, thought you might be able to tolerate this person.

That's the Kiwi way. Started a family, started a Fano. Now, Grace, I really, producer Grace, I've let you down terribly. I'm so sorry. You do this every time. It's Ashley. We're welcoming in Ashley. Ashley, thank you.

Hey Grace, mate, not in the Winterless North, please. Let's not start an argument. Ashley, it's lovely to have you on. How are you? Happy New Year, Ash. I don't know how many more times I can greet Ashley to the radio show. Ash, lovely to have you on. Ashley, my sweet, sweet Ashley. I'm not sure where Ashley went. Oh, okay. All right. This is ironic. We just got to know, Ashley. Ashley, if you could call back our 800 of the hits, we'd love to. Ashley! Okay. Okay. Have we got someone else? Have we got Kim on the phone? Oh, Ashley's gone.

Call back, Ashley. We'll fill in with some rock-solar banter. We're about to kick off on the $10,000 race. First show to Parliament out of us in the afternoon. Show wins $10,000 to give away. Yeah, Maddie and PJ already started this morning. They headed off from Bluff in the darkness at 6 o'clock a week and start at 10 o'clock after our radio show this morning.

I know we shouldn't be helping out them, but they are getting dropped off in Gore, so they do need a lift from someone in Gore. Shut up. If you can help them help. Why are you helping them? Oh, you know, it's just sportsman-like, isn't it? I doubt they're going to do that for us this afternoon.

Yeah, so, well, I'll stop helping them then. And if you can help us, actually, we're leaving from Cape Leanger at 10. That is some filling in content right there. Jenna and Christchurch, how are you? Good, thank you. How are you? We're doing well. We're doing a lot better to hear someone talking back to us.

Ashley, please. I'm just ringing because, oh, sorry, sorry. That's right, that's right. You've got yourself a double past the weathering high. but we want to hear your romantic story because you could be winning a romantic getaway to Queenstown. Amazing. I'm actually ringing on behalf of my mum and dad

because I've got the sweetest romantic story and they've been 65 now, but they walked into a room and my dad and his best mate saw my mum sitting there and were like, oh my gosh, I want to talk to that girl. And so they flipped a coin. He'd little tails and my dad won the toss and he went over and introduced himself to her.

and then I've been together ever since. Oh my goodness. All from a coin toss. Wow. Yeah, so I, yeah, so fate is a big, you know. That is incredible. How was your dad with his best mate from that point on, knowing that your best mate was also a bit fancy, you know, had some feelings?

I don't know, but they're still best friends, and he was his best man at their wedding, and my dad was at his wedding when he met his. Oh, so sweet. They still, the four of them are still really good friends. Does the other wife know that story? Wait, I'm second choice? Sloppy second.

No, that's beautiful. That is a beautiful love story. Well, congratulations. You're in the drawer for that triple way to Queenstown, and you can check out the brand new movie Wuthering Heights. You have a great day. John O'Bin and Megan, the podcast, The Hits. The Hits.

The Big Race started today. We are racing Maddie and PJ from the afternoon show. They started this morning at 6 o'clock right down the bottom of the South Island at the very bottom. They're racing to Wellington. They're trying to beat us there. We're about to start at 10 o'clock at the very top of the North Island. We're currently about an hour away from there. Yeah, Maddie and PJ got a lift from Vanessa, who took them from Bluff to Gore.

Currently they're in, it looks like a Ute with Hoggett. Hogget from Gore. And I tell you what, if you could wrap Southland up in some... skin and turn Southland into a human, it would be Hoggitt's. Hoggett is his name. Hoggitt's isn't a birth name. So good. So the first show to Wellington gets $10,000 to give away, however they want on their show.

So a big prize that you could win. We're doing it through the help of people like Hoggett, who are going out of their way, out of their days to help out to try and get their show to Wellington. I reckon Hoggett would shake your hand and you'd need arm replacement surgery. That's how hard Hoggett would shake. Firm, shape. Now, we're quite isolated where we are, right? And when you get all the way to the top of the North Island at the lighthouse,

there's not a lot going on around there. A beautiful part of the country, but just not a lot. And we're worried about getting our first ride. So we spoke to Paul a couple of days ago, and we kind of... We cold called Paul because someone texts in going, I have a friend called Paul who lives as far north as you can actually reside. Yeah. And he will take you in.

So we called Paul live on the radio, a risky behaviour from us. I felt like we put Paul on the spot. We said, can give us a ride? And he's like, yeah. Yeah, it's like asking your parents, if your friend can stay the night in front of your parents. You know, they say yes, but then afterwards you get told off. Yeah, it's like, don't do that again.

Yeah, I can't say no. It's really awkward, yeah. Now, we've managed to harass Paul once again to get him back on the radio. Happy New Year to your pool. Happy New Year. Paul, are we still on? Can you still meet us at Cape Rianga and drive us to a location that isn't Cape Rianga? Yes, I can, yeah.

We're also asking again in front of our parents. Yeah, we are. We're back on the radio. Thank you, Paul. We don't even talk to you in a public setting. My mum won't be listening. Okay, great. Sorry.

Thank you so much for doing that. Taking time out of your day to drive us a little part of the way down the North Island. That's incredible. Thank you. Now what's... Now, because we're looking out on to Rawada Beach. Rawa. Rawa, Rawa.

Rawa. You're only 15 minutes up the road from me. Oh, perfect. Lovely looking beach, mate. And I have noticed a couple of four-wheel drives going up and down the beach. Is this like an alternate road to the beach in far north, is it? Yep. And 90-mile beach on the other side is the same.

And that's where I was hoping to take you guys off. Well, the beach. All drive down the beach? Yeah. Oh, my God, cool. That sounds awesome. What kind of car are you rocking? Oh, I've got a little four-by-four.

Imagine how cool it would be if we just drove down the beach all the way to Wellington. That would be amazing. I don't think that's quite possible, but hey, I don't know. Geographically, no. We can give it a go. Paul, thank you so much. We'll see you, I guess, hopefully, all going well 10 o'clock this morning when we can start our race. Yeah, that would be great.

Tell us about yourself, Paul. Have you got any previous criminal convictions? Let's not us. Let's not spoil it right now. I don't want to know. Have you been drinking this morning, Paul? I don't want to know. We just will see you there at 10 o'clock.

Hopefully you're out. We're on the beach. You can't hit it. John O'Bennon and Megan The podcast The Hits It is a big day here at The Hits The Hits' $10,000 race We are racing

Maddie and PJ from the afternoon show They've got the South Island We've got the North Island The first show to Wellington It gets $10,000 to give away However they want to the listeners Now that on its own seems like Quite the side quest

Doesn't it? Racing to Wellington Having to Hitchhike But ballbusting Brin Ball Buster Brin is our taskmaster who's the night host here at The Hits. He's also making other little hurdles for us along the way, and each day we're going to receive a daily challenge. This was ours this morning.

All right, guys, I want you to have fun on this trip, and so for this mission, I want you to go down a sand journey. Run it, roll it, surf it perhaps, sand in places you regret. Absolutely. We have different ideas of fun. Yeah, so that's our challenge. I'm just worried about the sandy creases and crevices. I know, to start the day.

Well, we've just got to do it. There's amazing sand dunes in there. I think it's Tapake. And by 90 Mile Beach as well. I kind of, it feels like if we're going to do it, that's a place to do it. Yeah, okay. Well, we'll commit to that. And Mattie and PJ, they have also been issued a challenge from Ballbuster.

Matty and PJ, welcome to Oyster Territory. So this is your bravery test. One oyster each. Whole, fresh, slurp it, no faces, no running away. Just raw oystering, and they join us now from their home of the oyster, Southland. Mattie and PJ in the car with Hoggett making their way from Gore. Good morning. Yep, we've got Hogger on the tools.

He's driving us in his Toyota Yute. But we've pulled over on the side of the road because we're waiting for our next ride, which is the stock truck, which is going to take us north. So there's a bit of a delay. Stock trucks and Yutes. This is great. Southern hospitality. I also love how PJ's all talking all like, you know, Southern.

On the tools? Hogget on the tools. Do you know, PJ? You sent a video of you and Hogget, and I tell you what, that face has seen some stuff. He hasn't seen a drop of moisturiser, his hands. I guarantee that man's been elbow deep inside an animal. I've just got Hoggitt's life story. Hogg is incredible.

What's his life story? What's Hoggott's life story? Well, he lives maybe 20, 30 minutes away He's just You know, been in the tracking industry For a while I actually may not have got all of the details

In the story Very vague on his life story But you're doing it You're moving down the country You started this morning at Bluff in the Darkness And you're doing it with the help Of amazing New Zealanders like Hoggart But it's incredible to see everyone

Come together and offer up help And go out of their day To help you guys out It's so good. Like we were literally thinking Gore, and we were trying to find a toilet. And then people just came up with coffees and cinnamon rolls. Passive shout out to Amiance. Ambiance.

Aniance. Amiens. Cafe. Oh, beautiful. Okay. That's awesome. That's the South Island doing that. North Island, it's over to you now, because you're our team.

We're team north at the moment. That's what I was thinking. We need to pit the north against the south and see who's got the better hospitality. Yeah. Yeah. They got free coffee. It's honestly just been like one giant warm cuddle. Oh, so has Northland.

Yeah. Did you end up going to the toilet? You never finished that story. We got there in the end. Oh, good, good. So what was it? What were we dealing with? That's not going there.

Okay, so you've got a challenge from Brynn we just heard before to eat an oyster each. Have you done that yet? Yeah, I'm going to hand you over to Maddie for this one because he's been teeing it up behind the scenes. We've got a couple of options, guys. So we're chatting to some people in Dunedin who might be meeting us literally on the side of the road because here's the thing. We are pressed for time

to make it as far north today as we possibly can. We wanted to get to Christchurch. I don't know that we're going to make it to Christchurch. Okay. And so the oysters are going to meet you and Dunners. Is that what you're... On the side of the road, we're going to slurped it back. Oh, road oysters.

Have they got them on ice? They haven't been sitting on the road. I'm sure they would have been fine. You guys will be fine. All right. Well, good luck with the oysters. Good luck with your travels, safe travels. And we hopefully will be racing. We're getting to Wellington faster than you, but yesterday there was a bit of sabotage. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast.

On your Wednesday morning. Thanks hanging out with us. It is a big day, as we said before, we are racing Maddie and PJ from the afternoon show. They've got the South Island. We've got the North Island. The first show to get to Wellington wins $10,000 to give away. We're about to head up to the very. top of the North Island to start our race at 10 o'clock. They'll be making good progress

since they started at 6 o'clock. We heard yesterday though driving up north. We've been listening to Maddie and Pigea in the afternoon and they were putting the call out to get some help today with rides. We initially said it as a joke. We were like, well why don't we call up and pretend we're ready to give them a ride? We assigned it to the wrong person though. Jono. I stupidly gave the phone to Jono. I panicked. I panicked, guys. So the idea was to say, oh we'll pick you up then obviously no one would pick them up and then it puts them at a disadvantage.

That was the theory. Yeah, that was the theory. But yeah, I just, no planning went into it. You got a bit nervous when you're like, I'm going live on the radio. Yeah, you go live on the radio every day. You're live on the radio right now, but you're like, you're nervous, you're made up a name, Gavin, you put on a voice.

It was terrible. It was terrible, and they took you live on the radio too. That's all them. That's their mistake. Okay. Gavin was definitely a pre-record. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you talk to producer Sarah and then you got through.

We're like, oh my God, he's going to go live on the radio. And this is what happened when Jono tried to prank Maddie and PJ. Gavin, how are you, mate? Goody, Patty and me, Jay. How are you? How are you, Gav? Do you like lizards? Yep. Sure.

I have a lizard in the car. What kind of lizard are we talking, Gavin? Yeah, you're miserable. It's an iguana. Okay. Is it caged or uncaged? How many, how many of Patty and Mejo in the car too? Is this John?

Oh, come on. This is a hand. This is a hand. We see his voice, guys, it's chocolate. John, did you hear it? Did you hear it, Maddie trying to be so kind? We're weird with the voice. I...

I have an ankle bracelet. I was, I didn't have it in me to correct him and say it's actually merely impede. I was like he's got stage fright. I was ready. This is how desperate we are to get out of bluff tomorrow. I was ready to have the glum on my lap. Like, is it crazy?

We were like, I would not be accepting a ride from Gavin. Yeah, Gavin. Don't get in the car with Gavin. Oh, guys, get back in your own lane. We've got things to organise, guys. Yeah, you guys might have your things teed up. We don't. We just wasted your time.

We wasted your time. We're in my tire. We're going to win. Oh, whatever. Hang on. Do you guys have your first ride? Yeah. Don't you?

You worry about your own journey, guys. Gavin, Gavin will be there in the morning to pick us up. Don't you worry. Go away. That was yesterday when we tried to prank Maddie and PJ. They've actually been making some good progress this morning without Gavin's help. They didn't have a good. but they had a hogget

and he's got them far. Actually, a lot further than I thought they would be at this point in the game. Yeah, go. I know. Patty and me, Jay. I'm getting quite worried about it. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The heads.

We join you from the far north here in New Zealand as we try and race our way. At 10 o'clock we start to head to Wellington as fast as we can with your help. Try and win your $10,000 to give away, of course, Maddie and PJ in the South Island and they're just currently what? Loading a sheep onto a truck.

we're with Hoggitt's like you've got to earn your keep brown here so Hoggitt's got them pushing sheep into the back of a truck and I tell you what if I know one thing about Manny McLean he'll be in a happy place right now He looks quite dressed

He looks like he's going out for... He's dressed so nice I know Isn't he wearing like full beige? Yeah I don't think Southland is ready for full beige Not sheep loading conditions for many But good on them

Well we should put some footage of that up on the Hits Breakfast Instagram but yeah they've made some really good time this morning Mattie and PJ. They've done a great job now we are here at an Airbnb as I said before we're about to head up to the top of the North Island very shortly but last night we're in isolated beautiful beaches

bush around us a lot going on wildlife and you were concerned that the windows were open for too long the door was open for the whole evening and I know from staying at my mum's up north they were always like shut the door the bugs get in yeah we were literally like a lantern on top of the hill as it got dark and then we had

the doors and windows open. It's a bad call. In the end, I went, oh, I'm going to suddenly shut one door, then I suddenly shut another one. I'm like, this is, it's been, but the damage had been done. The bugs had come in. It was their house now. Full of bugs, the whole place.

Exotic bugs, too. This feels like, and I told you so. It is. Yeah, but it's fine. It's fine. You know, yeah. You mentioned it about six times throughout the evening. No one listened to him.

A lot of bugs. As Troy went to bed, he goes, oh my goodness, that's the biggest bug I've ever seen in my life crawling along. It was like huge bugs. And then. It was a wet house, wasn't it? We all went to our rooms and, you know, everyone said, good night. We all went to our rooms.

And then I heard about 10 minutes later, it's like blood-curdling screams. Yeah, Larissa and I are sharing a room and we turned off the light. We're having a girly yarn and then you hear this. And we were like, oh my God, what is that? Turn on the light. Okay, so it's a huge cricket, which I hate. I hate those things, a big black cricket. But this one flew.

It had wings. Oh, they're morphin. The bugs these are their moths. Have you seen the flying ants? They're getting wings. It's, yeah, frightening. So it's flying and, like, banging into stuff around the room. And so that's an issue.

But also, if we leave it in the room, it's just going to be like, in the middle of the night. So a lot of screaming, a lot going on, and then it stopped, and then it was a lot more screaming and a lot going on. Now, producer Troy, who was in the other room, she was quite far away. He's like, it sounds like someone had been attacked or something. I think there's audio of it.

Wait, are you going to help us? Go, Ben. So this was just outside the door. Well, Jono was just out to the door, I can hear you screaming go, Jono! Johno! Johno! Yeah, for ages, because I knew Ben doesn't like to sort bugs and spiders. Jono was just outside where you were. So we were like screaming and I'm yelling, Janu!

For minutes, and the time stopped, and then it went again, because I came out the first time and it stopped, I was like, okay, they're fine, and then it went back on again. Yeah, well, we lost it under the bed and then we had to move the bed, and then we found it again. But I came out to see why Jono hadn't responded to our blood-curdling screams. Heineken.

You were. I was dead asleep. I looked deceased. But your whole family could have been taken away and gone if you're at home and you would not have been that was so loud

and it just kept going and they were screaming your name Jotto, Joddo Joddo. Ben's like, that's me off the hook. Neither Ben or Troy came. Ben came eventually like begrudgingly like what?

Yeah, the video you showed me, it's like was that my funeral? I sleep like a dead person. Yeah. Yeah. Am I alive right now?

I don't even know. I felt bad for you because you opted for a single bed in the lounge and I think he were too big for it because your feet are just off the end. It was a little child's head. You're flat on your back. He was asleep more than anyone's ever been to sleep for in his life. Don't worry about him, mate. But I have chucked that video up on social media if you want to see what Jono looks like

dead asleep. Yeah. Put that in my funeral page too on the pamphlet when I actually do end up going. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, the hits. Now, we are on a race at 10 o'clock this morning. We are heading to Cape Brianga. We are racing through the country, taking on Maddie and PJ from the afternoon.

First show to make it to Wellington wins 10K to give away. And the generosity of the people. Already the race hasn't even started. We were meeting people in Kaitai. We met Tash in the car park of Pakensafe. I reckon Tash would have taken a bullet for us. Oh, she was amazing. A Nerf bullet.

Yeah. A Nerf bullet. She put something up on Facebook last night to help us out. This is what's going on. Can people in the neighbourhoods? So much response. She's like my iwi are the ones that look after Cape Ranga. They will help you out.

When you get up there, you can meet my cousin's Stretched Nuts. It's his name. Unfortunately, Stretch Nuts is on annual leave. Letting the Nuts have a rest. That's his Instagram handle, apparently. Yeah. So, yeah. So amazing, amazing generosity.

And the calls and texts keep coming through. Because we've got 10. to get down the country. So basically we've got no money. Megan, we've got a surprise. We've got a surprise for you. Sam's on the phone. Welcome, Sam.

Gooday. How you doing? Lovely to have you on. Now tell Megan where you are, who you are. I know who you are and where you are and where you're from. Not where you are and who you're from. Hey, I'm Sam from Indy City and we were listening into your competition and we just love the fact that you're taking a journey all through New Zealand to get down to Wellington

first, we hope. and because we love helping people explore Altauera from Indy City we wanted to offer that if you get somewhere and get stuck somewhere and you need a ride to the next town give us a call and we'd love to help you out oh I'm at this city bus that's amazing that's so kind well we ask one less thumb out that I need to do can you go all the way from the top of the Cape all the way to Wellington I don't know what your producers would think about the rule book but look if you do need a ride somewhere. We've got services to 600 communities. I'm sure if you're stuck in Ophur and you need a lift to Fungaree or Fungeray to Auckland, we can help you out. And there's

Wi-Fi on all of our buses, so you might even be able to listen to IHeart Radio on the way, too. Can you plug in USBs? No, not the annoying new ones. No, no, no, new ones is the way to go. Old school USBs. You got those plugs? Hey, I heard you had $10. So if you want to spend an upgrade to one of our gold see, you. then you can kick back and luxury and plug in your USB. Oh yeah, maybe. We get a $10 upgrade.

I like it, I like it. Well, thank you so much, Sam. That means, well, if we can actually be honest with you, our goal was to try and get past Auckland's today. So if we could make it to Auckland somehow, can we catch a bus because I know they depart from Sky City, don't they? They do. Yeah, we can sort you out. We'll get you from Auckland down south to somewhere.

We could take you there and then you can figure out your way from there onwards. That's a big day, but if we could go from the top of the north to Hamilton today, that would be a good. Yeah, that'd be a good chunk. Okay. Okay. That's our goal then. Maybe that's our goal. Hey, thank you so much, the Intercity.

Sound like a deal. That amazing generosity. Really appreciate it. Okay, good on you. Here we are, Sam. Here's a little jingle for you. Intercity, you're a friend of mine. And you sure got a friend on the breeze.

Oh, what about the intercity's coming? And everybody's running. Anyway, thanks so much. I'm going to wrap these guys up. From the K2, Hamilton. Some copyright issues. After 9 o'clock, we are heading to the top of the North Island. And we're going to get our race underway.

Maddie and PJ already started from Bluff this morning. Who's going to win? Who's going to win and get that 10K? We'll find out this week on the Hats. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. We're racing the North Island. Maddie and P.J.

From the afternoons, they're racing the South. First of Wellington wins 10 grand to give away. Yeah, going to go to race to the Beho. which, yes, it feels like a long, long way away from where we are. It does. A lot of hitchhiking required. A lot of driving yesterday, because we had to drive all the way up here, a lot of time in the car, right? I actually didn't realize he'd had to drive so many hours to get to the top.

That's the thing. You think Fangade is close to the top of the country. It's not. Girlfriend. We've got a lot more keys. We lost radio reception for a while there. That's all what happened. We had to listen to the top 100 songs in New Zealand for a while.

Olivia Dean, who we just played, features a lot of the lot of the time. A lot. 42 of her songs in the top 100. Do you know there's a thing going around TikTok at the mind? My daughter's told me about it. And I don't know how happy I am. You know how they're always like, Gen Z's love the new trendy things and stuff.

Yeah. They're like, well, now they say if you've got radio music taste. Oh, they've got radio. Not a good thing. I'm like, hang on. I work on the radio. Oh, like mainstream music. Yeah.

I was like, don't make this a thing, Gen Z. No, no. Please, please. And then they're like, oh, you haven't got it. And I'm like, no, I have got it. I work on the radio. That's all I listen to. I've got radio music taste and I'm proud of it.

Cut that off for the past, mate. Look that at the bud real quick. That's what I thought, yeah, exactly. One thing that we are learning a lot about producer Troy, you know, he's been on the show for, uh, what, jeez, six months now, Troy? Yeah, about six months. You start to learn more and more about an individual too.

Very, you know, many layers to this onion. Complex, complex character. Like on Monday morning, for example, Monday morning, it's 9, 30, 10 a.m. He's having a full Sunday ham meal. Yeah, a roast. It was a league of lamb, right? A leftover glazed ham and roast carrots.

I can't you get up early and stuff and that was your lunch, maybe. It's a lot of lunch at 9.30. Yeah, that's a lot. Did you guys cook a leg of lamb at home? It was ham, mate. Oh, ham. A leg of ham. What do you call it a ham?

Some ham. A ham. Glace them ham? Like a big. For years they've just been calling it a ham. Just ham. I don't know why you're struggling. Not a leg of nothing.

Just ham, mate. Those big bobby knockers of ham. We don't care what part of the animal it was from. It's just ham. And also yesterday, one thing I was really impressed with producer Troy. He is reading a Bible-sized book at the moment. Trying to read through 30 books in 2020. It's a heavy book.

Yeah, now you've given yourself this challenge, 30 books throughout the year. And this is a big book. It's a thousand pages. The Count of Monte Cristo. Yeah, it's the biggest book I've ever attempted to read. And it's small writing. Yeah, the font. She's looking at a Times New Roman 9?

It's, yes, it's eight or nine. I fell victim to judging a book by its cover, because it's a beautiful book. It's got like gold-edged on the pages, and I was like, oh, this is a beautiful book. You look quite distinguished, you know, reading it. I just carry it around with me when I walk around down. That you were reading while driving.

I don't know how on earth you do that. He's not actually physically driving. He wasn't the one driving, but in the car. And in the back seat. That would make me spare. Do you not get sick? No, I didn't get, no, no, no, get car sick. I'm from Greymouth.

It's not going to have vocabulary to get car sick. Because the ERISA was driving like, you know, Lewis Hamilton through some of those hills. We were a wee-bats. We were drifting. I was in the middle seat and I was definitely all over both your laps in the back. We're like, doll it back for Indiesel. You know how you have to have core strength in the middle-back seat?

Ben just gave up in the end. It was like a sack of spuds rolling round. I was like one of those wacky, arm inflatable guys outside of car yard, just flopping all over the place. The race hasn't started yet, Larissa. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. Race has begun the $10,000 race.

We're racing Maddie and PJ from the afternoon show. They've got the South Island, we've got the North Island. The first show to Wellington this week wins $10,000 to give away however we want. Yeah, we're just getting hitchhiking tips and tricks. Debbie's text in 4487. Why don't you put a shout out to car clubs, people traveling in camper vans. Oh, that's good. She also says if you meet a hot single guy around 60s, it looks like George Clooney, let me know.

We'll pass it on to Debs. We'll keep an eye out for a George Clooney. We want to keep him for ourselves. George Clooney. He sounds amazing. He doesn't a catch. He does. He's a fictitious guy. Hopefully we do find it for you, Debbie.

But James, welcome, mate. Happy New Year. How are you? We're doing well. You got some tips or tricks for the hitchhike and well it starts in about half an hour. Yeah, just I thought that you could ride on the board that you're in a race to the beehive just to give everyone a bit of a heads up on what they're in for and it might be just a little bit easier having three of you the context yeah just because yeah I

think people shy away from seeing three people and trying to pick up three people so yeah yeah yeah you're right now that's uh unless they're after a threesome well there would be a four oh that'd be a fours yeah three three is a perfect number yeah not prepared for that They might want a doubles tennis game or something like that. They're like, geez, they really want to play, and we can fill out the court. Scrabble? Scrabble's always good. With four people?

Yeah, you're right. There's plenty of options for us. So hopefully there's some of those people that are traveling through the country as we try and race to Wellington. James, really do appreciate the tip. A lot of people saying, thank you, mate. If you want to beat them to Wellington, Mangamooka, is heaps faster than 10. And State Highway 10. None of that means anything to be at the moment, but some good journey.

Many tips. Yeah, because that's right. I guess we've got to kind of pick our way down the country, right? Yeah. Because I suppose you could, yeah, you could very often really add time to you. What am I doing here? I'm just reading text. I'll just stop.

We keep those things coming through for John O to read. We'd love to read them this morning because we're heading up. At 10 o'clock, we can get our race underway. Mattie and PJ already underway. It feels like they're making some good ground because they're stopping for their radio show this afternoon. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, The Hits. It's a bumpy ride as we're heading up to the start line, the top of the North Island right now.

We're on a gravel road. Yeah, the three of us are jammed into the back of the Hits vehicle. This is the last ride that we're going to get from the Hits. After this, it's all down to anyone that can help us out, the kindness of strangers. Yeah, and Manny and PJ are there. They've left Bluff this morning, thanks to Vanessa. Then they had Hoggitt picked them up in his truck,

and they've been loading sheep onto the truck, and they've made good distance. We haven't even started the race yet. We haven't got to the start live. It should even out, though, because once they start their show at 3pm this afternoon, they're not allowed to race. Okay, so we are racing, of course.

We've got the North Island, they've got the South Island. The first show to Wellington wins $10,000 to give away, however we want. Hopefully it's going to be us. Yeah, hitchhiking along the way. And something that's made Megan very nervous is the imminent threes of kidnapping, too.

Which I mean, I don't know if it's a big concern, but it's a concern. We're too cute to be hitchhiking, guys. And we did talk about how Cape Kidnappers is a place that we're going to go past. So it feels like if anything's going to happen, that could be the place. Yeah, the riskiest place. If actually, if anyone does go missing, that should be the first stop on the investigation. But Megan's demand is if someone does take her that the photos we supply to the media or to the police for the missing persons poster are ones from her Instagram,

because they have all been sanctioned. And just pick a nice photo. All the ones on my Instagram, sanctioned photos. Pick one of those. We got a good one of you sleeping on a plane with your mouth over. That'd be a good one. But they do, from experience, they do kind of stitch you up. Well, they did for me because when I got arrested,

low point for a TV skit that went wrong at the airport. They used some footage on the news and they used me with balloon, like balloon if animal hats. And that was the footage they used. Everything I've done over the years, that's what they decided to use. Well, because they need to hammer home the narratives that this goes in an imbecile. And so they're like, what's the worst photo we can find? Yeah.

But then if we put these photos out of you, I think the public, the concerned public will be like, well, I understand why they took her. Yeah. Because, you know, the flawless complexion in those pictures. But if we all get taken, I'm really worried it's going to be like, beloved broadcasters, John-O-N-Ben, and then another girl was kidnapped. I don't think he'll have them. Don't worry about that. That's not going to happen. You don't say nice things once these are the threat of you being dead.

Yeah. That's our first of you. friend Andy he once hopped on a plane and Jeremy Wells was on there and he's like well if this goes down I'm not getting any coverage in the newspaper so we'll wish us luck hope that Megan doesn't get kidnapped if she does so you can rest assured model quality photos will be circulating in the media we'll go back to the bumby roads now