The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Groundforce, Being Prom King & Meeting The Queen: Niall MacMillan

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

Who is kickstarting the first episode of season 5 of The Phonebox Podcast? The hilarious TikTok sensation Niall MacMillan that's who! We chat about the joy of Groundforce, winning Prom King, meeting the actual Queen and falling in bromance love with The Rock.Go and follow Niall on instagram here and on TikTok here.For more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the @phoneboxpodcast account on Instagram for polls and nostalgic fun.If you have any guest suggestions, topics you would like me to cover email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!#00s #00smusic #nostalgia Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome back for this week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast with me, Emma Conway. How the devil are you? I hope you are having a wonderful, wonderful week. Please do go and follow me on Instagram. We've recently done a poll and I think best lifestyle program of the 90s, it was Changing Rooms that won. Niall, what do you think about that? Changing Rooms, did you watch it? Yeah, I did. Carol Smiley. i can understand why that one i don't think it's cracking especially when they were awful i was more garden force you remember garden force

for ellen titchmass you want to talk about charlie dimmer she popped up for my flipping i think on on TikTok or something the day. I was like, I'm talking of TikTok. We have TikTok sensation Niall on the podcast this week. Niall, can you tell everybody where they can find you? Yes. Well, first of all, on TikTok, Instagram and all the main ones, really. I mean, I've got a very unique name. It's either Niall Horan.

Is it Horan or Horan? Or I'm the second Niall. There you go. The second Niall. The second Niall Horan. Is it Horan or Horan? Or I'm the second Niall. There you go. The second Niall. The second Niall. Yeah, that's like me with Brummies. The wish Niall. The Brummies is like Alison Hammond.

And then there's, no, what other famous Birmingham people are there? I suppose Ozzy Osbourne. Yeah. We've got many. We've not got many. Peaky Blinders and half of them aren't really from here. Okay, you're all over social media. You are hilarious.

Thank you very much. Yeah, proper, proper makes me laugh. It's so creative. Do you spend a lot of time scrolling, trying to find videos, or do they just come to you? Oh, I did back in the old days in the trenches. I used to scroll and try and find them. Now I've kind of got the luxury where people kind of know me for doing these type of videos.

So a lot of the time I almost have like a work tray. People tag me in them. So I've got a work tray of videos to go through. And then I know it's a good video when I get, you know, I wake up one day, maybe 40 people tag me in the one video. Yeah. So I kind of know what the audience, I know that's the video I need to somehow tell a story with yeah yeah now and does it um does it both do the same videos work on TikTok as on Instagram yeah yeah I mean the main things that are if you don't have uh the watermarks then they perform

well on all it took me a while on Instagram to get going um but certainly uh yeah no they translate well and I think um as, because where I don't speak is well in them. Internationally, they're enjoyed because, you know, a sense of humour is the same everywhere. And that's a fantastic, you know, I didn't appreciate that until now. I've got like Brazil and Germany as like some

of my highest followers as well. Amazing. I'm going to, I want you to take this as a compliment, but I'm going to say you're like a modern day Mr. Bean. That is a compliment. No, no, absolutely. I'll take it. No. Because you do not speak. Yeah. I love, sometimes on Instagram some people go viral and it's amazing the universal truths the world holds. And it's like really heartwarming, especially with parenting,

like mums in Birmingham are the same as mums in America or mums it's just it's it's really interesting anyway we're getting we're getting sidetracked so we've already had a little chat before what year were you 14? I was 14 in 2002 so I was born in 1988 and i had to google that i'm a little disclaimer now my memory is terrible so it's awful uh names dates the lot so um just a disclaimer because there'll be people shouting at this podcast going why why doesn't he know the date why doesn't he know who sung this or what yeah you already brought ground force to the table and for that i'm forever thankful you're the you're the first person to have ever mentioned it on the podcast. That is just... Really? Yeah, you win it. I was just like

it unlocked a memory. Okay, now you kind of ruined my game by already knowing the biggest song of 2002. So what was it? It was Nelly Dilemma I think. Nelly and Kelly. Yes, Nelly

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Emma, I'm having an Ellie and Kelly. And I'm like, you're in a dilemma. That is, that is, that shows how cool, how cool our household is. Okay, so Ellie and Kelly, that is a cracking song. Did you ever buy it? I didn't. I don't know.

When I was a teenager, because I'm a bit of a tech whiz, you know, I don't think I bought anything. I mean, I downloaded or, you know know however I got everything or recorded it I don't know what I did in 14 yeah no I stage of tech I was in yeah no I didn't it was a great song if I was because I was I was much older then and I would have danced to it in the dirty nightclubs in Birmingham but no I did not buy okay so I'm coming out with you with what was the biggest. So this is going 2002 Worldwide Box Office. What do you think was number one? I know around that time, because I looked a little bit like him,

there was Harry Potter. There was a Harry Potter. That was when it started, I think. You're wrong. No, you're wrong no you're wrong that was number two so we're going to go from four

four to one and number four was Star Wars episode two Attack of the Clones was that the one that everybody thought was rubbish

who had Jar Jar Binks in Jar Jar Binks was Phantom Menace that was that was the bad one that was earlier wasn't it that was like 90s because I was at uni

okay number three was Spider-Man so I presume this was like 90s when I was at uni. Okay, number three was Spider-Man. So I presume this was Tobey Maguire. Yeah, yeah. The original. Number two with 878 million. Oh, hang on. Is that billion or million?

I can't work out if that's. It'd probably be billion, wouldn't it? No, is that? 878 billion. It's a bit extreme. I'm going to go billion anyway. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Yeah, was that the first?

Or was... Harry Potter, yes, that was number two. And number one, Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers. Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. I've never seen it. Yeah, I've seen it, but they're dull. The Lord of the Rings ones, there's going to be a lot of people.

The facts betray what you're saying. I've never seen it. And in Birmingham, I of the rings ones they're um there's gonna be a lot of people the facts i know yeah betray what you're saying i've never seen it and in birmingham i don't know if you know this mosley is where it's all like base so in birmingham that's where the writer it's all kind of like yeah yeah yeah no so i'm not seeing it there i've no interest out of them i've seen harry potter and i've seen spider-man and they were both great yeah you can get away with not seeing lord of the Rings I think yeah or Star Wars yeah and I'm not I'm not a huge Star Wars fan okay so where were you living when you were 14 uh I was I'm in Kent in Kent in England I live in Essex now so I lived in Kent 14 um obviously a home of mum and dad but you weren't a homeowner at 14 no no no okay what did you have on your bedroom that always

gives the bedroom walls gives away what your kind of personality was like so well so when I was 14 my main thing that I kind of liked and I was a fan of was uh professional wrestling I um there was uh so the the kind of I remember buying a magazine and i saw this man this half-naked man with sunglasses on shirt open just really nice tan big and i remember looking at that thinking wow what is this this is incredible yeah um which is worrying at that age as well because you think where's this going yeah um and it was uh the duane the rock johnson that was that was and i remember from that moment i started to watch wrestling. So back in my bedroom, there was

half-naked men. There was these big strapping men. You know what? I don't think I was allowed that many posters. So I say there was men everywhere in my bedroom. I was probably allowed one. One with some Blu-Tack. No sellotape. And it was The Rock. He's an

icon. Definitely. Yeah, Rock. He's an icon. Definitely, yeah, yeah. He was my biggest inspiration when I was younger, strangely. Okay, what kind of music were you into? One feeling, winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling, winning, in an exciting live dealer studio, exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem?

Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. All really. I think around that time was garage around? Garage music? I think there was some garage music. I think some indie stuff. I definitely had a

grunger phase. 100% I had a grunger or a goth phase at some point. Some very strange items of clothing um but pretty much into anything really as long as it was a good song i wasn't very niche when it comes to my music i didn't i just kind of spread myself out no that's good so you liked all types of music can you remember any kind of albums that you specifically bought or stole off the internet yeah my first album that was ever bought for me was britney spears britney spears and that was my aunt bought me that so that was that was uh her first album that was a big day but my main uh music i liked was five i loved

five the boy band five boys five was it bad boys with the power to rock you. Yes. If you had to choose a member that you wanted to be in Five, who would it have been? Jay. Jay. There was no hesitation. He was the man of that group.

And now, because, you know, there's reunions and stuff like that, without Jay, you know, there's no Five for me. There's no Five. So if it was just Richie, who are the other ones? I'm going to say AJ, but that's Backstreet Boys. Richie. Abs. Abs was one of them.

Richie, Abs, Scott. Scott, yeah. Sean. We can't forget Sean. So you're better than me here. See, I was a big fan and names had gone out the window. You were just focused on Jay. I was, like, focused on the pretty boys.

Are they reformed five there well the funny thing is uh me and my friends uh were looking to book butlings you know like these 90 weekends or something we looked to in november and the main thing that intrigued me was that five are performing there yeah but it's not five it's like three now i think they're like slowly fizzling down but i i know back in the day you know i don't know if your school's done it but in our schools when it was like assembly this is around spotless girls and stuff like that where girl bands you'd get like a group of girls and they'd do a performance for you on stage in front of the school and they would sing a song and they'd do a dance but you'd never notice any

guys doing it and i remember a few times i was trying to rally a few, five members to get up there and try and do something. If you're getting down, baby. Five, if you're on a dance floor, which I'm not, I never go out, but if I was on a dance floor, I'm five or S Club 7. Ain't no party like an S Club party. What the heck, they're both bangers.

I was driving through Birmingham the other day, looked, there was a poster and it was for Boy Life, which is one was a poster and it was for Boy Life, which is one of Boy Zone and one of Westlife. Oh, really? Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. They've got two out of the ten and I think it's Keith.

Two of them. Keith from Boy Zone. And maybe, who used to be married to Kerry Cotone? And maybe Brian McFad, and that is Boy Life. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, wow. And they're playing at the Town Hall. Oh, really?

Oh, God. I shan't be going, but I'm sure it's a lovely night. Okay, what kind of school you go to, and where were you in the hierarchy? It's strange, really, with the hierarchy, because I went to a mixed school, but I kind of started off, I was a very shy person, very shy child. That's all I was told when I was younger. I had speech therapy and stuff like that, and I wouldn't talk to anyone.

And I kind of slowly had a glow up when it came to secondary school. For the first two, three years, I was very within, and I had my glasses on. And that's why I remember Harry Potter, because I I looked like Harry Potter and everyone reminded me of that. And then, and then eventually like in year 10, I don't know if this still happens, like all the schools just, you used to just have like a small class for a couple of years. And then when it gets to year 10, it was just an open forum. So you had like all the other classes you would never speak to.

All of a sudden there was this great big pool of people and I'd like to think I got on with a lot of them so I just had this this big um group of friends um and yeah that so I was quite I kind of slowly became myself and had a glow up as I like to think. And I think it's a lot easier for me because I've always been the older one in the year. You know, I think that, that certainly gives someone the, the leg up. If you're a younger one, you know, you've got people in your class a year older than you nearly, and they're kind of maturing and stuff like that. And, you know, you're not, you're not at that level yet. Things haven't sprouted yet and stuff like that.

I think, I think it's a struggle. Whereas I was always older. So I, you know, not you're not at that level yet things haven't sprouted yet and stuff like that i think i think it's a struggle whereas i was always older so i wait you know i think i started secondary school with a moustache and a little stubble or something stupid yeah yeah and i was taller and bigger um so that always kind of i feel like that gave me an advantage yeah that's that's good i think when you get to year 10 it's gcses isn't it so you're kind of like choosing options and all hanging around with different types of people um and i find because i used to be a teacher and i find that boys from year around year nine their arms grow and then their legs aren't and then their nose is growing and they're just it's all like they're all like it's it must be such a difficult time to be a boy yeah they're just it's like they're just, it's all like, they're all like, it must be such a difficult time to be a boy.

Yeah, they're just, it's like, they're just like growing all the, it's, yeah, it's a funny old time. So did you enjoy school? I did enjoy school. Yeah, no, I think the difficult thing for me with school was that where I kind of slowly evolved into, I kind of, I ended up, you know, performing in shows. And because I was told I was shy I was working really hard to not be shy anymore so I because I started to get you know a good group of friends and known around school I entered into shows and I was leading shows and I was the headline at active shows so when it came to the end of school it almost went too far and i was almost

on the precipice of being a bit of a dick and i mean i look back on the time and when i was leaving school when you all signed shirts and stuff because i was known for doing drama and acting right okay i remember on my shoulders on the back of my t-shirt and i was so proud of it well i had holly hollywood's future or some shit like that and it has stuck with me for all these years and I just look back and think what a wanker. Hollywood's Future. And the next James Bond

is what I call myself. There's still time. No, no, no, no, no. There's still time. Hollywood's Future. I like the idea of justifying that maybe of, you know know getting to a point where there's a bit of acting so I can say okay I put that on my back but I can't really justify it I look back now and I just think what a wanker so it's like like I said it was an evolution I went

from really shy and humble and I just got a bit cocky but I like to think that I was cocky, but I was never, I don't think I was, I always had time for everyone. I got on one of the teachers. I like to think I had time for everyone. There's probably somebody out there now who's listening who, you know, I'm the biggest enemy in life and I've done something that wronged them. But I always like to think that if anybody, you know, the bullying that goes on, I never kind of was part of it.

I may, you know, have a quiet word with someone after someone's done something to someone and just try to, in life and in school, just try not to be a prick. It's as simple as that, really. That's a life lesson. I wake up every morning and go, right, today. Do you know what? Some people seem to wake up and do the opposite

and today, like, today it's going to be a dick. So because you've been on social media you seem like millions of times have anybody from school contacted you uh no not really i don't really i my school friends i still have a group there's probably around about 15 of us who i still speak to um and you know we speak to each other often and i think they're great for me because they keep me very grounded and level. But no, no, no one's.

I've had a few people reach out. I had a few teachers reach out, which is quite nice as well. But yeah, yeah. That school shut down now, though. That's devastating to me. Absolutely devastating. I wouldn't. Sometimes when I'm posting stuff, because sometimes I do reels

and stuff that are just stupid and look a mess, I do think, I wonder what people are, who went to school, they're thinking of me as I'm bopping around in my dress again. I wonder if they're thinking, good on her, or she always was a bit of an arm. What happened? Yeah, yeah. She's really let herself go.

Okay, first crusheses i'm presuming it wasn't the rock um i mean it was that was a man when i said that um no her there was a girl called uh katie g i won't say her second name just in case katie g and she was one of these ones that she was all the way through my school and uh always kind of looked from afar never speak to her never speak to her look from afar and I think we did go out I think in and out on and off you know every now and then I'll dump her she'll dump me we wouldn't say this to each other this is for friends um and that's always the one that I would always anytime I was near her I'd you'd convulse and just be a mess. And you know what?

The best thing is, I don't think I even, we've probably had about a few sentences to each other. So like this whole time, that was the main fixation was Katie G. Katie. Katie's a classic noughties name as well, isn't it, Katie? It is indeed. There was a few Katies, yeah. Oh, God.

It's like from my age, it's Emma Louise. There's a million people called Emma Louise. In fact, anybody my age's middle name's Louise. My wife's middle name is Louise. Of course. We're all called Louise. And what about celebrity crushes? You know what? I couldn't really think of anyone.

It's really quite dangerous how I can't think of any celebrity crushes I had. I really did have admiration for big out there characters. So like The Rock, that was the one person that I kind of fixated on. I can't remember any celebrities. Probably Charlie Dimmock. Charlie Dimmock? That was the closest thing I was going to get to see in a few nipples. Turning up in a BHS t-shirt and ground force with no bra on.

That's a really wild, that was a wild time that was, wasn't it? She knew what she was doing. She knew what she was doing. Fair play to her. She was absolutely great. Okay, so no first questions. Biggest fashion faux pas, what kind of clothes did you used to wear? Yeah, so yeah, like I said said i went through my grunger phase and uh i there was a little shop

um so there's a shopping center in essex called lakeside and it was like a little boardwalk we had all these little niche shops um and i remember there was this one shop like tiny little thing like smaller than this little room i'm in now And it had just bundles of just black and dark and Gothic stuff everywhere. And I remember I bought two items. I bought really big baggy combats, but like flares, just huge, great big wide things with about 3000 pockets and just like white lining all around it. And then I got a, it was a netted zip up um vest or something hang on hang on

and net right netted so you could see through it and someone just put me in a net and if so were you wearing something underneath it oh no i'd put a a vest a black vest over so double vest one normal you could still you could you could see the netting just seeping through the sides so so people knew it was black and uh those you know what that was my grunger phase it was those two items and i always think to myself what were the shoes what shoes i didn't wear golf i didn't wear boots or whatever. What were the shoes? Was it a Doc Martin? No, no, it was nothing like that. It was probably a pair of Asda George, whatever I could get,

maybe some Primark. It was never fancy trainers or anything like that. I just think, what were the shoes that went with that? But it wouldn't matter because you couldn't see the shoes because your legs are just triangles. Maybe that was it. maybe there's no shoes maybe you would just barefoot in a vest bopping around and also i imagine the bottom of these were soaking wet and dirty because they've dragged all the rain up no certainly i remember oh yeah i wore it camping uh when all the school went camping or something that was my go-to i was like this is my moment just put the trousers on that's so you wouldn't you weren't like you weren't like practical clothes

you're like no no string this is I'm here to make a statement and you did make a statement and you know what it was all of two months and then yeah I realized very quickly what the hell and then I went i went for a strange pink phase at some point somebody at some point went you look good in pink and i was like and i i had like 35 pink t-shirts just like do you still now think put a pink shirt and go do you know i look quite good in this uh i like to think so I I would love for pink to come back I do I do enjoy I actually can carry I um am going if you ever do a tiktok and you're wearing pink I'm going to comment you look good in pink yeah there's a there's a slight peach shirt that my wife likes me in so

yeah definitely oh is there anything you'd wear you wear then that you'd wear now anything I wear then I wear I just I don't, I'm not a fashion person. I'm really just a very simplistic. I kind of have two brands that I stick to and I'm going to say their names because hopefully they'll send me some free stuff, but they never will. It was Only in Suns and Jack and Jones. And they're like, they're nothing big. They're like, there's fancy branded clothes, Giacomo,

and there's like me in the middle there of just somewhere. And yeah, I just, yeah, I can't remember really. It's certainly not the grunger stuff. No, you're not a tenner in a string vest. No, no, no, not at all. Shoeless and triangle trousers. A lot of people will remind me of the string vest. Oh my gosh, The string best.

Okay. What was your greatest teenage success? Do you think, was it the glow up or is it something else? Yeah, it's, it's tough because it was a few things. I met the queen when I was younger.

I was told that, you know, I don't even know what happened. I think I was a good boy at school and they sent me to see the queen, which is really strange for the day with me, with someone else at Westminster Abbey. Hang on, right. Right.

Just you and another person. They were like, we need two people to meet the Queen. You two. Now, were you with a teacher or were you on your own? No, I was with a teacher. It was a whole day.

It was through the school. And I remember the day before that I went to meet the queen. I was running and playing around outside on the way home from school with my dad. And I was running and there was a little wall. I always jumped over and tried to do a cool kick or something like that. Just a typical boy. And I jumped over it, threw the heels out, trying for the kick, stumbled, tripped, and kind of glided along the floor.

Oh, no. My nose. Oh, no. The graze. the heels out trying for the kick stumbled tripped and kind of glided along the floor my nose oh no the grave so i had a great big huge seepy scab on my nose a bit over there on the cheek but here in the cheek so when i met the queen it was like a fresh open wound i bet she thought oh i'm oh put the poor child they've let him come your parents your parents your parents absolutely that has happened to my kid i'd have been fuming yes yeah yeah that was certainly a highlight and then yeah as i got older certainly you know headlining uh productions at school and stuff like that and i i hate this because it kind of epitomizes where i was at school. And like I said, with the kind of, I look back and think I was nearly a dick. I don't think I was a dick, but I was nearly a dick. Was that I got prom king.

And I think, to be honest, I think the only reason was I turned up, I've got quite a Scottish heritage. I turned up in a kilt. And obviously everyone's turned up in a suit. So I think really that's, and because I got on with the teachers, a lot of the teachers, I was, you know, I speak to the teachers as if they were anyone else. So I think that was really it.

Right. You met the Queen and you were prom king. Your life peaked then. I know, yeah. I mean, there was a good couple of years after that. Where you know, like you see films where the jocks, and then like a few years after you see them in a bar and they're like, their hair's falling out and stuff, and they don't know what they're doing themselves. There was certainly a few years after that where it was a bit like that.

Did you get a crown or like a sash or something? I think I got a sash, and there might have been a crown. You're saying that, but it's really up in your living room, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I had to take it off before we started this. I just caught it. In fact fact i've got it here weirdly wow now my my husband at his school now he met somebody i think this might top the queen okay mother mother theresa wow now that's up there imagine mother trees are coming she's

going you couldn't know r.o.p isn't that funny i i thought she was how old is she coming she's going you couldn't know ROP isn't that funny I thought she was how old is she well she's dead she's yeah mother Teresa she was a very old but in that way I heard he's got a picture in the newspaper him oh really still obviously still up in his mother's living room because his family are all Irish picture him with the trees up wow yeah that's um and a picture as well i got a little certificate a picture the only person that came to my school was johnny ball do you remember johnny ball reveals all weird name for tv programs oh balls dad no that might have been a bit that might have been a little bit before your time okay so what was your biggest teenage flop biggest teenage flop i certainly it was the shyness like certainly I was I'm I mean

I think it translate well translates well to the character that I have on socials now so the character I mean every I think everyone's shy and awkward really I think everyone gets uncomfortable and I like to kind of celebrate that side of things so I like the fact that on my socials i i'm just a very awkward uncomfortable person but i think so many people are and on social media everyone's putting themselves um you know turning themselves up to like 100 trying to show the best best of them um and then everyone on socials even if they're reality they're a character they're they're being they're elevating something that they are so what i like to do is I like to kind of bring it back to, I like to turn it down to the very humble, uncomfortable, shy side of myself. And that's what I like to be. But it's weird, because I do it in a way where I'm actually, there's acting, there's reacting. But yeah, I like to celebrate the uncomfortableness. I like, and I think that's why people can relate

to the videos is because we're all awkward, we're all shy, we're all uncomfortable. And like, there's a lot of weird and strange things out in the world. So yeah, being able to show that on a video and show the kind of reaction to the nonsense that's going on and around the world i think that's what makes it relatable i think hopefully yeah no it does it's everybody's cringe and everybody's been in awkward situations there's not many people really that are 100%

confident all the time and sometimes they are a little bit dicks people like that they're a bit they're a bit not very self-aware so i think it's good to highlight kind of like the relatable ordinary everyday moments but as we said that people all across the world all feel exactly we've all been at weddings where people have done weird things or it's just yeah it's certainly and i think that's why i love tiktok tiktok for me is just an absolute people on tiktok are so It's wild, isn't it? It's so creative. And I think if you've got a certain thing about you, everyone has this. Everyone has a certain uniqueness, a little bit of something,

something about them that makes them unique that they don't often share with people. So, you know, someone who's a stockbroker could collect in trains, like toy trains or something, or have something very about them. They won't tell anyone or share it, but they'll keep it in. I think everyone has that. Everyone has a little, little, little something about them. And I think with TikTok, you're able to kind of take your thing, put it into the world and share it and there will be people who have exactly the same uh appreciation for what you're

doing the same little uniqueness about them and then those people gravitate and it's like with the um what's it called the algorithm i mean you get you get sucked in you get you get shown exactly what you want it doesn't work so well yeah it is it is and sometimes you're like is this telling me something about myself oh I didn't really what why is it showing me all this stuff and it's just absolutely fascinating obviously your career is heavily on social media are you glad you grew up in a time where it wasn't quite so prevalent yeah definitely definitely 100% I just think like I said when it got to a point where I was that bit of a dick with the Hollywood's future.

Oh, you'd have been making, oh my God. Could you imagine if I was on social media at that time? You'd have been making 10 TikToks a day. You'd have been doing them. Oh no, hell. You would be a meme by now. No, no. Just like the idea I had,

I probably had about 15 years where I just didn't do anything creative, got married, got a career and a job and then to mature. And I feel like this is this is the moment now where I can go right. How to handle, you know, having followers, having people come up to me and, you know, handling that creativity. But Emma, I've got a question for you that little itch that little thing about you the little uniqueness what was your what's your little uniqueness that maybe your followers don't know why my new uniqueness about me what do you like yeah as in like your little thing that you enjoyed doing that maybe other people won't know I am an open book there is you share it already I love that oh my god good short of so showing my c-section scar

there's nothing these people online the reason no one's i mean it's a podcast no one would see it that would be quite hang on i've just shown it it's very big um i i i'm an open book, but I think my, the reason why people follow me is because I'm just really ordinary. And I've always said that there's some, you can be extraordinary when you're ordinary. We don't all have to be like, look a certain way or do a certain thing. I'm very emotional. I love things with my whole heart. I'm very sensitive. I am really boring. Like I just watch the telly and and that's okay like that's what most people are like and and that is my little thing and sometimes

you know what sometimes like when you were younger you didn't like being shy and now that's kind of like your superpower what you're portraying exactly sometimes I do lie in bed and I think oh god I wish I was you know when you're watching TV and you didn portraying. Exactly. Sometimes I do lie in bed and I think, oh, God, I wish I was, you know, when you're watching TV, you need to see this house. I wish I lived there. I wish I did that. And they're like, but no, my superpower is that I'm just normal. And that is like, that's why people relate to me.

So I'm very lucky to have found people online. And that's why, even though the internet is bad, and I'm glad I didn't have it when I was younger, it's nice to find your tribe, isn't it? Oh, 100%. Yeah, no, I think the social media is really good I think it's I think people worry really a lot about social media and I think the main thing is that there's no real rules and just if you don't care about what people think or anyone has to say it really is a wonderful place you can do whatever you want and it's just um if you care

it can be you know a scary place and oh my god i think almost if if you care you're almost inviting people to to take shots yeah whereas you know i you know i couldn't give a monkey's what anyone has to say to me or anything so like i i don't think i invite it so i don't really get a lot of grief or a lot of pain but i think it's a lot harder for, for women. A hundred percent is so much harder for women. These people. And you know,

I've got to a point where I am a lot better, but I did used to care. No, I did. You did used to make me cry. But it's a very misogynist industry where men and the men I've had on the podcast, they simply don't get the amount of trolling, trolling as women. It's so weird. And it's not like men are trolling me men do not troll me

no women troll me women yeah yeah really strange it that is such a weird thing to get your head around but i think i do think you're right i used to engage with them i used to oh no don't do that i used to go i used to be like but why don't you like me and they're like no just ignore them i like to any sort of grief i get i always like to kill them with kindness i like to do something like is everything all right or something like that or just ask them a question or just but certainly um yeah women on women it's uh it's a scary scary uh scary world i think often there's this stereotype that trolls are 13 year old boys i have not found that to be the case they are not interested in anything i'm doing yeah guys guys don't give a if they don't like something they'll just block you or move on yeah women will follow

you and continue to to keep going and going but i think the main thing is and i don't know if this is because of my character yeah um they only i think you only get trolls if you're a threat to someone if you're if you're a threat in regards to you've got something they have they haven't got you're in a place where you are happy that you're able to be yourself and they can't and i think where with my character you know i'm stumbling and tripping you know everything's against me i'm an idiot um i'm not trying to show that i'm great so you know people i'm not a threat to people people are looking at me and thinking this guy's beneath me the character beneath whereas if i'm you know the other end and i'm i'm happy and i'm showcasing myself that's why i don't do stories that's why i keep my personal life to myself i don't want to show this because people will then come after me and i think uh trolls only come after you if you're a threat i think yeah so emma you're a threat do you know

i'm a triple threat i'm a singer i'm a dancer i'm literally none of those things um if you could go back and tell niall then something what would it be i i'm very much a person with I I don't hang on regrets I think uh I I every I think every person has like certain chapters of their life and that chapter in my life it was a very positive happy one um and I like where I've gotten to I like the mistakes I've made in between because that's why I'm here I'm in a very what a happy place content fulfilled happy place so anything that's happened before and don't be wrong I've had some some bad things yeah I kind of celebrate them in a really weird way because this is this is where I am um so I don't yeah I'm not a kind of regretful person so you just go back and be like it's all

keep it up keep up yeah good job i think hollywood's future you you silly bastard don't don't don't my my only regret and i think about this a lot is take that which came to hmv in birmingham right and i went in and i saw them and i didn't go and meet them and i I think about that quite a lot. Why, why did, why did, why, why didn't I just get in the queue? Well, I think take that.

They were big when I was younger, but they got bigger like 10 years ago, didn't they? That was when the take that for me was like, wow, I didn't know take that were big. But you're not going to get all five now. No,

no. It's like Pokemon. I can't collect all five now. They've all flipping disbanded. So that's the regret for you, huh? I just think about me and my sister. We're like, oh, let's take that. And then we were just like, should we just get them a same?

Why? We often discuss this. And if that's one of my only regrets, to be honest, I've led a very nice life. Oh, yeah, that's a wonderful life. Yeah. Just because you didn't meet, take that. Take that in HMB.

Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. And be sure to say again where everybody can follow you. N-I-a-l-l nile yeah like the river like the river nile um macmillan and um yes the second nile on socials second nile on not not horan or horan whatever his name is guys if you um are interested in nile go and follow him Be sure to tune in for next week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast. As I said, go and follow me over on Instagram. I'm sure we'll be doing an equally thrilling poll this week, probably. I'd like to do a poll relating to the guest. What poll could we do for you, maybe?

A poll for me? Oh, my God, let's do wrestlers. We could do best wrestlers best wrestlers okay no that sounds good you say you think people are interested these people love these polls absolutely fascinated okay can i just say one thing emma as well i just want to say you're coming up to a year of doing this podcast you're coming up to a year so i just want to say to you people don't really appreciate how hard and difficult it is to try to scramble together and get guests and do these things and to do it for

a year it sounds it sounds easy it's not so tip of the cap to you oh thank you you can't see he's just tipped his prong king um crown the crown tip the crown oh thank the crown. He just tipped the crown. Oh, thank you so much. Right, guys, I will see you next week. And see you later, Niall. Thank you. Thank you very much. Cheers, Emma.

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