The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Hunsnet: Cheap Alchopops & NAF NAF

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

Who faked his age to get out of the small town he grew up in? Gareth from Hunsnet that's who. He joins The Phonebox Podcast this week to tell us all about how he talked to THE Kylie about Greggs sausage rolls and the rudest story about his time working in Pontins.Be sure to follow the brilliant Hunsnet account here.Grab your tickets to The Phonebox Podcast Christmas quiz here! https://10yearsofbrum.eventbrite.co.uk For more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the all new @phoneboxpodcast account on InstagramIf you have any guest suggestions, topics you would like me to cover or send in a Christmas story voice note to be featured, email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!Editing by Soundtruism.#kylieminogue #90smusic #90s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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That way we can say thanks for your opinion. Just go to mypodcastsurvey.ca and have your say. That's mypodcastsurvey.ca and have your say. That's mypodcastsurvey.ca. Hello guys and welcome to this week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast with Mia McConway. We have an episode that I know a lot of you have been waiting for when I posted. I interviewed him on Instagram. You're all really excited. It's Gareth from Hunsnet, which was recorded about a month or so ago. So I hadn't seen Madonna by then. And we all know now she was fantastic but it is a really really fun episode Hunsnet is an amazing pop culture account it's memes it's funny it's nostalgic it is just everything that we love all wrapped up in an

Instagram account so I highly recommend you go and follow Hunsnet it is just phenomenal and also warning this has a very rude story in and this story made me cackle so much and I'm I was laughing because I was thinking of my dad listening to this episode laughing at the story and then phoning up in a few hours going that was a funny story so I really really hope you enjoy this episode and also at the end I'll chat about a little event I'm hosting online soon that hopefully some of you will come to. Enjoy! Hello Gareth and welcome to the Phone Box podcast. I'm so excited to have you here. You are one of my favourite accounts on Instagram. Oh that's very very kind to hear. I've brought some small change so we can speak for ages. I've got some 20 pence pieces, I've got some 10 pence pieces. Have you got a 50p you got no we're not it's not payday yet hon so

I was just asking you the year you were 14 and I was shocked because you look so young I thought you literally thought you were in your 20s so I'm absolutely over the moon here that you are in fact a little bit older when were you 14 I was 14 in 1996 so everyone's gonna need to do the math now that is 96 i feel i've said it before 95 96 97 cracking years i think anything around the birth of the spice girls i think that that is definitely a significant time particularly in people of our ages lives you know i think that for for what I do with Hunsnet whenever anybody asks me about what are the Hun years I always say from you know the birth of the Spice Girls I think that that's when Hun started right up until last Wednesday do you know what I

mean? What is the definition of a Hun? It's a tricky one but if you know you know I think you're a Hun would you consider yourself a hun oh my god i consider myself a hun i'm gonna put i'm gonna change my bio on everything to say a certified hun um yeah i i we i when i met you i said i've got tracy beaker coming on soon she's a hun i would say it's so weird isn't it so we could go into the ins and outs of it of you know i wrote a book on it last year and it's a guide to life available in shops now and um it's really weird because I think being a hun means different things to different people for me being a hun is a really really vibrant group

chat really fun situations scrapes that I get into with my friends a genuine love and celebration for females because they've been a massive part of of my you know sort of formative years you know being a young gay guy growing up in uh in South Wales it was pretty tough at times and and where I get all my hun things from are the girls that sort of raised me. Oh, I love that. So, you know, because with Hunsnet, for anybody who follows the account, you know, it's a six foot four bald man who runs this account. And, you know, a lot of the material content, so to speak, is female centric. And sometimes, you know, before I sort of outed myself about who was making these

memes it was one of those things that I was really a little bit nervous about you know that people might find out that it's a 41 year old six foot bald man he looks a bit like a bouncer making memes about you know jeans and a nice top but for me it's it's a real it's a real love letter to to females like I've you know I love women not you know in sexually but yeah and everything I think you do even if you're taking the mic a bit is done with love I think it's all done with like love yeah and I think to go back to the question about what is a hun it's it's you know if you're a hun you've got a good heart you don't mind getting the piss taken out of you you can take the piss out of others you know if someone's boyfriend has broken up with them,

you're the first one round there with a bottle of cheap wine from the news agents. 100%. I think there's so many facets to it. And then obviously you can be like a literal hun, so you can have a live, love, laugh photo frame on a mantelpiece. You can rock her jeans in a nice chart. I've got a pumpkin spice candle going in the background. I think that's probably a bit hun, isn't it?

That is. And what I like about hun culture is how seasonal it is, you know, because Halloween just wasn't a thing before. And obviously there's the... Look at my top. It's a Halloween top. Wearing a Halloween top. Not even October yet.

Just from September the 1st. Yeah. I mean, this episode will probably air afterwards so yeah it's Halloween I'm gonna come around and egg your house oh it's so season I'm there for all the seasons I absolutely but your bedroom when you were 14 did you have any posters up I find this is a good indication of a person, I absolutely did until we had our bedroom decorated. So I come from a family of five children. We had a terraced house in Pontypool in South Wales. And as the boys got older, I shared with my brother Kyle, there was a big, big bedroom that we shared. And then as the

younger children needed their own bedroom, we sort of did a dividing wall sort of thing and had it all redecorated. So before the dividing wall went up, I had loads and loads of posters up. After the dividing wall went up with the fresh new wallpaper that I was allowed to choose, it was, well, you know, it's one of those things where you're like, no, it's on the wallpaper! Not until you have a dado rail. We absolutely did have a dado rail. Of course you had a dado rail we absolutely did have a dado rail nice bit of wallpaper and a dado rail stripes on the bottom pattern on the top i was obsessed with

coca-cola not not not the not even the drink i've never really drank coca-cola our bedroom was coca-cola themed so the stripes on the bottom were black and white and uh and red and then on the top then there were these little cartoon characters of a coke can with sunglasses on lovely did you have a giant empty coke bottle that you put coins of course yeah my boyfriend turned up when he moved in with me 20 years ago turned up with that under his arm i think i think it's i think definitely everyone in our age group will know somebody or have had a giant coke bottle full of a two pp two penny pieces that no one ever cashed in no and if he did it'd be 10 pound yeah take it into asda you pull it the shame the shame of carrying around a shrapnel filled coke bottle they used to put the coke logo on anything those days you know the pencil case she had yo-yos did you have the yo-yos yo-yos

there was a clock we had it was literally like coca-cola meltdown crazy do you like a coke now because i love a diet coke only when i'm hanging Diet Coke. Only when I'm hanging. Oh, right. Okay. Only when I'm hanging. So it's like a Lucozade would be my first go-to original. And what I don't like recently is obviously the cost of living. We all know that. I don't want to bring the mood down. But these bottles have got much more expensive and they're not as big as they used to be. And I need a big, big bottle of Lucozade when I'm...

A big bottle of filthy Lucozade, like what your mum used to give and I know I need a big big bottle of lucasade when I'm a big bottle of filthy lucasade like what your mum used to give you when you're real exactly do you remember did you ever go swimming to the leisure center and they used to have lucasade sweets they were like um they're like chalk they were just like chalk and it ended up like lucasade talc in your mouth yeah and you think oh this is gonna this is like what i've been swimming i need this to bring my energy back up yeah yeah it's gonna turn me into uh i can't think of a famous swimmer yeah yeah yeah i was gonna go tom daly we got back in the past duncan goodhue yeah i do remember them i feel like they were like isotone or some sort of... Yeah, isotonic. Isotonic. And also, whilst we're on the subject of leisure centre catering,

did you ever have a cup? It was like a dispensing cup where you could get soup at the leisure centre. Machine, course I did. You were looking at 25p? Oh, a nice chalky soup. We actually got one put in our school and we used to get like hot chocolates for

like 15p and they were absolutely rotten we just washed with like sediment so before the dado rail what kind of posters were up did you have um boy bands girl bands oh i was obsessed with eternal oh baby oh louise redknapp yeah louise nerding as she yeah look as she was back in the day so i was obsessed with them and actually thinking back i'm cringing now because my neighbors you know obviously terrace houses were next to each other my neighbors must hear me singing along a 14 year old in their bedroom singing along at christmas Eternals I am blessed and I am blessed oh I am cringing I used to think I used to dress like Eternals so I'd have like big like wood boots with the wood in the bottom like suit bottoms like a bomber jacket but like I didn't

look like Louise I didn't really carry it off I weren't I weren't an Esther I just looked like a bit of I don't know I don't know what it off. I weren't an Esther. I just looked like a bit of, I don't know. I don't know what it looked like. I met them a couple of times back in the day because I used to follow boy bands. And wherever a boy band was, Eternal, they were there. They did a lot of supporting of the boy bands, didn't they, at the time?

Yeah. Which is daft because we, as girls, we didn't really want to see Eternal. No. Because we thought, well, they all fancy them. Yeah. In fact, didn't they all end up like somebody married Keith yeah

I'm sure they married some boys on or Shane or someone yeah I think it was Vernie who married no no Esther who married Shane quite quickly

and then you always and then you had Kelly not sure she married anyone of the boy band Stable one of them went out with Worlds Apart I don't know if you remember

Worlds Apart one of them went out with one of Worlds Apart and I was raging and obviously Louise with Jamie and then they did a bit of remember worlds yeah and i was raging and obviously louise with jamie and they did a bit thomas cook yeah and he was he was gorgeous with his floppy head oh lovely my friend went on holiday and i think she saw him like i don't know his dad i think his dad

might have had a restaurant he was there oh oh so envious okay so at school what kind of school did you go to and where were you in the hierarchy oh in the school in the hierarchy so I um I went to uh we took in secondary school yeah so I went to a place called Trevethan Comprehensive School which isn't there anymore uh it's a housing estate which I'm sure lots of schools from back of the day were school for me was a bit of a weird one because during that time uh you know back even back in the 90s and i think it's it's it's a good conversation to be having in this day and age you know it wasn't easy for for me to come out of the closet you know being completely honest it was it was it was quite tough really i came from a family and a town which is very much built around

the rugby club and everything like that proper gavin Stacey vibes do you know what I mean yeah it was something which I really really found difficult to do but was quite obviously a raging gay boy do you know what I mean me walking in me walking in with Spice Girl trainers um and um yeah so it was it was a bit of a juxtaposition really because because obviously I'm presenting as straight but you know really I know that that that I like the boys um so it's a bit of a tricky one um you know back in the day kids kids kids can be quite cruel I can imagine but you know I'm not advocating for violence here or anything like that. But being a six foot four, you know, I learned to look after myself, you know, pretty quickly. So, yeah, it was it was a bit of a it was a bit of a it was a bit of a tough time, really, to be honest. But but the music of Eternal saw me through.

You kept going. You were like, what when Louise left, though? I bet you were like, oh no, though oh no yeah I was gonna do no I just remember being a of a young age 12 13 um and doing the full beauty and the beast moment looking around to be like there must be more than this provincial life uh and yeah I was I've been obsessed with London since I was like really really young and it was like a dream of mine to sort of yeah to move to London and make it there and yeah it was I sort of made moves pretty soon when I was about 16 to sort of jog on um and say goodbye to Wales I mean I love Wales I mean when I go back now it's it's a complete I look at it I look at it under different eyes but at the time it was a case of get me to the city. So you moved when you were 16 to London?

No, it was a bit of a journey really. So this could open a can of worms. Yeah, I left South Wales and then ran away to become a Pontians blue coat. You're not the first person we've had on here. Oh, really? That was like a blue coat. No, we had another. And he worked with Rosie Ramsden.

I don't know if it was Pontins or Haven. So yeah, Rosie's a friend of mine. So me and Rosie. Yeah, so his name's Lou. Lewis, yes, from 2000 London. Yes, yeah. I don't know if he was Pontins or what. Yeah, yeah, Lewis was on my team.

No way! Yeah, Lewis was on my team. And now we're managed by the same people. What a small world. Oh my gosh how long i love blue coats and red coats and all them lot yeah so i was at pontins for seven years so i left i think i think i got there like late 1999 or early 2000s i can't remember and yeah it was brilliant uh but full full disclosure i lied on my application form uh because you had to be 18 to do it and I because I

was you know later on in the year my birthday's in June I was like I don't want to spend another year here I want to I want to go and be an idiot at the seaside um so I lied on my application form which I wouldn't recommend to anybody I mean this was the 90s the 90s you could get away with anything because now they'd be like well can we see like some form of idea and then they're like yeah come on yeah come in yeah so I actually spent my 18th birthday pretending to be 19 um which was which is something which was fun um but I'd heard Shane Ritchie had done it as well you know and he was obviously the um you know the the figurehead of of being a Pontins blue coat at the time.

And yes, I ran away to Pontins and had an amazing time. And I was there for seven years. You know, I rose up the ranks. Rosie was on my team. Lewis was on my team. And we had a riot. We had a riot. What a small world.

He said it was quite hedonistic and it was there was quite a lot going on. It was nice. Yeah. You know, it was it was quite hedonistic and it was there was quite a lot going on it sounds ace yeah you know it was it was a lot of booze tequila rose was kind of our drink at the time and now it's come back round it's it just it seeing it all the time takes me back to to being a blue coat at pontins it's just crazy oh i think it's mental as well that you know lewis is doing his thing and rosie obviously rosie has just gone stratospheric with what she's doing. And we all we all were blue coats together. Subsequently, after I left Pontins, Rosie and I went to work in Greece together. The country, not the musical. However, I think you both were great in the musicals.

Yeah, I'd seen myself as a lovely Rizzo um yeah so we um we went and worked out in Rhodes together for a couple of years so yeah I spent a lot of time in Rhodes back in the day and then when I see her at different things now like I messaged her we were at the NTAs the other week and obviously she's down sat in the nominees and I'm sat up in one of the boxes um and DJ Opsi's Hey Baby came on. Yeah. And I messaged her because I couldn't see her because my eyesight's not that good.

I was like, does it take you back to the fun factory? And I forgot to tell her that I was there. And she was like, babe, she was like, I've just left. She went, I'm in the posh bath in the hotel.

She was like, I'm just doing one. I've gone. I'm having a rest with the kids. I'm having a break. So we established that you like to turn on you like Spice Girls what other kind of music were you into it was really weird because I think the 90s um there was a time when I thought that I liked rip-off and I think I liked Oasis at one time you know I think I think it was like led by what was going on at the time because if you remember there was the whole big chart battles

and all and so you you were on Oasis's side. I am yet to find one single person that was on Blur's side and they won. How did they win? Makes no sense. I know. Yeah. So I like that.

I really liked, I really liked dance music as well. Like a lot of the, particularly, you know, early, early years of working at Pontins, we would be surrounded by this commercial cheesy music all

the time and then we would go to go to the nightclubs in southport where where we were what what were they called um something like the baja beach club or something like that they always have like the one in butlins is jumping jacks yeah they have like real dodgy names yeah but they had this beach themed bar in southport um which was stocked floor to ceiling with every video it must have been sponsored by vk and it was really ahead of its time really because they had they had this big video screen in there and it was quite an interactive bar and they used to do like challenges it's quite big um and for a crate of silver vk now bear in mind that they would follow you around with a camera that would be live streamed into lovely

it's very big brother so i would go for a crate of vk oh my god what did you do i had to go right to the chippy next door and they were following you with a camera with a camera i think it was still on a wire like put through the window um and i had to walk i had to walk to the bar with the crack of my ass out saying i want i want a fritter but not at my shitter for a crate of silver vk oh god the night the 90s and noughties were wild oh god oh i bet they cheered in that club well i got the vk put it that way i was like you get a vk you get a vk you get a vk vk was also disgusting it wasn't even a nice drink it wasn't but you know what we used to do at ponsons because this is how i know like this is how i chart inflation is when i was at ponsons it was five vks for a tenner yeah and what we never get that now no no um and we would

on a front we would get paid on a friday so at 11.59 on a Thursday. Bear in mind, we were on about £96 a week at that time. We would hit the cash point. There'd be a queue of Ponson staff at the cash point. And we'd literally just smash all our wages on the Thursday night. Get the dirty VK in. But what we used to do is put them all in a bowl together. It was very malia i used to get um w blue wkd with a shot of vodka in the top that would be my little drink

this choice right that is so random that you said this so i went to um a corporate event on friday that i was hosting and um we do a a bingo part of it and in within that bingo instead of numbers we put in things that are associated with her culture and one of them was a blue wicked um no way to be like i've never heard about this vodka in the shots of um in the bottle of blue wicked but this girl went yeah you have it and you put a shot of vodka in it and i was like it's lovely i was like what the hell is this have a little sip shot of vodka and then put your finger on and shake it. Oh, love. Wouldn't that be lovely for a little stupefacious night out?

I'm going to take a pause because you met somebody the other day. Yeah, well, I met you the other day. Well, I mean, but you did meet somebody a little bit more important than me the other day. And when it came on Instagram, I did a small, please tell the people who you met. I met Connie minnette fan duel casinos exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling winning which beats even the 27th best feeling saying i do who wants this last parachute i do

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you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan you're not with fizz switch today conditions apply details at fizz.ca go to his account go to the internet account and look the picture you look like you look like you have been friends for 20 years. It was about 20 seconds at that point. So what was she like?

I need to know the following. Yeah. Did you look massive next to her because she's very tiny? Yes. Yes. Did she smell nice? She did. She had.

So at the pop-up. So for context, I met her at her pop-up shop, which was in London for her brand new album tension stream it now um i feel like i'm a personal like pr i love it that's that's me we take that yeah but you know what but likeought percent kylie wine uh prosecco which they were given out at the pop-up store but she walked in and all of a sudden this beautifully crafted glass she was there she just was drinking her own wine so she smelt a bit of wine to be honest Kylie's a white Kylie's a wino pass it on put it on the BBC news because when I saw the the we went to the BBC two part in the park thing she looks great does she look great up close yes she does she looks beautiful she and

I'm obviously very biased but the she just oozes star quality yeah it's just you can't put a finger on it what it is um I mean 35 years of my life I've been like obsessed with this woman and I literally found out I was meeting her probably not I didn't even know whether I was going to actually have a conversation with her I just knew that we were going to be in the same room together and I had about an hour to pull this together like I was a bit like that so the the people who I were with kind of alluded to the fact that she was going to come and I was like I mean I'm on my own in the shop because my friend we'd queued in the morning um to go to the shop but then unfortunately when I got to the door front door I had to leave because it took so long to get from where we were in the queue

to the front door. And I had to go, cause I had to go and do this event. And then luckily managed to get back. So I was on my own in the pop-up shop and her team would just like, I've said it like on Instagram, they were just so, so amazing. Like if, if, if, if a pop star, I mean, Kylie's renowned for being, you know, a really, really friendly person. But honestly, all the team around her were just, they were just brilliant. They were so, so lovely.

So I knew for about an hour that she was going to be coming. And I was like, 30 years of like, what do you say? Like, it's like coming into my head and I'm, you know, getting flustered thinking about it now. And then we had, you know, we came in and then I managed to have a conversation with her she knew about Hunsnet because we've done a lot of yeah memes and stuff around the album because with Kylie's new album and you know the new campaign there's been a lot of meme worthy stuff especially with Padam and and the videos and the visuals so I've done a lot of memes which she's shared and liked previously and I've also done some work um on her BBC sounds podcast so she knew about Hunsnet which absolutely blew my mind

and it was only yesterday luckily because the Kylie fans are like really really dedicated I had loads of people message me saying I've got videos of you meeting her you know the people who I'd never met in there and And yesterday, I got sent a video because it was all such a big blur. I got sent a video and I'm having a conversation with Kylie Minogue about Greg's sausage rolls. Because I'd done a meme. So in her tension video for anyone,

if you try and visualize this, there's a bit where she's in a red wig and a silver dress and she's pointing to something like that and I turned that into a meme saying me and Greg's telling the server which sausage roll I won so 30 years of loving this woman and thinking about this profound conversation that we were going to have and I'm talking to her about a Greg sausage roll oh do you know what I think that's perfect though she just looks so hot in any footage I've seen her at these events she just looks so happy yeah and it's so nice to think that somebody's so big is so yeah lovely because you can meet some zed listers who to be honest are arses yeah and that's probably why they're

still zed listers and when the big people are really nice that's like just just the best in it yeah so it was a it was a very crazy week for me that week because for anybody who doesn't follow hands net we're kind of obsessed with pop culture and anything that kind of kicks off um you know in the media providing that it's light-hearted we sort of hop on so one of the big things obviously in the last couple of years has been the wagatha christie trial oh yeah yeah yeah so you know where i'm going with this i know i saw her and me and my sister must have said dot dot dot so for context rebecca vardy was there now um as i mentioned earlier with the whole hun thing it is about gently ribbing and laughing with um and wagatha christie has been such a massive part of you know hun culture over the last couple of years

um and then somebody my friend amy messaged me and was like you're not gonna believe this rebecca vardy's here and i was like oh my god you know this is like crazy because you know whatever happened between colleen and and Rebecca is their business. And we've just been spectating on it, you know, and speculating and everything like that. You know, Rebecca's never done anything to me personally. So, you know, so to meet her or anything like that would be iconic for me. You know, it'd be brilliant. Well, I saw her in the afternoon and I was a bit like, right, well, I hate going over.

Can I get a picture without any context? And she seemed to be surrounded by lots of footballers I thought she was kind of like surrounded a little bit because me and my sister were eating a pizza just very pretty doesn't she she's stunning um well you know it was it was a festival you know we're getting geared up for Kylie Minogue a couple of pints quite a lot of pints loads of pints um and I said to my friends I went two more pints I said I'm gonna my friends, I went, two more pints. I said, I'm going to go and ask her for a picture. And then she got up and started walking.

And luckily our paths crossed. And luckily the people who she was with, the guys who she was with recognized me. I was like, oh my God. So it was kind of an organic situation. But what I will say about rebecca is she was lovely she said she went oh i know you make the meme she said just don't take the piss out of me too much she was like i don't that's nice she but she was like she was like i don't really care she was like

and i think you know we have to remember here that rebecca's a really savvy person because she has she has trademarked wagatha christy though which i think is iconic yeah yeah yeah it's iconic and actually um she's inspired me to do some more trademarking on some of the stuff that i'm doing i mean yeah yeah yeah so if anybody's going to try and trademark a cocky tea i own it i own the trademark cocky tea you and paris hilton with fetch is that what you know what's paris is it sliving sl know what's that is it's living there's a few that she there's a few that she owns and it's living yeah um I thought Rebecca Vardy looked great and I said to my sister like you gotta have balls to turn up to a big massive festival with thousands of people who could potentially not be very nice to you yeah so

this is the thing so for me getting the picture of Rebecca and and you know putting it up for my followers you know like 99.99999% was like this is iconic brilliant oh my god because we've followed the story we've watched the dramas I went to watch the play which is out there of this yeah so it's all been part of our lives because of the way the media has reported on it and the plays and the dramas we've been allowed into this story so it is a fascinating story yeah so when I put the picture up as I said 99.99% of people were like oh my god this is iconic do you know what I mean as I do and then some people were like Gareth this is not the serve that you think it is and and oh why are you having a picture with her and I don't

think which I'm deleting comments and I'm like I'm like Colleen's not gonna fuck you guys like get over it you know what I mean it's like you know it's none of your business it's it's it's it's a pop culture moment isn't it and I I I love a lot of pop culture I I don't know if you watch Real Housewives and stuff like that but there's always drama going on in those places and you know what if Tom's Tom Sandoval came in now i'd have a picture with him everybody hates him are you a do you like all the franchises of housewives are the only ones i don't watch i don't watch cheshire um and i don't what i have dipped in this what is the one in the isle of white or somewhere but everything else that's it i watch I watch them all well maybe um this is a bit of an exclusive we're actually um I'm in I'm in an

episode coming up of Real Housewives of Cheshire I know you don't watch it but um I'll watch it now yes it's coming up and I'll be honest with you I'll be honest with you I was when we went to film it I thought I was going to have a supporting role, a background sort of thing. Just a hello. It doesn't quite go like that. Oh, I'll definitely watch it.

I've just never, I just stick to, for me, I like to watch things that's not in a different country. Far away from your reality. Yeah. Yeah. Like Beverly Hills or,

you know, things that I've, I can't really get to i find that quite fascinating oh my gosh i love it well i'm definitely gonna watch um i want to know your first crush my first crush i always knew i was gay because i knew my fantasy jason more than kylie you're like it's not quite right here jason donovan came on the i was was watching Top of the Pops 19. No, it was a stock Aiken and Waterman Pro. Yes, I'm trying to find. So good. And Jason Donovan came on it singing Sealed with a Kiss.

And I said to my 12 year old, I was like, isn't he gorgeous? I was like, he is gorgeous. Blonde, floppy hair. I think he had double denim on but it was white denim and black boots and I was like he was I forgot how gorgeous he was yeah I remember he was the first concert that we ever went to I remember he was touring with I think it was the 10 good reasons tour if my I must have been like I have to be eight to remember that I was about eight years old 10 good reasons to and I remember

for Christmas we got tickets to see him and it was I think it was in like the the October the next year at Newport Centre um in South Wales and I remember going and and and queuing up with there was a there was a big group of us it wasn't just me on my own eight-year-old queuing up for Jason Donovan but it was the first concert that I ever I can remember seeing and I think that was one of the things I I don't know what it was like for you when you were younger but going to a concert was such a massive thing you know I don't know whether I just don't know whether teenagers do it teenagers do it anymore I take my I'm telling the fights I fought I've managed to get Harry Styles tickets and taking my daughter to that. That nearly killed me.

The Taylor Swift, trying to get Taylor Swift tickets was like, I had to like, it was almost like I was starting to sell off. And then Olivia Rodrigo tickets, but my sister managed to get us Olivia Rodrigo tickets. So I do take my daughter because I just think there's something so wonderful about mass people all celebrating

the same oh it's like religion isn't like all celebrating the same it's exactly that exactly that I think that um did you see Beyonce I didn't I have seen Beyonce before but not this time no I think Beyonce is like evergreen you know everybody loves Beyonce you know I think at some points obviously there's varying level of degrees to how much some people love her, but she's always been sort of like a constant in my life with Destiny's Child and stuff like that. But going and watching that concert, it was, I don't want to be,

it was life-changing. Like, no, that sounds weird. But because going to watch Jason Donovan back in the day and it was a guitar and there was a poster up and there was a little backdrop and, you know what this has evolved into you know take just the production on this thing you know and i was when we when we got tickets i got them in february we were on holiday at the time in sharm el sheikh like trying to get trying to get um tickets like that trying to get anything it's like you are now four pounds so we got them yeah we were like oh we've got to

be at the front we've got to be at the front but the way she produced that show for anybody who's seen it i'm sure loads of you have you could literally sit in the next postcode and as long as you can see that screen i wanted to go and watch it again just to watch it from a from the back you know it was one of those things where i think it was to watch it from the back would have been even better i just love it me and my sister because when we love Madonna we're going to Madonna's greatest hits tour but it's the opening night because you know she cancelled loads and it's the opening night and I just hope by the time this goes out you'll know if I saw or not because I just hope she's gonna do it I've just got I've just got a sneaking suspicion that it might not

happen but it's supposed to be happening, opening night. Madonna and I will probably cry. I think I'm going the opening night. Because usually, like now, if Harry Styles, oh, I've seen 55 million TikToks, ain't got a clue. I'm hoping she's okay. I think, yeah, I think she was. Do you know where, there's a cynic in me says

that she was putting the tour together. It was obviously due to start around the same time as Beyonce uh no yeah so obviously obviously Beyonce I think started in May and Madonna was supposed to start in July and I think Madonna has been such a pioneer in music and live performance the cynic in me says and I mean this with the utmost respect for Madonna, she's looked at that and gone, we can do better. Because Madonna is not going to have a second-rate show to anybody. Do you know what I mean? I just love...

I've seen her a few times. I've been to see her in plays and she walked past me once and I thought I was going to pass away because she is Madonna. That's somebody I'd really like to meet, but I do worry that she might be a bit mean if I met her. and she walked past me once and I thought I was going to pass away because she is Madonna. That's somebody I'd really like to meet, but I do worry that she might be a bit mean if I met her. I'm not sure she'd be as friendly as Kylie, Madonna. It depends on what day you get her, I suppose.

So I go to Barry's boot camp in Euston and her son is in there all the time, Rocco. And he's like, I mean, never really had a chat, but you see the way he is with people and he seems really lovely and he can outrun me on the treadmill which is fuming. I was in there with Harry Styles once as well. Yeah.

Nothing happens in Birmingham. Nobody's ever bloody... Alison Hammond, I've seen her in Next in Solihull. That flat was as exciting as it got. In London. Do you remember they used to have the Met Bar back in the 90s no, was it really Solihull? China White, do you remember?

oh yeah, or you go to Stringfellas in 2023 if you want a celeb spot in London you need to go to Barry's Boot Camp in Euston because I've seen loads of people there who else have I seen? Harry Styles.

Harry Styles. I love him. He used to go in there a couple of times. David Beckham and Brooklyn, I've seen in there. Harry Styles has got it that the moms and the kids can fancy him both at the same time. It's like this real sweet, like, and also because he likes older ladies, I feel like I stand a chance this is it

okay so first Chris with Jason Deniman I want to know about your biggest fashion faux pas oh I had a lot so um my relationship with hair was was a tricky one put it that way okay um I sort of dyed it every color I had the mohawks. I had this, that and the other. You know, the frosted tips, the shoe shines, the flat tops. I've had it all going on. So there's been a lot of hair faux pas. Back in the day, I wear contact lenses now,

but back in the day I used to wear glasses. And I did actually look, when I started to lose my hair, I really, really, with with my glasses I had on at the time I really did look like Alan Carr back in the day I literally looked like him um and the thing is I um I don't have Facebook I haven't had Facebook for a number of years um which if anybody's listening don't delete facebook because you will be like just just delete everything don't delete your profile because it comes back to haunt me it's just so into weed and so many things oh yeah top tip for you there huns um yeah so anyway um before before i got that there is like horrendous pictures of me in some sort of cargo pant and you know we all everybody lived a cargo pant did you have one with like a snake up it in some sort of cargo pant and you know we all everybody loved a cargo pant did you have one

with like a snake up it or some sort of dragon yeah dragon um the adidas poppers but all some of those things that that were around at the time they've they've sort of come back and i kind of like them they've all come back yeah my daughter's often rocking a combat she wants a um von dutch hat i've got one where's my she's like i've got one i wear a von dutch hat i've got one here she wants a von dutch hat and she wants to do she would she would sell me to get a juicy control track track so she really wants a juicy control track so that's like what like the app because i never had none of that when i was younger like my mom would i had had like a Don Vuch one from like Spain. Bomb bitch.

Yeah, like a fake one. I was like fooling around like, you know, Tenerife. But no, I didn't have, but yeah, she wants all that. So is there anything that you wore then that you'd wear now? Oh God, yeah. Like, I mean, some of the combats that I had back in the day, you know, with some of the tassels on and stuff like that. If I found them in a charity shop,

the original like Adidas poppers and stuff like that, I would definitely. Yeah, I had an Adidas. I got one in like a pale blue Adidas. Did you have a kappa jacket as well? I didn't have a kappa jacket, but I had a Stussy hat. You know, ones that go back to like Samuel L. Jackson wears. I was like, why don't boys fancy me?

And I'm in my Adidas tracksuit with a Stussy hat on. I don't understand this. No, that was like a Adidas tracksuit with a Stussy hat on. I don't understand this. No, that was like a birthday present. I had a Stussy hat, yeah. No, I didn't have a kappa jacket. And did you have NAF NAF in Wales? Yeah. Then there was like a market spinoff called NAFCO 54.

NAFCO 54 Classic. It's really weird because there used to be like jackets, didn't there? And they would be like a colored threading on the back um yeah we used to go to chepstow market quite a lot on a sunday and and it would be like full of stuff like to mark the clothes markets like that you remember like back in the day there were like big clothes markets do they still happen i used to go to wilter market in erdington and i get like a knockoff brock t-shirt or an fco 54 like i don't know spliffy do you remember spliffy yeah walking around walking around with somebody with it you know when you're 14 it's a bit like it's a bit strange but we're like i mean i've got my spliffy top on

um yeah i don't know about my i don't know if they get done now for like trademarking and whatnot i think well it's all everybody just goes to turkey now instead of the markets don't they yeah and get the fake bags and stuff like that um erin got a fake for 12 euros a fake eve saleron white handbag by the time i got home it had just it like disintegrated i think it was made of cardboard it had eve san legan It had Yves Saint-Legrand. It had Yves Saint-Legrand. It had just literally melted. There was just nothing left. And she was so sad. But I was like, well, it's, you know, that's what happened. Okay, what was your biggest teenage success?

Moving away, you know, still in my teens. Because the one thing that I, and I'm sure this is not synonymous just with Wales where I was from, I've been lucky enough to go and live all around the world and do stuff and do some amazing things and, you know, live in some crazy places. I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't have made that leap to leave early on because I see that a lot of people, you know, particularly friends of mine from school, you know, they still drink in the same pubs that their families did. And it's a generational thing, which is absolutely fine. But for me, it was very much like I wanted to,

I wanted to see a bit more of the world, you know, and that was a big success of taking that leap of faith and going, you know, it's not necessarily leaving somewhere, but it was the wanting to go and explore other places. If you could go back and tell 14-year-old Gareth something, what would it be? Stop dyeing your hair with cheap hair dyes. Stop dyeing.

And also, you will meet Kylie. Yeah, yeah. Just hang on. Do you know what? It's so funny because after this meeting Kylie situation, I've had loads of DMs from people I haven't spoken to in years, you know. Because, you know, like with social media these days, you don't need to speak to people because you know what's going on

in people's lives. And they're like, I'm so happy for you. Because even people who were in my life back then knew how obsessed I was with her. I am with her. It just, it just also, because I feel similar about Gary Barlow and Mumsnet got me to meet him. And in my back, I was just thinking, I just want one nice photo. Just, just the one.

And I managed to get the one nice photo. And I was like, I can relax. It's so funny you should say that. It's so silly. Because that's exactly, because going back to what I was like it's so funny you should say that because that's exactly because because going back to what I was saying earlier I didn't know I was going to be having a one-on-one interaction with her and then full disclosure I'm gonna have a conversation about something that happened to me last week I met Peter Crouch last week right okay yeah I know I'm going off on

a tangent here but we were but we're both really, really tall. I'm 6'4". Yeah, really tall. He's really tall, yeah. He's 6'7". And whenever I go to a party, there's always a conversation about I'm the tallest person at the party.

So when I went to this event and Peter Crouch is there towering over me, I was like, I need to have a picture. So bear in mind that he was really, really busy and Abby, his gorgeous, gorgeous wife, she was just on another level. Stunning. She took the picture and we, it was literally,

I was like, Peter, can we get a picture? Now, because I've got hooded eyes as well, we had a light directly above us. So going back to that point of saying that you need to get that, you get this one chance to get a good picture. Well, we got the picture and it's literally like we're covered in darkness. Now I don't doctor my pictures on on online there's

no point you know what I mean um but I was like oh my god I got the picture I wanted to do a funny caption with it and then put this filter on it which which didn't really look and uploaded it and because he had a big white smile I had a big white smile it literally looked that I looked like we had tippexed our teeth and everyone absolutely rinsed me for it so I was like I was in a bar called the Friendly Society which is in which is underground at the time and the wi-fi was intermittent I'm going to my boyfriend's I'm like I need to get upstairs to get this picture down because we literally look like um but then I must have had a couple of drinks because well I know I know I had a couple of drinks because the Marks and Spencers event is eight percent cans looking I look back

at that picture and I'm like oh my god like it literally doesn't even look like me do you know what I mean no but because he's got a big white smile I've got a big white smile we look like we've tippexed our teeth so don't filter when you're in these situations I just want the one good with Gary I actually said I can't believe it I said do you mind if we just move to a bit of better light

I was like could you just because there was like some professional and he did it I was like got the picture I was like could you just just tell everyone because there was like some professional and he did it I was like got the picture I was like so pleased um are you because social media is heavily both of our jobs are you glad you grew up without it or do you wish you had it there yeah I think I'm glad I grew up without it um because I mean a big part of what hun culture is for for for us being this age I think is we were from a time where we didn't have the social media so a lot of the references that I pull from are from that time

before and I think the one thing which I love particularly about our age category and social media now is that when we were growing up a lot of our experiences that happened to us you know a groovy chick bedroom a fiber optic lamp all of those sorts of things we all thought because there was no way of seeing it mass out to the world that that was only happening to us we did we all thought it was just like individual experience with my friends but I think what's what's been great about social media and we're reconnecting with people on these experiences that weren't shared so overtly online the pandemic i think has has just really stoked a a a thing for this you know nostalgia and people harping back to a time where they were they felt good and particularly in the

culture space and and stuff it's just a really nice warm hug yeah it's like it's it's a notch oh it's not just yeah exactly that yeah it's not just me when i do polls and stuff like uh favorite potato but you know put a lot of birds eye potato waffles or whatever like french bread pizza and stuff like that. If we had social media back then, it would have been so overexposed. When I go see Madonna, I don't know what that concert's going to be like, and that would have been the same when I went

to see Bross when I was nine, because I wouldn't have known. I'd have just turned up and gone, oh, Matt's in his pants, which is weird, with hindsight. But, you know, I don't know. I'm sure Madonna will be in her yeah yeah i might be mine well thanks so much for coming the podcast i have loved there's nothing more than i love celeb stories they're my favorite and you've bought you've bought numerous oh hon i've got

i've got loads more we should all tune into uh real housewives of cheshire yes yes have a look at that i think it's on sort of november. It's the, it's the Pride special. Maybe I need to, maybe I need to catch up from the beginning. I don't think there's been that many seasons. Maybe I need to catch up

from the beginning so I'm all up to date with it. Yeah. Women falling out, looking fabulous and going to parties. So yeah. Yeah.

And there's no other space. Real Housewives are brilliant because it's women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, sometimes 70s, getting drunk, falling out, making loads of money, getting boyfriendsfriends and you don't see that you know anywhere that's the only place you can see women who are older living their best life not looking like old ladies

i just love it right gareth i will speak to you very soon and thank you very much thank you so much who knew so many lovely wonderful people worked in pomptons not me actually i did probably because i love a pomptons and i love a butlins everybody there's got i'd be like oh i just love to be in a red coat i just think i would have been an absolutely ace i'd have been up there doing wigwam bam and agadoo do you remember all them oh maybe we need an episode on holiday camps because they were a proper staple back when I was young. I hope you enjoyed this episode and as I mentioned at the beginning I am hosting a little event it's a charity online quiz for the Birmingham Children's Hospital it's £10 per family not per person on Zoom really fun there's going to be a 90s boy band around in it and it's just a proper proper good laugh really nice and easy everybody can interact you kind of answer the questions on your phone

we chat in the chat um you can ask us questions the whole family and it's just brilliant so i'll leave a link in the description to not only all of gareth socials but also a link to the quiz i think we've got about 10 or 15 tickets left and also we've been thinking about maybe doing a live show so would you like me to do a live podcast a live recording of a podcast next year what do you think I think that'd be kind of fun let me know whatever you're doing this week have a fantastic week and I'll see you next week for another episode bye guys week and I'll see you next week for.m. every day. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca.

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