Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - JB Gill (Part Two)

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

We’re in Regent’s Park with the wonderful JB Gill!JB tells us about learning to deal with the fame that came with his success as part of JLS, his incredible and unexpected journey on Strictly Come Dancing and why he chose to become a turkey farmer! He also reveals some of the rather fabulous celebrities that buy his turkeys, and how he feels about being an iconic Christmas meme. We also find out about his love story with his fabulous wife Chloe - and how he got her number in a rather surreptitious manner…Follow @jbgill on InstagramYou can buy your copy of Ace and the Animal Heroes: The Wacky Weather Mystery here!Follow Emily: Instagram - @emilyrebeccadeanX - @divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Rich Jarman Artwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Part 2 of Walking the Dog with J.B. Gill. Do go back and listen to Part 1 if you haven't already because this man is such a diamond and I know you'll love him as much as we did. And I'd also be thrilled if you gave us a like and a follow so you can catch us every week. Here's J.B. and Ray Reh. Did you ever have a moment? Because a lot of people I speak to who've achieved fame at the kind of level that you've achieved it. Did you have a moment where you sort of had a word with yourself?

You know those points where you just watch yourself doing something and you think you're obviously a level-headed, very well-bought-up guy and you catch yourself either speaking to someone in a certain way or being a bit entitled and you think, oh no, that's not me? Maybe my wife or my parents might say that they're having. has been but I don't feel like there has been not really because and I think part part of that is coming through the X Factor that I was under no illusions that part of the reason why we had the success we had was because of the people who

voted for us and obviously that was our first experience of it right I do think you know power does come with success of course it does but I've never been one to even want to abuse that power you know and and and for me I think you know my only aimed, certainly before I had kids anyway, my personal aims were always to be the best that I could be. And then, you know, since having children and working in TV with children and things like that has been passing that onto the next generation. You know, I'm under no illusions. I'm not going to be here forever. You know, there'll be in 10, 20 years time, there'll be two other people standing in this position, having this conversation with, you know, hit podcasts and whatever

else, or doing whatever on TV or in the world of entertainment or any other world. and you know what you know they're sort of carrying on that torch and even if we don't know who they are so for me yeah I've always been quite humbled by that thought and very excited to be honest so you know for me it's it's great to you know have done the things that I've done but it's also great to be able to pass that on to other people and see them flourish as well oh J B what a lovely man you are well I mean For me, genuinely, like, I just feel like that is what the essence of life is all about, you know. Well, can I tell you what else the essence of life is about?

It was about your appearance on Strictly Come Dancing. Come on. That did give life, to be fair. It's still giving life. I mean, it gave life to my body. I tell you that much. I mean, the Bruno Mars Medley. Well, I've never watched a YouTube clip so much as the Bruno Mars Medley.

That was so good, wasn't it? But I like that because you say that was so good. Now, I like people that can congratulate them set holes. Do you, I think you're able to do that. You're able to say I did a good job. Yeah. I think that's part of life as well. You know, it's very important.

It's one of those things, and I don't ask me where I heard this, but, you know, invariably I look at lots of different things about bringing the children up and the right things to do and the right questions to ask when you pick them up from school and things like that. And I think I definitely saw something that said effectively you should ask your child what they think of their work. Oh, that's good. Because it's all, you know, obviously they look to you for validation.

But actually it's much more of a life skill to appreciate your own work. And if you don't like it, to go back and amend it or work on it or change it. Well, I'm going to be like you are to Aitin Kiarra now. What work do you not like of yours? Oh, that's a good question. I mean, I've done some TV shows before. I won't say what channels. You know, I'm talking about sort of like my favourite cakes and things like that.

And I remember doing that and just thinking myself, why am I here? Honestly. And then there was that crappy dog podcast. I didn't particularly enjoy that one. Look at these two. Come on. You've got a Brazil shirt on. We've got a little, what do you think that is, J.B?

A little terrier or pub or not sure. I'm not sure. And it has. As you say, it's kind of Brazil shirt on. Ray Ray's got distracted by the Brazilian dog. A football player. We like the little Brazil shirt. Tony bought it back for me from Brazil.

Love it. My friend was just noticing it. Oh yes, very true. Oh, my days. That's one thing Nala does all the time. I've got a massive cross. And she just, she literally hunts it. I'm like, what are you doing?

And then they're rolling it. Yeah. She's like a Velcro cloth. She gets so dirty. Yeah. She's beautiful. What kind of dog is she? Multi-pooh. Oh, she's a multi-pooh. Yeah. She's got home grooming at the moment because I'm thinking her to the groomer. Oh, don't. I'm sick of it with my dog.

It's so expensive. I spend more money on his hair than mine. I know, me too. And that's when I draw the line. So I did it myself last night and it's a mess. Did the job. Did the job. Did the job. It looks lovely. Lovely. Nice to meet you. Thank you. It's got Breeze yards. Oh, he's an imperial ship. Imperial.

Is he great grand? Yes. Look at this. I mean he's been carried. Yes. Yes. Oh, thank you. Nice to meet you.

Yes, take care. We were talking about Strictly. Yes. And obviously it was a huge journey for you that show. Yeah. Because not only had Aston done it. Yes. A few years previously.

Yes. one of the greatest injustice. Travesty. What a travesty. I love Shirley. She's done this podcast, but you know what? Sometimes, I think there's an expression, even Homer nods. And as in the original Greek, who you all know, as a theologian heir. But yeah, even Homer nods, I think she got it wrong. And he was eliminated, but J.B bursts on the scene. And you were partnered with the wonderful Amy Dowden. Yes. And it was. you know, hugely emotional in some ways because it was her return on the, it was an anniversary, was it 20 years? Yes, 20 years, yeah. And she'd recovered from, you know, she was recovering from

her treatment for cancer and then she gets this injury. Yeah. And she has to pull out. And you get repartnered. Yep. How was that? And what was your, because obviously your main concern was for Amy. Yeah. But also, that would have thrown a lot of people. Yeah. But I get the sense with you that you've got what I call the penalty takers gene. Do you know what I mean by that? I think you thrive in adrenalized environments. That's so interesting. And the reason why I think that's interesting is because my son is exactly that.

And I didn't even put too and two together to think that it's come from me. But he just thrives in pressurized environments. If you tell, you know, he's into his football and like big time. and every time he plays at Tottenham every time he plays Chelsea for instance who's in the best club probably in England best academy in England

certainly but certainly in the south the best academy every time he plays them he scores two three goals and he's on fire if he has to take a penalty I mean he's obviously missed a couple but he nine times out of ten is taking it a minute and scoring

he always has the goal that wins the whatever or like comes on and makes a difference. And I find it so interesting, like watching him in those environments because I just think, wow, like, how do you do that? But the fact you said that about me, I mean, I don't even think about it. You know, so when that happened, of course, my primary concern at the time was Amy. And at the time, of course, I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn't know whether she was going to come back. I didn't know whether she was permanently out

or whatever. And, you know, I'd known in the back of my mind that, you know, I'd known in the back of my mind that, of course health might play a part. Of course. And, you know, we'd been very, you know, Amy and I have been very, very open about that and how that might look and so on. And I think for her, she was very hopeful that she would come back. And, you know, actually what caused her to pull out of the Sunday show that we did was one thing. But actually what caused her to have the pull out of the show entirely was actually another

thing, a different health thing. So we just run past. I'm carrying him. We've just come to a sign, J.B. Can you see what it says? No skating, no cycling, also no dogs. But you know what? At this point, I am carrying him. I think you'd be all right. Do you think I'll be all right?

You might get wet. Oh, we might get wet. J.B., no, because you've got a show to do. What are you doing later, by the way, because you look very smart. Well, I mean, I'm not going to be wearing this, but I am doing the one show bit later on. Oh, we can't have you sodden for the one show. We're going to have to divert. And plus this way, I sneakily think I get an extra three minutes with you by doing a diversion. There we go.

I'm eking out my J-B time. I'm like a competition winner right now. No, it's all good. I just wanted, obviously, Amy, to be okay. And then when I found out that she had to pull out and I had to have a permanent new partner, for me, it was just, okay, I'm still in this show. And as much as I thought the journey was going to be with Amy, you know, I've only got one challenge. to do, you know, to be part of this competition.

And I remember speaking to, you know, some of the execs and the commissioners and so on. And just saying, like, you know, if you really want to do one on this show, you're just going to have to pay the cars that you've been dealt. And it was as simple as that. And, you know, that's no disservice to Amy and certainly not to Lauren. Lauren's an incredible dancer as well.

And, you know, I knew she'd be professional. And as much as it was different to dance with her, I think the way that sort of my songs played out over those first weeks changing partner, was just the perfect scenario. I had a couple's choice, which is, of course, a start of dance much more comfortable to me.

I then went into, I think it was a Samba, with the Sambathon, and the Samba is, again, very much more sort of side by side. No public action. Sorry. Can't go in there. Do you know what?

We're getting beaten by the signs today, and I'm feeling you're quite a rule-bound person, I feel. Yeah, I am. Yeah. Yeah, I think you obey signs. I do with base signs And I keep just thinking if Cynthia wouldn't approve

if we flouted the rules because you know I think Cynthia was like you can be as good as anyone else and you can be brilliant but never think you're better than anyone else yeah yeah I think so and she always had another thing she always said everything in moderation including moderation

so that was the rule breaking part you can go crazy but don't go crazy every time Just go crazy once a year, it's fine. But you do make quite bold decisions. Like, I give you your decision to buy a farm. Yes. You have this farm where you sell turkeys.

Yes. And that's, it's primarily a turkey farm, isn't it? Yes. You've got pigs. But you and your wife, Chloe, live there. And was the turkey farming thing a sort of, well, look, this is a side hustle. And there's an element. of us always kind of utilizing the land.

It's like making the land pay for itself a bit. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as with a lot of great things in life, it started as not a mistake, but it was never intentional. So when I bought the land that we have now, we've got about 15 acres of farmland, it was me actually being very sensible, as usual. And my mum always encouraged me.

She always said, listen, if you ever get a chance to buy land, buy it, because there's only so much land, in the world. Yeah. If you've got your own little slice of it, then do you mean? You've got your own little slice. You could do anything you like with it.

So I bought it and very quickly it became a headache. I was still in JLS, still traveling, still touring. You know what I love is you? In JLS, I've got some problems with the pigs. Oh, my eyes. No, so I didn't have the pigs then. I didn't have the pigs. I just had the land, right?

It's not my glamorous, it's not. And trust me, when I got, every time I came home, I was just like, what is this? why do I have this pace? Why do I listen to my mom? You know, all that sort of stuff. And I'm thinking to myself, you know, I've got this pace.

And every time I come back, it looks exactly the same. Overgrown. I pay to get someone to cut it back and make it look nice again. Then I go away. And then three months later, I come back and it looks exactly the same. So then it was a case of, right, I know JLS is coming to, you know, an end. It was about 18 months just before the end of JLF. And so we were thinking about, like, what can we do?

How can we do it? Like you say, it's about being resourceful to be. honest. And that was basically how the idea of the farm came about. And I knew that it had previously been farmed. The previous owners, we actually kept in really good contact with the people who sold it. And, you know, they kept horses and, you know, had lots of different animals. And we thought, yeah, we didn't have any animals at that point. And we thought, you know, okay, it could be quite cool to do something along that line because that's what the land had already been used for. And that's pretty much how the idea was seeded, excuse the pun.

But then it just escalated from there. I know. But it just escalated from there. And the turkeys, which is now sort of our primary thing, was genuinely accidental. So I got in touch with this guy called Paul Kelly. And, you know, he's got award-winning. Is this a Kelly Bronze? Kelly Bronze.

Oh, we all know about a Kelly Bronze. Exactly. So I didn't know about Kelly Bronze because we never had turkey. We always had like ham, like Caribbean ham and lamb and, you know, chicken. and, you know, because we had lots of different types of meat, it was never had the big turkey. I didn't know there was a man called Paul Kelly. Yeah.

Wow. It was Derek Kelly that started it. Oh, look at you with all your knowledge. Well, I mean, we know each other real world now. It's your business? And did you get, did Kelly, so with the turkeys, I'm presuming your WhatsApp blows up like the 4th of July on around December time. Do you, I presume, that some celebrities have sampled some of your turkeys.

Do you get orders from celebrities? Would you care to share some? Yeah, absolutely. Kimberly Wyatt, pussycat doll. We drop the pussycat doll straight away. Who else? One Direction Boys, they've had some. Various footballers have had them over the years.

Little mix, I believe. Little mix, yes. Leanne gets one every single year, to be fair. I have to shout to Leanne. Name her because every single year. Well, Leanne's dad gets it, to be fair. I always give her a good discount. But yeah, like I mean, Leanne, I definitely have to shout Leanne because she always, always gets on without fail.

One year, I don't think she'd ordered one. And I message her to say, like, obviously it's fine if you don't want one. But, you know, are you sure you want one? She's just like, oh, my days, thank you so much because I was expecting it. And if my dad didn't get it this year, I would have been so upset. And I just like, don't worry, I've always got you. I'm hoping, J.B, that when you get one, maybe you get a special Christmas message from you as well. because we all know

that you are a Christmas meme now as well I am I was a meme before my time I'm actually really proud of that I'm really proud of that fact are you yeah because you know what obviously I had no I mean I still don't have any idea what I do do we want to explain what it was

so you were singing on X Factor you were singing Wams Lost Christmas and there's a bit in the song where George Michael kind of whispers Merry Christmas not J.B J.B. went. Merry Christmas. It's not a whisper.

It's not, you know, I mean, you've got to make it your own. And you did. Which is what I've done. There you go. Because, you know, it wouldn't feel right to do the whisper on the X Factor. So here we are, you know? But you know what was fascinating on a serious note,

if what can be serious about, Merry Christmas. I think what was so fascinating about that was the way you joined in the joke and were able to laugh at yourself. And I think that was so telling that some performers, and we've seen it. You know, when people, there's a meme thing or someone, they get very sort of sensitive

and all my being criticised, whereas you owned it. And you said, yeah, it's funny. Well, I mean, I think it is funny. If people find it funny, for me, there's no issue in that whatsoever. ever, you know, and I think it's very different people laughing with you and people laughing at you, of course, and I think, you know, I'm not the type of person anyway, as you probably can imagine, that would laugh at people. But I think, you know, sometimes when you find something funny with people and you're happy to share those moments, you know, that's what, that's really nice, you know, and it's actually quite endearing. It's a moment with people. And obviously, I didn't, you know, intentionally go out of my way to do that. But, you know, you know, know, it's definitely, for me, now it's, it's like with everything that I do, you know, whether it's the farm or it's at a moment like that or with JLS or, you know, my children's work

or whatever it is, you know, people come to identify you as certain things, certain moments. And that's the beauty of life, you know. People ever say, especially around Christmas time. Do you get people saying, Merry Christmas to you? They don't say it to me, but they want me to say it. But every single year, I go and I do, like, I speak to, you know, one of the boys or whatever, Marvel, obviously on radio now. My good friend Fleur, she's on,

my wife's friend Fleur, she's on radio as well. She always calls you up and says, like, please, you have to say it. Can we just do a quick interview? You're just coming on and doing it. It's not Christmas until you say it. You know, that sort of stuff. It's great.

And as I say, it's with the turkeys and so on, you know, it's really. You basically are Christmas now. I want to talk about your brilliant children's books. Yes. Which I've read and I loved. And for me to enjoy, they're not aimed at my age, but I think, I think, I can't remember who it was. I think it was C.S. Lewis, you know, who wrote The Lion the Witch in the Wardrobe.

Who said, the sign of a good children's book is that an adult will enjoy it. And I think that's very interesting, isn't it? That he said, children's books that don't work, only children will like. Whereas if an adult, and it's true, if you look at all the big children's books that have been hits throughout the centuries, they've always been ones that the whole family can enjoy. and I really feel this is true of your books. Thank you. They're lovely books. The central character is called Ace.

Yes. There are two. Well, I've read two. Yes. Ace and the Animal Heroes is a series, and the first book is The Big Farm Rescue. And the one that's come out most recently... Is the Wacky Weather Mystery.

Which I loved. I sat there reading these books, loving them, as an adult woman. Yeah. And why I love them is that the character Ace... who shares a name with your son. Yeah. What I love about it is it's kind of about a blended family in some ways as well

because he lives with his grandparents. Yep. He inherits his farm and suddenly, and he's not expecting it, and he goes to live there with his grandparents, and he rolls his sleeves up and he starts turning it into a sort of profitable working farm. Yep. What was your thought process behind the book? And why did you want to do something set?

on a farm? Well, I wanted to do a book because in the early days, my son, Ace, had just been born. And actually, I didn't start with the main character being Ace. And it didn't start in the format that it currently is, or it's been published in. Took you eight years, J.B.?

It took eight years. And it genuinely did start as sort of more of a picture book idea. It was written in rhyme. And it was just designed to be a book that I could read to my son. And I read to both my children before they were even born. So that while they were in Chloe's tummy, you know, we'd have Bible stories, we'd have nursery rhymes, we'd sing songs, with everything, you know, from, you know, any type of book, any type of story I would read.

And it was partly a bonding thing, but I do, you know, my mum, obviously, being a nurse, always told me that one of the first things for, you know, a baby to develop is hearing. And one of the last things to go in life is your hearing, which is why if, you know, a paramedic comes to you, whatever, they say, what's your name? And they ask you to respond or they speak to you. Because you can hear, even if you can't physically speak.

You can respond, of course. You know, see people in comas or whatever can move their hand or can respond with a touch or a flick of an eye, you know, whatever, even though you can't necessarily communicate verbally. So hearing is incredibly important. So, you know, from very early on, I read to the kids. And when Ace is born, I've always loved writing and wanted to write and very much, you know, not a stranger to writing, having, you know, studied theology and things like that.

So, you know, writing was never really an issue. And throughout JLS, of course, writing in rhyme, writing songs, things like that was always very much part of my makeup. But I wanted to write something that was touching on lots of different themes in my life personally and certainly my family's life as well. And one of those things, as you say, is travel. And although Aces doesn't travel that far in that first book, it was all. always about, okay, he's used to one environment, you know, and that's similar to myself, you know, I was used to an environment being sort of in the, you know, South London, in the inner city and then having to sort of like make that transition, which is for me, obviously, a transition

that I absolutely loved, going out to the countryside and embracing all that that sort of takes on. And, you know, set up a farm, you can do all the research you want in the world. but if you don't spend time on the farm doing those things it's impossible to learn it impossible you know as much as you can read about

you know pigs giving birth or any animal giving birth until you see that and experience that you have no idea what's what's going to come you know and so you're quite calm when the animals give birth oh no I freaked out

the first time I saw Ginger who was the first pig we actually rescued it from the RSPCA and she's no longer with us but not for that reason but she lives on in the book so she's got a legacy you know the first time I saw her

give birth to litter I freaked out I was calling the vet the vet were very happy because I paid like three or four coal out charges that I didn't need to pay and I remember you know they were literally just like yeah I'm just going to have to like see how it plays out and I'm thinking like what do you mean

you know I've read all this stuff that you might have to help the you know this is thinking about sort of like sheep and cattle and things like You might have to help in, get a glove on, put your hand in, all this stuff. I tried to get in Ginger's pen. And this is docile, chill ginger, who is so lovely, comes and brushes up against your leg, wants a scratch from a broom, all of that, virtually attacked me.

And I was like, hold on, this is not all this is I'm doing for. Is that because they're feeling protective over their unborn or? Absolutely. But that, you know, that sort of, you know, an animal will feel protective. What mother would do. Yeah, but you don't know what that looks like until you actually physically experience it. it. And so for me it was, you know, not quite a baptism of fire, but when I saw the vet try and get in and have the same reaction, I was like, okay, so we're definitely hands off here. And then everything had to unfold naturally. And it very much was nature. And you think, you know, she was literally the first animal we ever had. And, you know, everything's in the balance. Is she going to survive this? Are the piglets going to be okay? Is she going to squash the piglets? Do I have to get, all these questions which you cannot answer until you physically experience something. And so for me, that's what it was always. about you know trying to get some of those experiences some of those things into this book because

they're interesting they're fun like you know for a child to sort of learn about birth you know which for me didn't happen until i was an adult and i've actually physically seen my own children being you're me yeah you never get an insight to that yeah so for me it was just so fascinating and you know of course there's lots of different themes in the second book you know it as you can imagine the wacky weather mystery which i love all about weather yeah but it's you know here in the uk Firstly, we're very blessed because we have four clear distinct seasons. And that's unusual, especially across the world. You know, usually is only a hot or dry or dry and wet, like dry and wet rainy or hot and the cold.

You know, there's usually only two seasons for most of the world. Here in the UK, we get four seasons. And so all three of those four seasons, you know, you get all different types of weather. People take for granted, you know, when we had the lockdown, you know, that spring and summer was unbelievable. So lovely. and especially being in that situation, having to be in, it was so nice to have warm weather and just enjoy it. That was such a long, warm period

that had a massive impact on our turkeys, a massive impact on livestock and animals. You know, we had a hose pipe ban, I'm pretty sure, that year. So that meant we had to have water delivered, which thankfully our council did for us. But little things like that, you don't, again, you don't realize. There is nothing you don't know about. Well, it's just...

And you would definitely be my phone and friend. Do you know what I mean? Because I think he's got it covered. Theology. Well, you know, what do they say? Jack of all trades and watch. Agriculture. It's just, for me, it's intriguing.

I'm inquisitive about the world. What's one of the things that, you know, I love, you know, with the TV shows and, you know, the books. Down on the farm and cooking with the gills, we love. Oh, we love cooking. Because, you know why I love that. And only do I get to see you, two fabulous children, I get to see a bit of Chloe.

Yes. And we all love the Chloe J.B. Love story. She's a secret weapon. Because she is. She already loves Chloe. Because we should say, I'm going to let you go soon because the one show is calling. But I have to, Chloe needs to be mentioned. Yeah.

Because you two met, well, you won the X Factor and Chloe was a dancer. It is a dancer, but she was dancing for the X Factor. And she caught your eye, but it wasn't just your eye that she called, was it? I'm not sure how many people know this. But basically, Ereche took her number, or they exchanged number, shall I say. You're little a wishay. Yeah, well, well, I also wrote, I noted the number at the time. I mean, Ereche has the guts to go up and ask for the number.

You're lurking in the shadows, me. I wasn't lurking. When you say it like that, this sounds really, really bad. But I wasn't lurking in the shadows. I was just being, what's the word? Opportunity. Yeah. You know, why not?

Numbers are being thrown about. you know, I probably was trying to get someone else's number at the time. Because that week on The Outspecter, I think there were six new dancers and don't ask them what it was, probably the fact that they were all blonde. Love was in the air. It was such a weird week because we'd had, you know, dancers from week one. You know, they had a good relationship and spoke to them and this and that. But, you know, there was just a spark that week. And I think it was, you know, they were all very, very, you know, hungry.

And for Chloe, it was obviously her first, you know, her first, you know, her first, opportunity, you know, and really for her dream, that was it coming true, being able to perform on this stage, you know, for Brian Friedman as well, you know, massive name within the industry, certainly, you know, within dancing and, you know, he's choreographed the best of the best. And, you know, here she was sort of having her main, you know, opportunity. And yeah, we came along and, and, you know, we're winding them up. So hang on. Arishi takes a number. Yeah. You are in the shadows. I'm not going to move on from that position, Joby, secretly noting it down. Then what happens? Then I mean I obviously used the notes that I'd taken. The notes? Yeah. I got the number.

Then try and dress it off and make it sound a bit more dignified. Like it's your theology degree, I used the notes. I messaged her. Of course. What did you say? Do you remember? No, probably just something simple like, Oh, no, no, no, no.

No, there weren't lines at that stage. It was just a case of, oh yeah, I got your number, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And it was really funny because I generally, think, I mean, there's probably been one or two days since then. We've not spoken on message. What did Eresho say when you told them? Was he all right about it? Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I genuinely think it was just an exchange of details rather than a... You got the girl. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is. She needs you lose. And I think your partnership, a lot of people feel very invested in it. Because I just think

there's something rather lovely about the fact that you met at that point when your life was changing. Yeah. If you can meet someone at that seminal point, I wonder if that's quite a good thing, because you've been on that journey together and she was exposed to your life changing. Yes, absolutely. For me, I think it worked so well and probably kept us both grounded because we both experience it together. Sorry about that noise. That was a Risho turning up objecting. We should say Risho has no problem with it. No. Yeah, so you went through that together, which is kind of lovely in a way.

Yeah, well for me, for us, well for both of us, I'm sure she was here she'd take the same thing. It was so nice to be able to share the experience. And she, as I say, was ambitious and, you know, went on and achieved some incredible things for her career. Similarly, we were both performing, you know, the Mobos and the Brits and, you know, the radio one's big weekend and T4 and the big, all these big sort of, you know, festivals and performances throughout that period of our life, but we could both identify with it and understand it.

You know, if she was off on tour, I got it, you know. If I was off on tour, she got it. And, you know, don't be wrong. Of course, we had challenges throughout our relationship and throughout that whole time. And, you know, we needed a whole other hour or two, probably to go through all of that. But it was just nice to both be on the same page. And I think that's been, probably the secret to our relationship success, is that we've, We've just been with each other through everything, you know, and obviously now we've got the kids.

Yeah, and vice versa, you know. J.B., look at that blossom. Do you know why blossom? I love blossom. Do you know, I knew you would? You got blossom all over you? Do you know? That's the Japanese coming on, you know, how seriously they take cherry blossom in Japan? Do they have a season or something and they celebrate it?

It's called Sakura. I mean, of course he knows what the bloody name is. And honestly, they have like, it's a full festival. And as you can imagine, look how beautiful that is. Yeah, I love hearing that about you and Chloe. Yeah, it's lovely. And for me, I think it's been so nice to be able to share that journey with her. I bet.

Yeah, it really has. What sort of a dad are you? Are you strict ever? Are you kind of love and boundaries, you know? Yeah, I think so. I think Chloe's probably stricter than I am. But it's what I love about watching Chloe be a mother and what I try to do as a father is always, it's going back to what mum said. You know, everything in moderation, including moderation.

We have very clear lines and boundaries for both the children. And I think that's important, you know, to have a framework for anybody is good. I just don't think chaos is good in any sense. But there's moments where we kind of step outside of that. and just say, well, actually, today's all right, you're right to just be free today. Oh, I love that. You can just do whatever it might be. And that's anything from spring time to, you know, the way that they sort of interact with others,

you know, whatever it might be, you know, we think is important for them to be, you know, to have manners and to do all that sort of stuff. But actually, you know, every now and again, it's okay just to let go, you know. What would Chloe say if I had Chloe here and I said, what annoys you most about? about J.B. That's a good question. What would she say, J.B? I don't know.

She always says, because I'm quite particular about certain things, but they're not so particularly about other things. What are you particular about? I'm very particular about things like loading the dishwasher. And I say that because, like, for me, I'm like, if you're going to do it, it's got to be done in a way that actually cleans the dishes. And Chloe tends to just put them in and whatever happens happens. But then when it comes to like clothes, and I'm not really big into clothes, but, you know, as you can imagine, whenever we're doing sort of promo or anything like that, you know, we do have a stylist for JLS and I get lots of clothes, you know, and not just me, obviously, the other boys as well.

But I just have so many and I hold on to things. You're a bit of a hoarder. A little bit of a hoarder. And I know she doesn't particularly appreciate it. She's like, how can you be so particular about something like dishes, but you're just free for all when it comes to something like. like that. So yeah, I know that definitely annoys her a little bit. You seem a very sort of good-natured, quite mild-mannered person, you know, and I can't imagine you losing your temporal being crossed, but then you're a human being and everybody gets cross sometimes. Maybe it was that jogger who

just nearly ran into you. What breaks you and how does your anger manifest itself? Are you a sulker? Do you get passive aggressive, do you say nothing or do you snap, let it out and then it's gone? I am a snap, let it out and it's gone kind of person. I very rarely hold on to anything ever. And I've been, I've always been like that. In fact, growing up, you know, whenever we had family disagreements or arguments or anything like that, even my parents, you know, it was always in that moment and then you move on. And I mean, we've had, you know, more sort of as late teens, you know, sort of that sort of stage, you know, had disagreements, discussions, arguments, whatever. And then it's kind of like, and the first time Chloe saw this actually,

she would blown away because her family's opposite. Like, they hold on to everything. And she, she literally just like, oh my days. Like we had an argument about whatever it was, you know, it wasn't me doing the throw in, but you know, I'm sure someone broke a plate or whatever. Something happened. And, and within 10 minutes, I was like, my mom was like, right, so what are we having for dinner? But that's always, you know, we've always been like that. And so for me, you know, that's kind of how my anger manifests itself. I'm interested in people's conflict resolution style.

And yours is, let's get in there. You know, let's roll our sleeves up, get this sorted, let our anger out, and then we can move on. Whereas some people's conflict resolution style is, I just need time away from this. Yeah, yeah. And I have an element of that as well. Because I don't like to do things in the heat at the moment. No. I just find if you do that, you know, it doesn't end well.

Where we really ends well. But, you know, my wife is very much less attack this straight away. And sometimes that's too, it's too soon. But that said, you know, for me, sort of when you go through it, whatever it is and you have a disagreement, it takes me a long time to get to that point. And it also, I mean, if I lose my temper, it's probably once or twice in a year. That's good. Well, I just...

But you obviously go by that. You know, I was told something once, and it was a bit life-changing by a therapist, which is your initial response isn't always your genuine response. So wait. Always wait if you can. It's whether it's sending an email

or someone says something in a room that upsets you. What you feel in the moment isn't always how you actually feel. Yeah. It's the front part of your brain is responding, going, they've upset me. They're insulting me. And you're like, sometimes,

you'll wake up next morning, don't you find Jibby? And you think, oh no, that wasn't, that wasn't about me. No, exactly. Well, I just, I just think life, there are so many more deeper parts of life. And often, like you say, the arguments that we're having are purely based on an opinion or, you know, something that actually doesn't, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really matter. And so for me, I just, I just, I refuse to sort of respond impulsively when it's, you know, comes to something like that. You know, I just feel like there's so much more. Also, you can actually just deal with it. For instance, we circle back to sort of strictly and going through that with Lauren, you know, yes, okay, it was a big deal and yes, I could

have been, you know, could have said to the execs, this is not fair, that you've done all of that. But actually, firstly, there's so many things are deeper than this situation we're going through. Plus, I'm actually having a really good time. And this is not a great situation, but let's deal with it. For me, I'm almost, almost always more concerned with the resolution. than the conflict part of conflict resolution. Oh, do you know what, JV? I could spend hours with you, and I would, but we have to get you off to the one show.

So do you know, Raymond is really responding to you, and he doesn't do this often. He can be a bit standoffish. But I think, I don't know whether it's because you've got an affinity with animals or he's just responding to your quite gentle energy. I'm not sure, but he's having a great time, aren't you, Ray? Ray. Straight in with the ray ray, Ray. I mean, I've been working so hard on this dog for years, pouring in energy and time, and then you lurking in the shadows, listening to the number.

It's happened all over again. All over again. History repeats itself. Well, do you know what? I could not have enjoyed this more. No, thank you. It's been brilliant. Did you like it? Absolutely. Honestly, it could be here for another couple of hours. I really could. Well, I'm time blind, so I need to get you off because I will just keep talking for us. I think you're quite organised and on time, aren't you? Strike me as a type.

I am organising on time, but I'm actually... So Chloe is, like, unbelievably organised. But I'm also a... Show me a shit. I'm not saying like that. Oh, look at that car! Oh, McLaren. I love that. The faces here, they're going crazy.

Do you like posh cars? Not for me personally to have, but I can appreciate them. But I bet you didn't blow your money on trash cars. I bet you got quite a sensible estate car or something when you make me. See, how do you know these things? I got an E-class coupé for my first car. Because, because I had four seats. Hatch us all.

I had four seats. Like, no point going to a party with one person. Who wants to do that? Like, you want to get your whole, like your gang in there. I wanted all the friends in. Do you know that's so true because my sister used to say to me She said, I tell you who buys a sports car Selfish Whankers

I just could never do it Don't be wrong, if you're going to have three or four cars Great, have your sports car because you love it and whatever You know, and no doubt as I get older You know, I'm sure I love Master Martin That's the car Would you buy that? I would

I haven't bought one yet But I deaf, that's on the list If I can But I'm just It's not yet That's going to be when Chloe and I Go into that, you know, the dinners The Savoy or wherever

the hotel chains are available and you know for me I just that's the time you know not when you're cramming kids and kit and no no no J.B we've loved walking with you can we give you a hug yes of course

so good we love you J.B it's been a pleasure thank you for having me and if I don't see you beforehand Merry Christmas Merry Christmas I really hope you enjoy

enjoyed that episode of Walking the Dog. We'd love it if you subscribed and do join us next time on Walking the Dog wherever you get your podcasts.