Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Rhys Stephenson

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

On the first episode of the new series Emily and Ray take Rhys Stephenson for a walk around Greenwich Park. They chatted about his decision to shift from a medical career into entertainment, working with a talking dog and of course, his time on Strictly Come Dancing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come on, Raymond. That's it. That's it. Knees up. He reminds me so much of Cousin It from the Adam family. He's just hair. He's just hair. Oh, I love them. Welcome to Walking the Dog. My guest this week is not only one of the best love faces on Children's TV. He also blew everyone away with his incredibly impressive moves on the last series of Strictly Come Dancing. It's only Rhys Stevenson.

Now, Reese loves dogs, but he doesn't have his own. yet, so I brought along my boy Raymond. Who knew their encounter would basically turn into Rose meeting Jack and Titanic? I was essentially an uncredited extra in their epic love story, but I decided to forgive Rees for stealing Raymond's

heart, because the man is a professional heart stealer. We could barely get around Greenwich Park without love being thrown his way. Reese met up with us whilst he was touring with Strictly at London's O2 Arena and we had the loveliest chat. We talked about his childhood, growing up with his seamstress mum,

and Detective Dad. I know it's the ridiculously exciting plot twist that none of us saw coming. His decision to shift from a medical career into the entertainment world and of course he told me all about Strictly and how has kind of changed his life. But it doesn't seem to have changed him

because Reese just seems so genuinely sweet-natured and generous. He's the kind of person you just really want the heroin to end up with in a rom-com and a secret dog whisperer. I adored Reese. And let's not even get started. on Raymond's feelings for him. But I will let you get to know the man yourself.

Please remember to follow, rate and review. I'll stop talking now and hand over to the fabulous Reese and Raymond. Right. Reese, how confident are you with, I mean, you've already really bonded with Raymond? Raymond, oh, sorry Raymond. I don't know why I did that. Ah, Raymond, wait. We're good, Raymond, we're good, okay.

Are you okay with taking him, Reese? Yeah, totally okay. Come on, Raymond, let's go. Let's go. Yeah, are we so well behaved? This is great. We're off. Sorry, I'm a bit rusty. There we go. Oh, look at that dog, Rhys. Oh, that one's quaffed.

He looks like he's kind of been to the, um, he's been to the groomers recently. I like him. Are you casting aspersions or are you comparing Raymond unfavourably? No. Raymond's got a different hairstyle. I can love two dogs at the same time. dogs at the same time, Emily. Gosh, I would never dog shame. So I just introduced Rhys to his first, I call those lead tangle encounter thingsies. Yes. How did you find that? Because there was another dog approaching. It's quite, it's quite awks. It's really awkward.

He's, the love of that guy just took, he just took charge in the situation. He just went, all right, put my hand over here, switch the leads, great. And I just stood there, useless. You know what? It's a very different world when you have a dog. I remember when my friend came and stayed over and let me look after her, go and retrieve a puppy. And I took him for a walk. I've never been so popular in my life. I had so many people stop me for chats.

And I'm thinking, what's wrong with a dog? Right. They're powerful beings because even when I'm on the underground where it's famously illegal to show joy, people smile when a dog comes on. And it's really, really funny. I remember this guy came on with this massive dog, massive, and the dog would come and just like nudge. He went and nudged a woman, so she stroked him.

Oh, hello. We saw that dog earlier. He was outside the sausage shop? Yeah, he was. In a very cliched way. And, yeah, so this big dog coming and nudged the woman, so she stroked him. Yes. Yes.

Absolutely, congrats. Shut up. Oh, of course you can. Oh, my God, we absolutely love you. Oh, thank you. Nancy, we're, I wanted you guys to win. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you.

We all wanted him to win. And like, see, see me, like in real life and I was like, we're like, we're like, nice, Nancy. We were right at the front and we were like, shout, and she was shouting on all the dancers. Oh, thank you. Do you want me to take it of the three of you? Yeah.

We'll send to Mom and. Oh, my God. We were all, like, written for you. Oh, thank you. Oh, yeah, this is Raymond. He's not mine, but. This is my, no, please don't like, this is my dog and Reese has stolen him. I have.

So, Raymond, come on. You've made our trip to London tent. Smile, everyone. I'll take a couple. You know me, this is amazing. There you go. Thank you. Thank you for coming and watching the show.

I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Yes. I can tell. This is going to be, there's going to be a lot of, I mean, I'm already. Actually, I need to introduce you first. I think those ladies very kindly have. Yeah.

I'm going to get mobbed any second. I'm with the very wonderful Reese Stevenson. And he hasn't got a dog. I do not. But we've met in Greenwich Park. And the reason we've met in Greenwich Park is because you are on tour at the moment and you're doing your strictly show. I am. I am.

At the O2, right? Yes. Yes, at the O2. We're finishing the tour now. been all around the UK and we're coming back in London to do the last couple of shows and I'm buzzing and I'm also really upset because it's going to end soon. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it. I really don't but it's been the most incredible experience. I had no idea what tour was like or life on the road and stuff and it is so fun. It's just you really you really get to bond with them than you did on the show. Because on the show,

Everyone had their partners and so like, you know, you could talk and chat, but especially because of COVID and stuff, you kind of had to be a bit distant. So you couldn't really bond the way we did on this tour. It was we just became some kind of dysfunctional family, like the bond traps, you know. It's been a blessing. Well, I want to talk lots more about that. But I want to start firstly by saying, thank you because you've immediately seized the reins or the lead. and you're walking Raymond for me because you don't have a dog, Rhys.

No, I don't. And I want to know your sort of history with dogs. Did you have pets growing up? No. I only had ever had goldfish. My mum famously did not like pets. She's very Jamaican. And Jamaicans are like, the ones that I knew,

pets wasn't really a word. You'd have a dog, but the dog was for a purpose. You know, you'd have a cat. The cat was there for a purpose. No, the dog was there to, you know, keep intruders out or something or working dogs. But no one really had a dog that was part of the family. I get it. Sometimes I wouldn't even name it.

In Jamaica's like, puss or dog. That's the way they reference them. This way. Should we go, Rhys? I don't really know this part. What do you think? That way. Should we go this way?

Might be nice and green with you take Raymond off the leaves if you want. Oh, yeah, cool. Should it do it now? Yeah, come on. Raymond. You're free. Go. Go.

I mean, you say you're free go like you're expecting him to be rounding ahead. I thought he's going to like gallop, but no, he's like, oh, let me sniff this. Oh, there you go. Oh my gosh, she's like a crust dog. I love it. So yeah, my mom would never want for pets, so we never had that in the house. And I remember we try everything, be like, mum, can we have like a hamster? No.

Guinea pig, no. Rabbit, it'll be outside. No, she wouldn't have any of it. To the point where I remember a random frog appeared in our garden. garden for maybe a week or so and I claimed it as my pet. So I named emeralds and I came out to see it every day. And then there's another time where there was a bee and it was sick. So I put it in a little jar and I claimed that as a pet. And then I came back the next and I was like trying to heal it. And I came back from school really excited. I was like, mom, where's a bee? And she went, it's dead.

Why? And she went, well, you put the lid over it and closed it. So I think I don't think I was meant for pets too really at that time. So I never had them. Yeah. And I was actually quite scared of dogs for a long time until my best friend who I met in school, he had a dog and she was called Lucy. She was like 16 years old when I met her. She was old, old.

So she wouldn't even chase a spider, she saw it. And she was the first dog that I learnt to actually be calm with and love. And then after that now, dogs are, I think I'm the person who's the most dog friendly in my family. I love him. Really? Yeah, I definitely see myself getting one when I'm older. It's really interesting. I think one of the things that appeals to me is dog's ability to move on

so they don't harbour grudges. But you can say to them, why did you do that, Raymond? And they're so resilient. 10 minutes later, like, I've forgotten about that already, don't we? It's one of those things that we can learn from them a bit. Their dogs can always forgive you. And especially friends of mine who've got rescue dogs and they'll tell me some of the stories of what their dogs went through.

Yeah. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And you meet the dog, and you wouldn't think the dog went out for any kind of hardship. It's just loving and open. Dogs are just a wonderful spirit, which I quite vibe with. Come on, Raymond. That's it. That's it. Knees up. He reminds me so much of Cousin It from the Adam Sam.

He's just hair. He's just hair. Oh, I love them. Well, I hope one day you get a dog, Rhys. I would love to get a dog. I know, I already know that I'll get, it would have to be a poodle cross. I can't be dealing with hair.

So I like the idea of take it to groom it and get stuff done. But I've said that when I get a dog, I'm going to have boundaries. Okay, so it's like not in the furniture, not upstairs, definitely not in my bed, but it will have its own bed, its own stuff. I'll give it the best in the dog that a dog would want so he doesn't want my mouldy human stuff. I'll have boundaries. If I want to cuddle, we'll cuddle, we'll cuddle on the floor. It'll be wonderful. It'll be intimate, but it's not on the social.

but it's not on the sofa. And everyone tells me I'm delusional, but, you know, I'm a big believer in that. I treat my partners like that. Yeah, it's very clever. It's very, very clever. But you know what, boundaries for everyone, actually. Come in on the floor, on the floor.

And definitely not feeding it from the table. That's what my friend would do. He would sit there and he'd, like, be eating with his fork. And his dog will come and wait. And he will, like, take food from his plate, feed her with the fork and then continue eating. And I was like, what are you doing? Oh, look, there's a Frenchie.

Oh, hello Frenchie. Just go for it. What sort of a, it's lovely Frenchie. What's it called? Cassius. Cassius. Like the boxer. The boxers name.

Cassius prefers Reese to Raymond. Hi Cassius. How are you? Sounds like my dad when he sleeps. Yeah. Love to meet you, Cassius. Bye-bye. Bye.

What did she say? Drunken fianc. I love her. Real. She's real. So we're in Greenwich, Rhys. Yes, we are. And these are sort of your manner in some ways in terms of it's a part of London. Close to where you grew up, is it? Yeah, it is. You know, it's funny because there's so much London that I've not experienced still. And I went to university here as well. So central London, I know fairly well. But this kind of area is still a little bit kind of foreign to me, where anywhere with the

DLR is, I'm like, uncharted territory. Although I was born not far from here, I was born in Lewisham Hospital. So this is kind, this kind of is my end. So did you grow up in Lewisham? No, I grew up in New Cross. So born in Lewisham Hospital, grew up in New Cross for like three years or so. And that's, is it South East London?

South East London. And then my family up to move to Rompford, so Essex, essentially, is where I really grew up. That's where I call my husband. home and yeah that's that's where most of my formative years were I think in I think in New Cross I think around the time there were some bad kids around and stuff my parents like let's get out protect our precious boy because he's our world and daughter because she's there too and then they moved to here and it's been great you

know so anytime I'll come back here it's always quite like these parts of London are so nice because I forget living in Manchester now Manchester has got so many amazing parks you can walking and I'm always saying like London's just a city there's no places and I forget you have these kind of parks which are really lovely. Did your parents raise you together? Yes yeah my mum dad is still together. My dad is or was retired now it was a detective from the metropolitan police. Shut up. Yeah it's always always got that reaction but the thing is it was for fraud so people always think he's luther and like he's not it's more like you know someone's been messed around with credit cards and you know he's dealing with that.

or I'd come home and there'd be like a bunch of iPhones and I'm thinking, oh, it's like, no, don't touch it, it's evidence. But yeah, very intelligent man, always. One of the things, he will always know what celebrities got any links to Jamaica. So any time you're watching something, like Jessica Ennis Hills on, he'll be like, oh, her dad's Jamaica. I'm like, thanks, Dad, that's great to know. And my mum is, she was, most recently was a teacher at my secondary school. So you can imagine how great that was for my development. And then, but before that, she worked in London.

She did black fashion. And it was awesome. So she used to bring me to work sometimes. It would be like the posh, posh part of London. She'd be there and she kind of like, like fix people's clothes, do all sorts of really clever stuff with people's clothes. I never really understood. What was it sort of styling and alterations of things?

Yes, that's the word I was looking for, alterations. You do all that kind of stuff. And then I would play in like there was like a little basement room underneath. and I go play there and do my own thing with my sister. And then sometimes the boss would come and take us to dinner. And that was really, really cool. So we had, yeah, mom and dad both raised us, the three of us. And so there's me.

There is my sister Zanya, who is 25. And so she works in recruitment and now she works on something else. And I can never remember what it is that she does, but she's very good at it. And so she lives in London. as well and then there's my youngest sister Michaela who is 17 and she's what my mum refers to as the bonus we're not allowed to call it a mistake so we don't although my little although Michaela does as a term of endearment for herself but she says that we can't do it so that's the rule and she's currently in

six form at the moment doing computer science maths and drama which are very different Cool. I hear her, she talks to me about A-levels and I start breaking out to high-ice and like, please don't because it's PTSD. But she's doing that at the moment. She's in, she goes to school in Finchley actually. She's going to quite a very good school. She's definitely the smartest one out of the three of us. What big shot is flying above her heads right now? It's probably Gary Barlow going to the O2 or something. It's probably like, so tell me. So what sort of family environment was it, Reese, that you have? Was it a noisy, lively, lively, kind of fun family?

Yeah, you know, it was a bit of both. We were quite a noisy, lively family. We had, um, Zanana, always playing, we'd be playing, watching TV. And then when Michaelaia came and, like, added a new kind of level to the kind of mischief that we could do. But we were always very behaved as well. Mum was very, very big of manners. We didn't, we didn't play with Mum at all, you know, like what mum said, goes.

and Dad was very much kind of like that quiet character as well so it's more like mum would do most of the shouting and then if Dad did the shout-in that was like you stop stop like you've gone too far so that was always very very calm person and mum was very calm and so but it was that mum was always kind of mum would be a disciplinar and if she needed to and then what was really great was because sometimes when mum and dad were both working and they're both very busy we'd get family members who would come and live with us and look after us.

So I remember my granddad came from the Cayman Islands and he stayed with us for a bit. My aunt from Jamaica and my cousin from Jamaica as well came when she was around in her early 20s and she met her husband here and now she lives here in the UK now. And so we always had family, different families in the house and it was always fun. It was always, yeah, it was a safe place. You know, I always look back on my time of my family and my child and I'm always really grateful.

I'm always interested in how families, you know, when you're upset and you've got a problem, would it be your mum or your dad that you'd go to, you think, if you were, I don't know, having a problem at school with friends? It was mum. It depends on the problem. I think when it was like an emotional problem. Yeah. Something that happened at school, something upset me, it would be mum who I'd go to. If it was something practical... Like fraud.

Big fraud. Or, you know, there was something that I couldn't fix, something that wasn't working, it was always Dad. Raymond! Come on. Look at that. He's marching now. Ray? Yeah, those feet work. Those feet worked. That's it. So when my car had a flat tire and I had no idea what to do, Dad's the one that I'd be like, Dad, help me out. So it was different, yeah, there's different problems, but it was like a practical thing that needed to be fixed.

I go, Dad. When it was like an emotional thing I was dealing with, it was always mum. Pretty dreamy scenario in some ways. Yeah, it was. But I mean, no, family is ever perfect. You know, you have your arguments. You have your, you know, your quirks. For instance, like, I can't play a decent board game in my family because no one pays attention.

It's like, you know, we'd sit and play Monopoly, and it always goes the same way. You're playing. It's great. And then someone calls on the phone. Mom goes to answer it. It takes a little too long. We said, okay, we'll take a break until mom comes back. She never comes back.

And then the game packs away. We never finish it. And I'm still not over that. It's annoying. Fast game's a good game, but it never worked with us. If you got in trouble, what was it normally about? If I got in trouble, it would have been for breaking something. I really never got in trouble for things at school.

There might have been times where I acted out a bit, but that was never really my nature. You get such a lovely response walking around, don't you? You're probably not even aware of it, but I am. And I see people's faces, and what's lovely is, it's just, they just look happy. It's like you've made their day nicer. Oh, that's really lovely.

I've not noticed, well, I think that sometimes I'm aware, I became a bit more aware after CBBC, but mostly with kids. Kids would notice me and do this kind of shock face and look terrified and excited at the same time. And then they'd either tell their parents, and their parents would look and have no idea who I am because they're like, who is he. And they might have the bravely to come up and say hi or they'll just walk away. But it's hard, but I never know how to respond because I can imagine.

I got like, yes, it is me. And they're like, we weren't looking at you. Oh, my bad. Sorry, carry on with your day. Excuse me, can we have a photo? And they say, yeah, if you could just take it of the boat. Of course. Doing itself like, what are you doing?

Oh, oh, sorry, I just assumed that. No, never mind. I want to go back to your childhood and just junior Reese and people that become performers and you're obviously very warm and engaging and charismatic and I think those qualities aren't something you can really learn. I think they're quite innate.

Were you, I'm going to go show off. Were you a show off as a child? Yeah, I think so. I think I had some, I definitely had some show off tendencies. I was shy of at the same time. I think it was more of, I was a kind of kid that liked to engage the crowd. So I'd like to kind of go, what is this crowd like?

Are they fun-loving? Okay, let me be me. If they were a bit of a serious one, I'd kind of like keep to myself. But I didn't really do any kind of drama stuff until I was 10. So little plays in school I'd always enjoy it. And then I didn't take it seriously until when I was 10, and my mum forced me to do drama because she's like, you're not doing anything else.

And I was like, alright, thanks, Mom. And it was for my fair lady. And I'd never heard of it before. And so I was like, I don't know what this is. And then the teacher made us watch the film. And we actually all watched it. None of us got bored, which is quite amazing, because it's a very old film.

And I remember watching Professor Higgins. I went, this guy is really pompous and arrogant and speaks eloquently. I like him. I want to be that character. So I auditioned for it. And I remember they went, do you not want to be any other character? Like, no, just him, please.

I'll read for this one. Because I didn't understand the idea of, I was like, that's the one I want. Why I'm going to go for anyone else? He's a posh white privileged man. He is a posh white privileged man. And that was something as a young black child from a humble background that spoke to me.

So yeah, I remember I auditioned for it and got it. And then I remember we did the play or the musical. I remember just all the intent. That was when I first got all that kind of attention from people going, he was so good. And I went, this is amazing. And I think it's that hit that everyone gets when they have that first kind of taste of performing.

And then after that, my best friend was like, he saw that I want a piece of that. So then he auditioned for Greece and he got Danny. What did you get? And I got Kiniki. I'd go Kiniki rather than Danny. In the same way, I'd always go Rizzo. Yes.

I think Kinicky and Rizzo's relationship is way more interested. I would have loved like a spin-off series by them to. Like, what did they get up to? What is their... Well, we know what they got out to. Our parents had to pretend that what was going on. What does that mean? Just watch the film.

What do they mean it's broken and she doesn't care? Shish, shush, shish, shit. Eat your popcorn. I was always up for show enough in front of, friends and stuff. It was always when I was in an environment that I felt comfortable with. So I was never the kind

that would go into a new place of people and then just show off. Unless that was what I was supposed to do if it was an audition or something, I could turn that on. My mum was that kind who made me show off. So she, like, I'd do a dance show.

So I remember I did, I did like, I was parted like a little dance trip in secondary school. It was just like street dance. And then my mom had a DVD and every time a person, family friend came over, She was like, re-skit the DVD.

It's like, Mom, please, please stop. And she said, where is that? I don't know. I don't know. And she'd make me find it and then put it on. She'd make me do all of the tech work, put it on. And then the minute it was on, I'd leave the room and go do something else where she just like makes this poor person watch me do a mediocre dance

and don't stop me now by Queen. And it was my mum, my mum loved it. So my mum always pushed us to kind of perform and do things. Because if she knew we had a talent, she wanted to, she wanted to, show it off, which actually I appreciate now. But as a kid, it's mortifying when, and you can look at the person's face and you know they don't really care, but they're just being like, yeah, sure, just show me you playing free blind mice and the record. I'd love to hear that. Reese, what would you like to drink? I'd like a hot chocolate, please. That's the most adorable

thing I've ever heard. What's wrong with that? I don't like coffee. Hot chocolate's my coffee. It works. Do you know what? Reese, I'm going to join you. Join me. Should we both have a hot chocolate? Let's big of a hot chocolate. Rhys, Ray spotted someone. Ray, hold on. He likes that dog. There you go, Ray.

There you go, Ray. There's, um, Collies, Reese. I love collies. Ferociously clever. Um, my girlfriend's got a collie bred with a lab and she will always find a ball. So, like, we'll go ahead for a walk now. You take off the lead, she runs off. And then you call her back and she comes back, boring them out all the time.

Always finds a ball. Wait, what? Mrs Rees has a dog? I didn't know about this. She, I mean, well, it's her family's dog and she loves it very much. And so she's when you're argues with me a lot about, when I'm talking about boundaries, she's like, you're not going to do that. Yes, I am. And she's like, well, I'm not going to follow those rules.

Like, yes, you are, because we need to be a team against, if we're both, if we're both disagreeing on how things should go in the house, then the dog won't respect to either of us and they'll play against each other. They're clever, especially if you're going to get something like a collie, they know how to play humans. So we need to both be on the same page. Do you know what I'm seeing? I'm seeing the son of the police detective

who specialised in fraud, which is trust no one. Trust no one. Trust no one. Well, I heard a story about a person who had the same kind of rules of his dog and he reasonably put in like a camera and so he looked back on it and the dog would walk to the door and say by to him.

He'd close the door. The minute the door shut, the dog would go straight on the sofa and wait. And the minute that he heard him, he jumped off and like carried, and it's as if he was never there. And the man saw it all on camera. And I thought to myself, if that was me, I'd have to respect it.

I'd be like, you know what? I did that as a kid. Like we weren't allowed to eat in a living room. But the minute my parents were gone, we ate in the living room all the time. And then we ran when we weren't supposed to. So I have to, I relate, you know. My rule is I'll give the dog the rules.

And it's just don't get a call. You know what I think you and Ray get on, Rhys? Why? You're both very gentle souls. I think so. Yeah, I hear that. I like Ray for that. He doesn't bark.

He's very quiet. He's obedient. All the things I am. When I need to be. It's his eyes. It's his eyes. They're so big. It's like he's animated by Pixar.

We've got our hot chocolates, Reese. We have. Should we walk up here? Of course. Oh those are those nice ladies we saw earlier. Hi again. So where are Nickyta? Oh I know, Nikita's probably sleeping still.

I'm sorry. I got the most amazing video of you in now. I'll show you how close we were you guys. Please do, please do. And then it didn't say. I was like, knew me. That was amazing by the way. I've been listening to in there tonight all weekend.

And eating cabriess chocolate, I imagine. See the, what was the other one? The Charleston. Yes. Oh my favourite down there. This is how close we were. Thank you. Oh my gosh.

We were right at the front, like, literally. You're almost one of the contestants. Oh, my gosh. See, I've got the trials. Oh my gosh. Is that how fast I move? Look, honestly, you're so bad. Oh, my.

I mean, rich, it's coming across is a little lark in here. I mean, what? Honestly, like, thank you. See, you side by side, it was like, I know. I know, sure, you see. I'll tell you what, you don't believe how nervous I still get on that, because that, just jumping over a woman's head is like, will I make it this time?

time and it's you have all been there you have it's honestly like you see it on TV because we obviously watch it every week but when you see it in the traffic overnight it's like even matter it's insane no idea but um thank oh we'll do I'll let Nancy know bye bye thank you very much lovely to meet you lovely to meet your dog as well um so Reese I want to talk about your career ascent really. Okay. Were you academic at school? Yeah, I got there very much in after June my GCSE, I remember I worked, I really struggled with maths, hated it, and then

my maths teacher gave me this disc and I realised that learning from a computer was perfect because I can't argue with a computer like I do my maths teacher so I had to listen and like I wrote and a book all the stuff and kind of got good grades and then decided that I wanted to be a doctor. So when I went to six full, I stopped doing like performing arts and stuff. Not that I hated it, but I just thought, I want to focus on this now and performing arts is just a hobby. I never saw it as something that I could actually, you know, do. I thought that was like a pipe dream. So I remember doing that and then I went to university to do human and medical science. So I didn't get the grades needed for medicine.

And so I thought, I'll do human-med science in undergrad, then I do graduate medicine afterwards. And then in my second year, I realised I didn't want it. I wanted more maybe the title of being a doctor rather than what the job actually entails. And when I realised that, I thought, okay, this is, sometimes you go to university to realise what you don't want to do rather than what you do want to do. But then it was around that time I started doing presenting for a news show on our student channel. I got back into musical theatre and drama and I remember I remember going to my first musical theatre society meeting and I was stressed from revising and all that kind of stuff and we sang some show tunes and everything and I hadn't been that happy in such a long time I could

I was like this is I can't believe I forgot how good it felt to do this and at that moment I wasn't like oh this is I want to be a performer but I just thought this is so nice I need this for my my own mental well-being just to give me a break from the academia. And then in my second year I joined the National Youth Theatre in uni. And then that's when I realised that performing arts, you can make a living from that. You don't always have to be famous. You can be a working actor but still have a modest life. And I thought that's amazing to have that.

And then in my third year, they nominated me for for a National Student Television Award. Raymond! Raymond! Rhaymond! Rees, do you notice that Raymond comes to you now instead of me? I have noticed that, and I won't lie, my ego's huge now because of it. It's because, oh, not having dogs, when a dog does listen, you're like, oh my gosh, their power.

It makes me realize why certain people get like giant cats, like on Tiger King, they, the rush of having an animal obey you. You know what it makes me realise that Roman's completely disloyal? Yes. So you got this performing bug basically. I did, I did. It was when I, so in my final year they nominated me for a National Student Television Award, which is like all the unies in the UK kind of do it and one uni would host it and then everyone goes there and it's just like a weekend of having fun, meeting loads of people who want to do TV.

So I went but didn't take it serious. I was like, look, I'm not going to win this. I'll just go and have fun and pretend to be one of these TV types. Because most of these other kids were there and they were studying television, they were studying production and all that kind of stuff. And I was doing science. So I was just there as a hobby.

And then we went and then we got to the big ceremony. It was very fancy. Everyone was wearing tie suits and everything. And it was very much like the NTAs, but everyone's poor because we're students. And I remember sitting there and we had And Luzo Zimba from Newsround, who was announcing the award. And I'm sitting there thinking, and again, I don't want it.

I don't care. And I was on for Best On Screen Mail. And as he got to that part of the award, I realised I did want it. But I thought I didn't deserve it because I was always doing it as a hobby for fun. And I thought, well, these other people have worked really hard. Maybe they should get it. So you won this award? I won this award.

And it was basically, before it happened, I literally went, God, listen, it's Reese. If I meant to do anything in television, please let me win this award. I know I should be praying for World Hunger to end World Hunger or something, but this is what I want at this moment. And I thought, oh, it's never going to happen. And they called my name and I couldn't believe it. And then I remember calling my mum and dad. And I was like, mum and dad, I won.

They're like, where even are you? You didn't tell us where you went? I was like, oh, I'm in Leeds. I went to this award and I won. And I remember I thought in that moment, if I can win an award for something that I'm doing as a hobby, what can I do if I actually would have put my mind to it? and go for it.

So I'm at a show with some friends, and then we sent it around. And then the next thing I knew, CBBC had messaged me when I was in Italy doing some tutoring for two weeks. And they messaged me in when we were to audition for this show called Whoops I Mr. Bus,

where you kind of watch a CBC show and then you give like a funny review about it for, you know, three odd minutes. So I had to learn to video edit and do all that kind of stuff from home. And my friend from uni would come and film it with me. And I did that for CBBC for a while. And then they asked me to come and do more things.

And they asked me to come in into their main studio and do some presenting. And I didn't realize that was them kind of screen testing me to be part of the main team. I was just like, I'm just doing a job and it'll be cool to do. And then summer came along and I was there like every day. And then they signed a contract, made me part of the team. And then it just grew from there. And that all happened over kind of like a year. I remember I joined CBBC in 2016 and then after a few months I went did some

things with them in Birmingham and then yeah became part of the main team that summer Raymond's just messed a little little Spaniel Raymond always makes it look so awkward all the other dogs you know they're there doing the etiquette and Raymond's like what what's happening Now, Raymond's stoic. Raymond won't flinch. I'm impressed. No.

His facial expression is exactly the same. It's very stoic. It's very old-school Churchill-Britishness. I tell you how Raymond... If you're not going to play with him, let him go. Raymond deals with social interactions with other dogs. A bit like a hedgehog. He does.

He curls into a ball if you kids. It's like the prey will go away if I describe it myself. stand here and play dead they will leave me alone oh it was beautiful um so yeah cbbc and then um so did that take the pressure off ruse in a way then because in a way yeah you didn't think you were going up for a job you were just doing you absolutely not yeah that's it because i would i would have gotten so nervous if i knew it was an interview but because i was already on the channel in some way so when i went on to into the studio i was as a guest and like we've got reese from whoops so I felt like I was there in my own right I wasn't there trying to prove

anything so I just kind of went on and I just had fun with the other presenters and they really liked the banter I had with them and because it was myself Katie Thistleton Lauren Layfield Crim Zer Oll and Hack of the Dog who's puppeteer by Phil Fletcher and we all we were all such good friends in that time we already got on our humours were the same and I just I loved every single one of them Like any, because it was always a duo, so two of us would present at one time. And it was always a different kind of magic I had with each of the different presenters. I loved it, like, especially my early days since CBBC.

It was just so amazing because kids, because kids would always ask, oh, did you always want to be a kid's TV presenter? I'd say no, because I didn't know that was an option. I didn't know that you could do that until it was put in front of me. And it's the funnest thing because on CBBC, it's, you get the, you get the exhilarating. of live television because we're always live in the afternoon, but there's not this humongous pressure that if you get something wrong, a bunch of people are going to complain on Twitter,

or, you know, get offended, most of the time the kids forget, sometimes they don't even notice it's gone wrong. Sometimes they love it because it's gone wrong. Mostly they love it. Mostly they love it. And you're able to, when we're able to do sketches and comedy, and you're able to really grow,

and you get guests on as well, and it's a wonderful, I partly say training ground, but I try not to at the same time because that almost makes kids TV seem like a stepping ground to get away and go somewhere else whereas kids TV is a wonderful thing in its own right but I think if you were someone who wanted to go off and do other bits of telly that is more adults might watch CBBC is an amazing way to kind of learn who you are and what kind of a performer you can be Hi. Hi, nice to see.

This is George Northwood. This is Ray Stevenson. Hi, Jo's nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you. He's the king of hairdressers. Oh. Apparently so. You really are.

Hello. Is that your dog? Are those your doggies? Yes, my friend Patrick. Hi, Patrick, I'm Emily. Nice to meet you. Emily's dog lover. I've done the walk with the dog podcast.

We're doing it now. Oh, sorry. No, sorry. You're doing it. I love that you're on it. Special guest to do it. I would have this is George Northwood. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. strictly taught at Greenwich at the moment so we thought we'd come locally. Okay well I'll let you get on with your yeah so lovely to see you love to meet you too so nice to see you take care. Love to meet you take care all the best bye bye George come on Raymond oh he's such a nice man that George Northwood I like that coat of it actually

do you remember when you got the call saying okay you've got the job yeah so I was so I I auditioned for the show when I was graduating uni. So the summer I graduated in 2015, the summer I graduated, I auditioned, and I didn't hear back from them the whole summer and thought, oh come on, come on, come on. And then they got back to me and said

that unfortunately they're gonna go with someone else because they felt that I was quite similar to another presenter that they had. But they said they'd love to keep my stuff for the future and I thought they're just being polite, though I'll never hear from them again. So I was like, cool. And then I went away and got a job where I did science workshops in primary school.

So I do science days and I do like a club after school. So we do something about physics or biology. And it was always that really fun experiments really. And that was amazing because you come into the school and you'd be like a rock star. They'd love you. It was like, oh my gosh. And so I did that for a little while. And then the next year in February 2016, they sent me an email.

and said, hey, some things have changed and we would love to have you on the show now if you'd still want to. And I could not, I remember exactly where I was, I was on the stairs at home. I think I was walking up the stairs, took my phone out, looked at the message and stood on the top and was like, what?

And then I grabbed my mum. I was like, Mom, Mom! And she was like, and she was trying not to get too excited because she's like, what if this doesn't happen again? And I was like, and then the person I wanted to show is my little sister because by this point she was in year five. So this was very much her thing.

And so she got into, so Michaela got into the car and we picked you up and like Mick, just read this. And she read the email and screamed. And I think the shock for me was how people reacted. I thought people would not care because it's kids TV. But everyone was so excited that I remember my friend's granddad at church that went to the front of the whole. congregation and just went, did anyone watch Reese on Saturday? And I was like, stop! This is mortified. They all cheered and clapped and watched it. And it was literally me doing a joke about how, because the show I was watching was about

werewolves and I was choking about how being a werewolf is like being your own pet in a way. So you'd have to walk yourself and all that kind of stuff. And they were all cheering it. And I'm there thinking some of the kids in our church have to be doctors, why am I getting a standing ovation for this? But it was, it was lovely because it was just. It was a support from people, but I think it was also, because I feel like when I told people that I wanted to be a doctor early on, it wasn't met with a lot of enthusiasm and not in a negative way, but I think because people always knew that this is what I should have been doing. Really? Well, yeah, I remember my vicar said it. He was very much like, I don't see, not being, and not that he was being, not saying I shouldn't do it, because I always see you more.

a person for the stage and that's where I think your talents are and he was just it was it was very supportive whatever I did and then when I ended up doing this he he was so proud and happy because I just think not because he wanted that for me but because he just knew that's when I was happiest and it's amazing that sometimes people can see what you want before you even know well do you think your parents felt that as well a bit or how do you think they felt about the changing direction. You know what? They were very good about it.

I think my mum, my mum was like, well, I can't control what he wants to do. I think she didn't want me to have like given up on something out of emotional anger. And I think my dad might struggle, I think my dad struggled a bit because he didn't want me to have quit and then just not do anything. And so, because sometimes when you, when you had this plan, and then you stop there's that moment where you don't know what you want to do so you kind of get stagnant for a little bit and I think my dad just didn't want that for me didn't want me to get stagnant and then not be doing anything but then once once CBBC kicked off properly they both love it so much but they never they never took away their support which is what I always appreciate with those two

they let me kind of figure out for myself. How lovely that you found, Rhys, something that made you happy and you were talented at? Do you mind, sorry, if I just get this rock that's been in my shoe for the last 10 minutes away and it's been driving me. I mean, that's so, Rhys, he's had a rock in his shoe. I know, he hasn't said a word. Not said a single word, it's been trying to shake it and it won't budge.

So you have a co-host. I do have a co-host. Who is a dog? I'm actually going to go sidekick. No offence, Hacker. Oh, wow. He will love that, so go for it. So, Rhys, talk me through your on-screen doggy co-star.

Right, so my on-screen dogie coaster is a wigan dog called Hacker. Hacker the dog. That's what the T stands for, and Hacker T-Dog, basically. It's his middle name. And he is a very cheeky, occasionally charming. sometimes volatile creature who lives to entertain at the expense of my comfortableness sometimes. And he's wonderful. I love him very much actually.

He's a very, very funny, very funny creature. And the best thing about hacker is he performs for everyone. He loves throwing in little bits that parents get. That kids are like, what is that? So anytime we get to mention the Petschup Boys or Pink Floyd, he's going to take or any kind of show from the 80s that I've got no idea about it will throw it in. And he was the first person I presented with actually when I did CBBC Live and I remember being terrified because I thought he's going to end my career before it starts because I know what he's like. He's going to be really cheeky. He's going to say

jokes that I can't repeat back. In fact, one of the one he did that was incredible and it was kids were asking for advice on certain things and we were like being like agony aunts and one child asked, oh, help, my dog keeps stealing my space on my sofa. Every time I get up, what should I do? And Hacker went, oh, I know exactly what you should do. You should put your dog down and my face dropped and then he went on the floor. I'm like, you're so, you are such a nuisance. You're thinking cancellation. My pupils dilated tenfold. I have a question for you. I don't normally do this. But I have a question my friend Frank Skinner, who I do a radio show with, on Absolute.

Love Absolute Radio. Oh, good. We like that. We love that. I love that. Get the numbers up. Frank's son, Buzz, he has a question for you. Would you mind me putting it to you?

I do not mind at all. I don't normally do special requests like this, but for Buzz, I'll make an exception. Buzz, I mean, you have to. I have a question for him, he says. How about he's used a colon? I mean, great punctuation from the boy there. What's it like working with a dog? Then he's followed up, sorry, talking dog.

Talking dog. It's very different. A lot of people dream about what it would be like if their dog could talk. Hackers are a very different story. I dream about what would be like if he couldn't talk. He's very, he goes by his own rules. So you have to be ready for anything that he says. He also loves wearing Hawaiian shirts. So I've always got to be prepared for the glare that they give me because they're quite loud.

And I'm still trying to figure out how he's so short, yet when we present together, he reaches my waist. I don't know how he does that. It's very, it's very clever. But you know, all in all, it's very fun because I love, the thing about hacker is, him just being there already makes it funny. and so you don't have to work too hard now to gain the attention of the kids or the people who are watching

you're already winning with them there it's that kind of same power you get if you're with the Muppets or with the characters from Sesame Street just their presence already is funny and it's quite a joy to be a part of I'm always very confused with people who struggle to interact with characters like that

Hackett has told me about times where he's gone to meet certain famous people and they just can't get it They just don't get working with him. What is funny though, which I will say is whenever we're doing a serious thing on CBBC, he's not allowed near us. Because hacker being even trying to be serious is funny in itself. Him trying to make a serious face. We've filmed links where in case that, God forbid, something happened to a member of the royal family.

And so it's very much kind of very stoic and, hello, you might have heard of this happening. this happening. Here's what you can do. Hacker cannot be a part of that at all. I find that with Frank Skinner. Frank, go in the cupboard for a minute. We're getting serious. Stop. So all in all, though, he's a dream. He's very, very fun. I love it. Can we talk about strictly? Yes. I've been pretending I don't care to try and be cool. He's done really well. But I was a, I am a huge man. But you obviously, as so many people know now, you were in the last season of Strictly, and you really, you may not have taken home the trophy, Rhys. But you certainly, you stole our heart.

There was such an overwhelming response to you. I want to know, take me back to, I know you get asked this a lot, what was it like when you got the call? Oh my gosh. But what was it like when you got the call? Oh my god, I, so I only had one Zoom interview. I was filming something with bite size on BBC, and then I had 15 minutes I could spare for an interview.

So I had more than the dressing room, and then the director, you know, stole me away. And then I was finishing a day in CBC, going down the stairs, and my management called me, and they went, are you alone? And I thought, oh my gosh. And I went, yes. And they all just went,

you're going to be Australia come dancing. And I screamed. and it echoed and I ran to my car and we just talked in the car for age about what's going to happen, what's the plan I couldn't believe it because I had like

the quality of a lot like a strictly playlist of songs that I'd be like that would be a great song to have and I'd just listen to it straight away with a different kind of excitement because I thought this is going to be a reality now, it's no longer going to be something in my head which is a great thing but also a bit of a sad thing because then it means

that it's you're going to be, you're going to realize if you can really do all those dance that you imagined yourself doing. It was such a huge thing and I couldn't believe it because I thought that's a thing I can only dream about. And then I remember Karim did it two years prior. And that's when I realized, oh, it is actually within, it is close enough, it is within range to be on the show. But again, strictly has to choose you. You can't really, I feel strict as a bit like when MI5 tapped the shoulder of a student at K. Cambridge or Oxford, you know, it's like, come with us.

You get the call. And, I mean, you can like say that you'd want to be on the show. You can put it out there. You can put it out there. But it's up to them to take you. So for me to have gotten that call, especially being, you know, a modest children's television presenter. Not everyone knew who I was. It was actually really wonderful.

That's the beauty about Strictly. They don't chase numbers like that. Of course they'll get, you know, they might get there. influence, they might get the big pop-so as well because it brings the fans, but they also take a chance of people like me who are quite, you know, modest. Were you overwhelmed by the reaction that you had? I was overwhelmed by the reaction. It was, it was strange already. You see, like, your followers going up and you see people, random people you don't know, messaging you about how, you know, mine and Nancy's dance really made them happy for a long time. And you

get these really gorgeous messages that you read and you just kind of think, you know, And it's just amazing to think that you have an impact on someone by just dancing. And it just shows how powerful Strictly is as a show, you know. And it really has come with that responsibility afterwards now because wherever I go, because in my head I thought, oh, I'll do Strickley, have a great time. And then next year, everyone will forget who I am because there'll be the new cast. And someone went, no, Reese, they will always remember you on Strictly. And I thought, oh, okay, it's cemented.

Yeah. You don't realize how big it is until you're in it. And especially, it's like Strictly's global, right? So many shows have their own shows, like The Dance of the Stars and stuff. But none of those countries seems to have the cult following that Strictly has here. It's different. I can't explain it, but it is. And the tour which you're doing at the moment, which it seems like you're absolutely loving,

because in a way, is it that you're getting all of the fun and the lovely side of of it, but you're not getting the, I feel like, vomiting. 100%. In front of the live audience. 100%. I mean, you have got a live audience, but it's not, you haven't got Craig Revel Horowitz. No, you haven't.

And the audience are there, because they've seen, they know the dance you're doing, so they already know they're going to love it. The audience already know the dance you're going to do. So they're already excited to see that. They just want you to do well. And you're familiar with the dance this time, it's no longer this thing of, I've been struggling with it for four days. Is it going to go,

right on the night because I've never felt nerves like I did on Strictly Come Dancing because for me it wasn't I don't think it wasn't so much to performing it wasn't so much the audience it was the idea that it could all end in that night and that that's because it's something I dreamt of for so long and to think that it was going to end because I might have tripped up was the worst feeling and I'd never gone to the bathroom so many times I was so my weight dropped Did it? Not in a bad way, but I became leaner.

And it was really scary. It was really scary. And then the tour was a completely different experience because there was no fear of going home anymore. It didn't matter about winning or getting the votes. You're just there to perform this time. That's what they want to see. And I had, and I've had the best time on the tour. I loved the show as well, but I think it's just like you had to keep proving yourself each week.

And it's really hard with a show like strictly as well because dance, it's an entertainment show first and a competition second. You can be a fantastic dancer but the audience just don't vibe with your character. You're not going to get the votes and you can go home. And, you know, Aston, Merrigal is always the biggest one I think about because the man was an incredible dancer and went out in week four. You know, so things, crazy things can happen in the show. And then Nancy now we're in bottom two in week five. in week five, I believe, and that was a very shocking thing. And that's when I was, I remember being so worried,

because it felt like now we had to be phenomenal just to stay in because we realized that in terms of the band base, everyone else had to kind of garnered that kind of loyalty of followers. Talking about Strictly and just nerves and things, you strike me, obviously I'm meeting you today. Sunshining, we're walking a dog, you're looking forward to your job tonight,

How do you deal with not so good days? For me, it's, I like, you know what, I'm a, I always joke, I'm a bit like a dog when I have blue days. I like to take myself away and just be by myself. And because I find sometimes sadness can do one or two things. It can bring people in and get them to show you that love that you need a lot for healing, which is wonderful. And sometimes it can affect other people in a wrong way and make them to make them to show you that love that you need a lot for healing, which is wonderful. And sometimes it can affect other people in a wrong way and make them to make them to show you. sad as well by mission. I don't like the idea of doing that. So I always kind of like to take

myself away and just process it on my own. Prayer is a huge thing to me as well. I like to do that when I'm feeling quite sad and upset. And then for me like sitcoms watching a good show to take me away from something. I love films. I like to be, I like to distract myself when I'm feeling like that. But more, I think the most important thing is I allow myself to feel it. I stopped trying to do that thing of like I'm not going to feel anymore you can't control that it's like a being sad is sometimes like a cold you know you just got to let it you know work its way through your body and then eventually it goes do you cry I do not not so much when I'm sad I haven't I

haven't cry when I was sad in a in a while I remember there was um during strictly we had a really bad rehearsal and I was stressed and I remember crying in the dressing room because of that And I hadn't done that in a long time. It was, I felt better after it. Yeah. You mean bad rehearsal in terms of you couldn't, you weren't in the zone?

I wasn't in the zone. I wasn't getting the moves. And like, there were people watching as well. And you could feel them all feeling sorry for you. Didn't want that. I didn't want that. And I remember I went into the room and just kind of like, had all these emotions

and didn't know what to do. But I'm not the kind of to like punch it out or any of that kind of stuff. So I just, I just cried for, for what must have been 30 seconds, wipe the tears and then just kind of sat down and just kind of went, all right, I'm feeling, I'm feeling stressed at the moment. This is how it is. This is okay. But yeah, I think the main thing is you've got to feel it. You've got to feel sad. Allow yourself to be that way. What's Reese like when he's angry? I can't imagine you really being angry.

I can't ever imagine you losing your temple being angry. You haven't seen me play video games, Emily. If you and Beth, you must have the odd couple now. Not so much. I mean, we've argued about silly stuff in terms of like when it's appropriate to celebrate Christmas and I'll get very passionate about that. I'm very much to December 1st and go hard. Nothing before and she wants to celebrate in November the 1st and I will not have it. So we'll have silly arguments about that. So let's do an example. Let's just set it. I'm better. And I say, well, I'd like to put up the tree now and get all the decorations. Absolutely not. It's November the 2nd. What are you doing? No. Have some control. Do you want to enjoy Christmas? Because if you do it now, we're going to get bored by the time of the 25th and we're not going to care. We need to wait. Let Bonfire Night have its time. There are other holidays before this. And then that's how I would be. I would just try and calmly but passionately explain my peace.

Do you think, Reese, I was going to say, I think it must, I don't know, I think it's really great that you've got a girlfriend because, you know, we've all seen people, fames are going to, and always. thing. And I think suddenly you're getting, it's lovely the attention, but it is based on a persona to a degree, because it's not, the you on TV isn't exposing every facet of you. She will watch me do something and it might be like really cool and then she'll come to me off be like, you're not like that at all. And like, shh, let me keep that facade for the people. But it's lovely to have someone who sees you for who you really are because I think when you reach a certain level of fame, you then always start to wonder, do you, is that person interested in me for me or for what I have at the moment? And when you have someone who likes

you before you was anything, then you know you've got someone solid who's going to support you through when you're something. Yeah, I'm very lucky. But she is also, she is a props designer for CB and CBBC. So she makes things, she has a graphic. on CBBC. At the moment, she's working with them. They're writing a story for BBC worldwide, so they do like CBBC Poland or CBBC, like Africa. And they're writing a story and she's doing the illustrations for it at the moment. And she's so good. She's like, she's so good. And she does that whole thing of like, oh, no, I'm not. Like, can you stop the false modesty and accept that you're brilliant? You've just drawn like a little teacup with a face and I'm in love.

It's amazing. She's very, very talented in what she does. I don't know how she's able to have a mind to kind of create fake brownies that look real for them. But it's a true gift. I want to ask you about the church because I know you said earlier that you use prayer and you find it helpful. And the church has been a really big part of your life, hasn't it? Well, yeah. The thing I said on strictly that a lot of people that resonate,

with a lot of people was that throughout my whole life the church has been the one constant. So my relationship with God's always been the thing in my life that I've always held on to and is really swayed. I have moments where I might not pray as much and I get distracted by other things but I always come back to it. And I always like to describe it, especially when you grew up in a Christian household. And both your parents are pretty religious, right? Yeah, my mum. I mean, your mum wears the trousers. My mum wears the trousers.

Mum would always take us to church and it was always like, it was always a thing on Sunday. So when I came to Manchester, I looked for my own church, which was really cool because I could take, it felt like taking control over my own faith, which is really nice. But how I always thought of it is when you grew up in a Christian family or religious family is God almost seems like an uncle who comes and visits and he's there to see your parents and asks you about your day, but then you went upstairs because you're shy. And then as you get older, God becomes less of an uncle and more of actually a friend of your own who then you speak to and share your issues with and you have your own relationship with

because now you're a bit more mature and you can bond. And I think that's kind of what it is. As a kid, it's just a thing. It's a part of your life. And it's not until you get a bit older that you start to take charge of it yourself. I know you said as well that when you were growing up, your faith, in some ways, didn't make you an hour. outlier in a way that certain, because there's disciplines and things that you observe, aren't they? Which perhaps other non-religious families don't?

Yes. Yeah, usually, especially in school. I was always a bit shy of mentioning it because it always led to loads of questions. And sometimes it's just a bit too tired to answer them or they'd be like, so, right, so you don't do this and you don't do that? No. Why? It's just because we don't. Don't you want?

It's like, well, no, because I've never done it. I don't know what I'm missing. You know, things like... So those sort of things like Halloween and stuff. Halloween was biggest one. Yeah, biggest one. I never did, never celebrate Halloween. So my friends would be like, you don't do that.

I was like, well, no, I have sweets at home. I'm fine. I don't need to ask strangers for it. It's all good. It's probably not safer if I don't. It's probably not safe if I don't. But there were, it was always those kind of questions. Then the biggest one is when it comes, was drinking.

I'm not a big drink. That's not because of Christianity. I just don't like alcohol. It's a personal choice. It's a personal choice. just don't like it. It just, I'll happily have an apple juice and speak to you whilst you're having, you know, your alco pop. I don't know what it is you want to drink, but like, we can still talk. I think people always wonder if I'm judging as well when you, they always think you're judging

when you say you don't drink and they're doing it. But it's, it's those kind of things that I remember I had to learn to kind of deal with and navigate. But it's just always been a part of who I am. And the funny thing is when people, when people do know you're a Christian, they, they, They watch everything you do. So the minute I might say a joke, that might be a bit, you know, risky or naughty, they're like, race, you can't say that. My favourite one was Lauren Layfield,

who used to present me on CVBC. Anytime I said something that was a little bit out of character for me, she'd be like, race, you're the Jesus one. It always made me laugh. Because when she said that, it wasn't her, like, teasing. It was her endearment of, like, your, you know, you know, you're a Christian and I love you for that

and you're doing something that's a bit out of character and I don't want you to do that because that's not how I know you even though she's not religious herself so it's kind of a wonderful thing when you, I think when you get older I wonder if sometimes people are testing you to see just how, you know,

are you this way because of your family or are you this way for yourself? And when they realise you're that way for yourself, they learn to respect it and afterwards it becomes a much more easier thing. You don't feel so much like an outlier anymore. Did you feel like that growing up anyway?

A little bit, but not... I was never bullied for it or stuff, but I think I was just always aware of... There are things that my friends did or families did that we didn't. It was always something that I noticed. So I did feel like an outlier, but not in a negative way. It was just I always knew I was a bit different

in the way that we were raised. Are you a people-ple-pleaser? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to not be it so much, but yeah, I am. I'll change, I'll, I'll do a thing I'll sometimes change myself just to try and match it, you know, if I'm going to meet, if I'm meeting people who might be in a bit more urban or something, I'll try and lessen the accent a bit. Or if I'm meeting people who are, like when I met Prince Edwards and we did an interview for the Duke of Edinburgh, I mean, I went so old. up here, it was ridiculous. I just like to, I adapt.

So talk me through how, I'm Prince Edward. Hello, Rees Stevenson. Yep, so nice to meet you. It's a pleasure, it's an honour. How are you today? That's fascinating, yes, all the, all the thesaurus words would come out. And then suddenly one of your friends turns up, from like, Rhys, what do you say? What are you saying? It's so good to see you, bro. wavy, all those kind of things. People are nice when they're pleased, so I like to please people.

Well, Rhys, I have to say, I've absolutely loved having you on walking the dog. You've been an absolute joy. Ray. Ray wants to go home with you. I'm going to give Reese a lift. Shotgun. Have you enjoyed meeting Ray?

I've loved meeting Ray. Ray, you're an absolute delight, my friend. And any, look, if you're ever in Manchester and you need someone to show you around, I'm here. Just hit me up and I'll come see you straight away. All right. Love your hair. I love the way you interact with the other dogs.

You're just yourself. I'm going to miss you. Bye, rate. I really hope you enjoyed listening to that. And do remember to rate, review and subscribe on iTunes.