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Podcast Notes
Hanging Out With Ant & Dec
Episode Title
Ant & Dec on Conspiracy Theories: The Opinions You Didn't Know You Needed (or Wanted) Episode Description In this bonus Monday episode, Ant & Dec introduce the "Discussion Jar" and dive into various conspiracy theories, including the Hollow Moon Theory, Mel's Hole, and whether birds are real.
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Summary This episode is a light-hearted banter between Ant and Dec as they explore amusing conspiracy theories. They share personal anecdotes and engage in humorous discussions while drawing out topics from their newly introduced Discussion Jar.
Key Topics Discussed
- Personal Catch-Up
- Ant and Dec share updates about their lives, including Dec’s newfound morning routine and Ant's experience with Pilates.
- Humor about their physical states and routines.
- Discussion Jar Introduction
- Concept of the Discussion Jar explained: a collection of discussion topics and conspiracy theories.
- Ant introduces Mel's Hole and a humorous take on Pilates.
- Conspiracy Theories Explored
- Birds Aren't Real
- A light-hearted discussion about the theory that pigeons are government spies, including the question of where baby pigeons are.
- Mel's Hole
- A description of a mysterious hole in America purportedly linked to strange phenomena like animals behaving oddly.
- Hollow Moon Theory
- The theory that the moon is hollow and may have connections to alien life.
- Keanu Reeves Immortality Theory
- Discusses the idea that Keanu Reeves is immortal based on historical likenesses.
- Disney's Frozen as a Cover-Up
- The theory that the film's title was created to distract from rumors about Walt Disney's cryogenic freezing.
- Paul McCartney's Alleged Death
- The theory that Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced, with hidden clues in Beatles songs.
- Lighthearted Humor and Banter
- The conversation is filled with humor, playful jabs, and personal anecdotes.
- Dec's skepticism and Ant’s enthusiasm create a dynamic discussion environment.
Notable Quotes
- "The Beatles were rage baiting."
- "For someone who goes down rabbit holes a lot, Substack is like the app for me."
Key Takeaways
- The episode blends humor with curiosity about conspiracy theories.
- Ant and Dec maintain a playful tone, making the exploration of bizarre theories entertaining rather than serious.
- The Discussion Jar serves as a tool for engaging with listener suggestions and sparking spontaneous conversation.
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Conclusion The episode serves as an entertaining exploration of conspiracy theories with a comedic twist. Ant & Dec's dynamic keeps the discussion lively, and the introduction of the Discussion Jar adds a unique element to their podcast format.
Listener Engagement
- The hosts encourage listeners to submit their own topics for discussion via email at hangingout@beltabox.com.
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Next Episode Tune in on Thursday for another episode where Ant & Dec continue their light-hearted chats and explore new topics. ```
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOWeekend Updates
0:45 to 2:30
Ant and Dec share updates about their quiet weekends.
“It was good because I had such a raucous one last weekend.”
Pilates and Fitness Talk
2:30 to 4:40
Discussion about fitness experiences and how they feel after workouts.
“I'll tell you what I'm loving at the moment.”
Weather and Clothing Transition
4:40 to 6:20
Ant and Dec chat about the change in weather and clothing choices.
“So I'm not even going to give it the credibility it deserves, because it deserves none.”
The Discussion Jar Introduction
6:20 to 8:00
Introduction of the discussion jar concept and its purpose.
“And locals, Mel found out other locals would throw their rubbish down there.”
Conspiracy Theories Kick-off
8:00 to 9:10
The hosts begin discussing various conspiracy theories in the jar.
“Because I thought, instead of me just spouting loads of stuff at you, we've got some topics in here that the team have put together.”
Birds Aren't Real Theory
9:10 to 12:10
A dive into the conspiracy theory that pigeons are government spies.
“Yeah, and put your opinion on your discussion topic.”
Keanu Reeves Immortality Theory
12:10 to 14:01
Exploration of the theory that Keanu Reeves is immortal or a time traveler.
“and he'd go like this and then the parrot would fly around the park and then fly back in it and land on his arm.”
Keanu Reeves: The Good Egg
14:01 to 14:47
Discussion about Keanu Reeves' reputation and theories of immortality.
“But Keanu Reeves is like the nicest guy in show business, isn't he?”
Walt Disney's Cryogenic Theory
14:47 to 16:00
Exploring the conspiracy that Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen.
“I'll see how far I get Disney's Frozen was named to hide a secret Huh?”
The Ethics of Cryogenics
16:00 to 17:52
Debate on the implications and ethics of cryogenically freezing individuals.
“And it was a big thing in like the 70s, 80s.”
Show all 16 chapters
Simon Cowell and Cryogenics
17:52 to 19:16
Discussion surrounding Simon Cowell's rumored interest in cryogenic freezing.
“I hope that when I die, that the secrets of the world, the universe, every conspiracy theory you've ever heard is revealed to you.”
The Paul is Dead Theory
19:16 to 21:20
Unpacking the conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney died and was replaced.
“Hyperfixation for a little while, was it?”
The Alien Autopsy Connection
21:20 to 22:47
Exploring the links between pop culture and conspiracy theories about aliens.
“And they could poo-poo it and go, yeah, it's not real.”
Meeting Paul McCartney
22:47 to 23:59
Recollections of the hosts' experiences meeting Paul McCartney.
“Ray and Gary are the real people who we played in the movie who fake the alien autopsy footage because they said they had the footage, but the footage burnt and they had to show it to some gangsters.”
The Hollow Moon Theory
23:59 to 26:12
Delving into the conspiracy theory that the moon is hollow and its implications.
“Yes, you mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.”
The Moon is Made of Cheese?
26:12 to 26:52
A humorous take on the ludicrous idea that the moon is made of cheese.
“For a small guy, you don't need to expect for that one, surely.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Anthony McPartlin:It's time to throw your lash curler away. Seriously, Lancome's new Curl Goddess Mascara keeps your lashes curled and volumized from the pre-game to the after party. This fast-setting curl and volume mascara gives you up to 30 hours of wear with no way down. You know what? Curls really do have more fun. Shop Lancome Curl Goddess Mascara now on Amazon.
0:33Anthony McPartlin:Hello, everybody. Good morning, good evening. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to The Hangout for another Monday episode. Intrigued us to what this is? I'll come to that in a minute. Okie dokie. How are you?
0:46Declan Donnelly:I'm good, thanks. I was going to give you a little bit. Go on, then. That is the discussion jar. We'll talk about this later.
0:54Anthony McPartlin:We'll discuss it in a little while. How are you? I'm good, thanks. What have you been up to? Had the weekend, nice and quiet. Yours? Yeah, very quiet. Good. It was nice. It was good because I had such a raucous one last weekend. Yes, you did. I was away with some friends playing golf.
1:06Declan Donnelly:Yes, we know, we know. And I had a very girly weekend. Yeah, so - You had a very ballsy weekend. I had a quiet one this week. I'm in agony. What? I am a bit in agony. What have you done? Pilates. Oh. That was part of my girls weekend last weekend. It was a bit of Pilates. But then I followed up with a second session, so now I'm in agony. Proper agony.
1:27Anthony McPartlin:You've been working muscles you didn't know you had.
1:29Declan Donnelly:Oh, God, my core. A lot of core.
1:32Anthony McPartlin:There's a lot of core. It's there. And hard for you because you've got a lot of core. What do you mean? You're quite top heavy. I'm not top heavy. We've established that.
1:40Declan Donnelly:We haven't. We established that. This is not, I am not top heavy. I'm not Gru. That top is quite heavy. Yeah, it is quite heavy. Quite thick. Well, it's getting warmer, so I'm getting all the thick clothes out the way because it's quite, it's very hot in this attic, isn't it? It's really warm. So let's get all of the thick stuff out the way now and then we can move into T-shirts and shorts as we move forward. Would you ever get your legs out on camera? Because you never have in the back. Yeah, you haven't though, have you? I have. Yeah? Lords. I tell you what, when you grow the beard, can you come in with a beard and shorts?
2:12Declan Donnelly:That's just a fetish of mine. It's just a fetish, this.
2:15Anthony McPartlin:You pervert. I just want to dress you up. I tell you what, I'm loving it at the minute.
2:23Declan Donnelly:What was that? Is that your belly?
2:24Anthony McPartlin:Didn't you hear that? What was that, Bert? There's a little frog in my throat. Did you hear it? Did you hear that? Let's play it again slow. It was a little... Yeah, it was. Something made noise in there. Can you say anything? Tonsil. I'll tell you what I'm loving at the moment. How lovely and light it is in the mornings. What do you do in the mornings? I get up out of bed. Yeah. Brush the old teeth. No. Do you know what's nice? Going down at it, Rocky Out, 7 o 'clock in the morning. And up until like two weeks ago, I had to go out with a torch. Did you? Yeah. Because he's only a miniature sausage.
2:58Anthony McPartlin:Yes. I've only got a little sausage, as you know. Yes, we know. And to take him out in the garden, he's had a few dust-ups with a few local foxes. He has, hasn't he? Yeah. He's been attacked by foxes. Yeah, he's had a bit of a to-do, a bit of a ding-dong with a few foxes. Why do you find that amusing, Fiona?
3:14Declan Donnelly:Just because you're a fox on Thursday. Oh, that's right. Oh, yeah, he was a fox on Thursday. Yeah, don't wear that when you get home. You didn't wear that fox in front of Rocky, did you?
3:24Anthony McPartlin:I didn't take it home, no. Poor Rocky. So when I take them out in the mornings, I would take them out with a torch, just scan for foxes. Don't have to do that now. It's lovely, isn't it? Lovely and light, first thing in the morning. Are you a morning person? Not particularly. Didn't used to be. Nah, didn't used to be. Now we've got kids. You've got to be. No choice. Kids and dogs, you've got to be up. No choice. I love it. I love being up now. Yeah, I do now. I didn't used to, but yeah, no. I like getting up early, getting things done. What, why are you laughing? Why is that funny? Just because you got up late in your diary.
3:54Declan Donnelly:Yeah, you're right. You're right. That's right. You didn't used to get up. You used to get up at one o 'clock. I'm so tired. I would have been at one o 'clock in Dex90's diary, but not now.
4:03Anthony McPartlin:I don't think you were up at six going for a jog, by the way. That's a very good point. Very good point.
4:10Declan Donnelly:I think we were both quite late risers. Hey, guess what I've got into now? What? Substack. For someone who goes down rabbit holes a lot. Yes, you do. For someone who gets quite hyper fixated, Substack is like the app for me. What have you been reading about? I've been reading about Mel's Hall. Melanie, do you know about Mel's Hall? So there's a thing, right? I heard what you said. I heard what you said, but we'll probably have to edit that out. If not edit it out, bleep it. So I'm not even going to give it the credibility it deserves, because it deserves none. Whose hall? Mel's Hall. What's the guy called?
4:54Declan Donnelly:we've had to blew that out again go on tell us about Mel in the 90s a guy called Mel in America just outside of Washington rang a radio DJ and said there's a hole on my property big old hole and well he might be saying like there's a big old hole on my property right yeah with an American accent just imagine it all with an American accent yeah so he rang this radio DJ and said there's a big hole on my property don't know what it's for Did you not think they were going to ring the police or somebody first?
5:27Anthony McPartlin:You rang the radio
5:28Declan Donnelly:No because the radio it was like one of those phone-in shows that people were ringing and say anything strange happened in your life and this guy's like yeah there is something strange there's a big hole on my property he says and I don't know how deep it is and my dog acts really weird around it so an animal birds won't fly over birds fly around the hole I was like and the guy's like really? so every night for the course of a few months he would phone back in to this radio station and radio DJ would ask him more questions. And he'd say, well, why don't you find out how deep it is? So you got like a fishing wire and put it down, got a fishing wire, put something on the end, wound the fishing wire to its full length, which is like 7 ,000 feet.
6:08Declan Donnelly:And it was still going. So there's no, so the hole was that deep. And Mel was like, where does this hole go to? What's its origin? Nobody else could answer. So he was hoping that other callers would say, oh, I know what the hole is. The hole is an ex-mining hole or et cetera, et cetera. So no one else really knew anything. And how big is it, like, diameter? What are we talking about here? Probably about this room. No. Yeah. And locals, Mel found out other locals would throw their rubbish down there. Just a big hole. Great place just to get rid of stuff. Rumor has it that one of his neighbours' dog died.
6:40Declan Donnelly:So he threw the dog down the hall, which I think is very insensitive, I have to say. But that dog was then seen in the woods weeks later. With a fishing wire? No, not with a fishing wire. Just running around. Alive again. Apparently. So then Mel continued these phone calls with the radio station, who obviously loved it, loved him bringing in, would ask him to do it. Oh, that was another thing. Mel put down a bucket of ice on a fishing wire into the hall. And he said when he wound it back up, the ice had burst into flames. Why are you doing? You asked what I'm reading about. So I was reading about that.
7:25Declan Donnelly:So the ice had burst into flames. So the ice was now flammable. And then Mel Weller-Holiday came back. The government closed it down and said there was an airplane crash on his site and he wasn't allowed it. So what was in the hall? That seems fishy. What was the hall? Fish and wiry. Yes. So anyway, I'm not at the end. Now there's Mel of the whole of the story or the substack. So I will report back when I hear more. When did the story take place? The story took place in 1997. I wonder what became of it. I'm not there yet. There's loads. There's loads on it. It's got to be aliens, hasn't it? Well, this is my new hyperfixation.
8:02Declan Donnelly:So what's that? Mel's Hall is.
8:04Anthony McPartlin:Mel's Hall.
8:05Declan Donnelly:Or substack in general. Mel's Hall. Mel's Hall. Yeah. That's my new thing. Mel's Hall. Which leads me on to this. Right. Because I thought, instead of me just spouting loads of stuff at you, we've got some topics in here that the team have put together. They're like conspiracy theories, thoughts, jumping off points. Okay. That we could... A discussion jar. A discussion jar where we pull them out, we talk about them, see if we can get to the bottom of things, what your opinion is of said thing. Amazing. Do you want to delve into the discussion jar? And you've got a jingle?
8:37Anthony McPartlin:Did you do a jingle? Did we get a jingle? Discussion jar.
8:40Declan Donnelly:Yeah, play it again, play it again.
8:43Anthony McPartlin:Discussion jar.
8:44Declan Donnelly:Discussion jar. It should be more spooky than that, really, though. Discussion jar. Discussion jar.
8:52Anthony McPartlin:What's real and what's wrong. If you've got any topics that you'd like us to put in the discussion jar, just get in touch. Hanging out at battlebox.com. We'll stick them in the discussion jar. We might just pull them out.
9:01Declan Donnelly:Because it doesn't have to be outlandish claims. It doesn't have to be conspiracy theories. It can just be stuff that you'd like to know or opinion on. Yeah. Because we have opinions. Yeah. Don't we?
9:12Anthony McPartlin:Yeah, and put your opinion on your discussion topic. We'll read it out, give you a name check. Do you want to go first?
9:17Declan Donnelly:Yes. I've been through them. I gave like a headline of the kind of things I wanted. So we've pulled some thoughts together from everyone who works on the pod. Okay. What?
9:28Anthony McPartlin:I guess he's going cold and I've just been...
9:30Declan Donnelly:What's that? Is that my coffee?
9:31Anthony McPartlin:Yeah, I ate some, yeah.
9:32Declan Donnelly:Well, thanks, Ed. Ed actually runs the whole thing and he's making coffee. That's how tight we are on budget here. We could do with a few more sponsors. I'll say. Thanks, Ed. Now I've got double cups. First discussion point is... Birds aren't real. Oh, I've heard this. Have you? My kids talk about this. I've never heard this. Pigeons aren't real and that they are part of the... Have you heard this, Meg? They're all spies. They're all spies.
Read the full transcript
9:58Anthony McPartlin:That's it. They're all spies. Meg, you put this in there, didn't you? Yeah, was that you? They're surveillance from the US government from the 1970s. Why the US government?
10:06Declan Donnelly:We've got more pigeons in Trafalgar Square, haven't we? Because they're spies. Oh, they're sending them over here to spy on us. I don't believe that, by the way. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. But where do pigeons sleep? Where do they sleep?
10:17Anthony McPartlin:Have you ever seen a baby pigeon?
10:18Declan Donnelly:No, that's another thing. Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? No. No, you just see fully grown spies.
10:27Anthony McPartlin:Fully grown spy pigeons. I think, don't they just like sleep on ledges and then they kind of just snuggle in and their heads drop and they just become like a little ball of grey. That's them sleeping. I think so, yeah. Right.
10:40Declan Donnelly:So, but you don't really see them at night, do you?
10:42Anthony McPartlin:I saw a couple the other night. Did you? Where? I came home late the other night and there was two - This seems fishy. On the house next door. Watching you? They were watching you?
10:54Declan Donnelly:Oh my God, I'm under surveillance. The pigeons were watching you?
11:00Anthony McPartlin:That's just blown my mind. Had you been somewhere you shouldn't have been? No. Oh, good. Phew. Yeah, there were two pigeons up on the next door house, kind of sat there cooing, looking down at me coming in. Oh my God. They're spying on you. They're spying on you. And is it just pigeons? Because this says birds aren't real.
11:16Declan Donnelly:Yeah, I've heard pigeons. Pigeons is the conspiracy theory that allows birds. So sparrows and robins? They're all real. Yeah, robins aren't spies. Robins are beautiful. Gorgeous little things. Tits? Yeah, tits are lovely. Tits are beautiful. Tits aren't spies. You've all lost your mind, by the way. Chaffinch? Chaffinch is on spies. Just pigeons. The ones that are flying around city centres. Seagulls? They're not spies. They're just irritants.
11:47Anthony McPartlin:They're vicious.
11:48Declan Donnelly:Are they vicious? Vicious. Are they vicious?
11:52Anthony McPartlin:Yeah. They're like your ice cream, aren't they?
11:54Declan Donnelly:Yeah, that's not vicious though, is it? That's your play for the mischievous. No. Yeah? No, Nicky Chips. A bird landed on my wife's head once. A parrot. A big old parrot. In Australia? No, not in Australia. when we were walking around the local park and she was like, what's that guy doing? Is that his bird? And he had a big old parrot on his arm and he'd go like this and then the parrot would fly around the park and then fly back in it and land on his arm. And I was like, that is quite a good skill. Like I've seen it with hawks and stuff, you know, like Kestrel Shaws or Hawks Shaws. A parrot. So then he goes like that and she went, oh my God, it's going to land on somebody's head.
12:30Declan Donnelly:And it lands on their head? No way. Oh God, I laughed so hard. and then I tried to get my phone out and take a picture which was apparently not the correct response. The correct response is to help. Is to go shoot. Yeah. Yeah. Why would you do that? Thank God you put a hood up just in time because its clothes went you would have hated that wouldn't you? Oh yes.
12:47Anthony McPartlin:Nah, not a fan of that. Anything like that. Parrots, budgies. Do you not like a budgie? No way.
12:53Declan Donnelly:I had a budgie growing up. Did I ever tell you that? No. I did, yeah. I had a budgie growing up. I didn't love it. You can't really, I didn't bond with a budgie.
13:00Anthony McPartlin:Did you let it out the cage to fly around a bit. Yeah. And there's just poos in your bedroom. Yeah, no way. I know. Can I pick a discussion?
13:06Declan Donnelly:I think we've exhausted that, don't you?
13:07Anthony McPartlin:Yeah.
13:08Declan Donnelly:Pigeons. Are we saying pigeons are spies then? It's official. Yeah. It's official. Pigeons are spies. It's official. Next topic out of the discussion jar is the Keanu Reeves is a mortal theory. Now, people have found historical portraits dating back hundreds of years that look exactly like Keanu Reeves, most notably a 19th century French actor named Paul Mooney and even a 1 ,200-year-old depiction of Charlemagne. I don't know about this. I think if you look at enough pictures of enough people, you will find people that look similar to them in the past.
13:46Anthony McPartlin:What if he's not immortal and he's just a simple time traveller?
13:51Declan Donnelly:That probably makes more sense, time travel, because immortality is ludicrous, but time travellers, that's not ludicrous. That's definitely something in that. Yeah. But Keanu Reeves is like the nicest guy in show business, isn't he? He's a cool dude. But isn't he known as like a really good... Egg. Egg? Oh, egg. Yeah, good egg. And you love eggs, so you'd know. I'm a big fan. But yeah, I mean, have we got any images of Keanu and old Keanu, time-traveling Keanu, immortal Keanu? Okay. Not buying that. I'm not having that because somebody drew that. That's not a photo. So I dismissed that as evidence, Your Honour.
14:32Anthony McPartlin:So if you're just listening, there is a drawing. And then this is the other painting.
14:36Declan Donnelly:Okay, again, not a photo. It's a painting. Somebody drew that. Dismissed that as evidence, Your Honour.
14:43Anthony McPartlin:We can officially say Keanu Reeves is not immortal. No. But he's possibly a time traveler. Possibly a time traveler. Yeah. Next. Oh, now this is interesting. Don't you wear any glasses? Sometimes. I'll see how far I get Disney's Frozen was named to hide a secret Huh? Oh hang on I'll put my glasses on
15:04Declan Donnelly:I was going to say
15:06Anthony McPartlin:that's a lot of making up as you go along otherwise The Disney's Frozen was named to hide a secret theory Ah For years a popular urban legend claimed Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen and hidden under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride Now I remember loads of stories from growing up that said Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen
15:24Declan Donnelly:Yeah But I didn't know it was hidden under the Pirates of the Caribbean. You okay? You okay? You don't want me to talk about this.
15:34Anthony McPartlin:I didn't know about the Pirates of the Caribbean. No, either did I.
15:37Declan Donnelly:I think I was pushing it a bit too far.
15:38Anthony McPartlin:The theory goes that the movie Frozen was created and named specifically to clog up search engine results. So when you search Disney Frozen, you get Elsa and Anna instead of articles about Walt Disney's Frozen head. That makes sense. that makes absolute sense to me. Well, I don't think there's any doubt that Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen. Why? Because we've read it enough. Because we've read it enough. And it was a big thing in like the 70s, 80s. Yeah.
16:09Declan Donnelly:When we were growing up, people thought he was frozen.
16:11Anthony McPartlin:To be cryogenically frozen, surely you have to be frozen when you're still alive. Because if you're dead, do they freeze you? But then I guess you freeze to death.
16:21Declan Donnelly:So you die pretty soon thereafter. Yeah. Yeah.
16:24Anthony McPartlin:But if you're dead and you get frozen.
16:26Declan Donnelly:Well, it's like a woolly mammoth, isn't it? What is it? It's like a woolly mammoth. If a woolly mammoth is frozen in ice. Yes. They reckon that they could bring that woolly mammoth back. Is that right? They could bring it back there. Well, this could certainly extract its DNA and then clone the mammoth.
16:43Anthony McPartlin:Isn't that Jurassic Park?
16:44Declan Donnelly:Yes, I know that's Jurassic Park, Jemima. But the principle of Jurassic Park is the woolly mammoth principle, which is you take the DNA of a long-since-dead mammal and you clone it. Right. A bit like Dolly the Sheep. Do you remember Dolly the Sheep when we were growing up? So that was a sheep cloned from another sheep. So you could clone Walt Disney. You couldn't do it.
17:11Anthony McPartlin:I'm not sure.
17:12Declan Donnelly:I wouldn't know where to start. Watch Jurassic Park. That helps a lot. Helps you with the whole mosquito in the lava and, you know. Right. Have you seen Jurassic Park? No. What? We need to do a discussion, George, just on the stuff you haven't watched. Why wouldn't you have watched Jurassic Park? I haven't got time. You read the book? No. It's very good. I've got stuff to do. Michael Crichton. What did you call me? He's the author. Yeah, I know Michael Crichton. Anyway, that's a good movie. So there's something in being cryogenically frozen. Would you do it? No, thank you. Why? I've done my time.
17:44Declan Donnelly:Okay. I'm not interested. At all? No. There's not a little bit of curiosity where you think, we haven't done your time now, you're only 50, do you?
17:52Anthony McPartlin:I hope that when I die, that the secrets of the world, the universe, every conspiracy theory you've ever heard is revealed to you. Okay. It's quite a nice thought, isn't it?
18:03Declan Donnelly:It is. Yeah, I like that.
18:05Anthony McPartlin:That you kind of, you get to the end, it's game over, and here's the... Game over like we're living in a simulation?
18:11Declan Donnelly:Yes. Oh, so you think, so Deccan Donnelly thinks we're living in a simulation. Could be. No, not could be. Yes or no? Put it in the discussion, John, next time. Right.
18:25Anthony McPartlin:Next. So, are we having that? Do you remember the stories about Simon Cowell wanting to be cryogenically frozen? Yes. I reckon he would. He talked about that for a little while. That is definitely, that's him. That's something he'd do.
18:36Declan Donnelly:It's a very Simon thing to do that. In fact, who's to say this isn't the new Simon Cowell that we're working with right now? 2.0. Could be. the old Simon Cowell might be frozen in ice. This could be the DNA extracted from the old pop idol Simon. Right. And this is the new Simon. Who would make a lot of sense. What? It would make a lot of sense. Okay. Next one. The Paul is dead theory. Oh. You know this one. Paul McCartney. The theory goes that Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike. And there's clues to this hidden within Beatles album covers and within Beatles songs.
19:16Anthony McPartlin:Discuss. I know this theory very, very well. Even saw some YouTube videos about it. Oh, I see. Hyperfixation for a little while, was it? It was a little bit. Welcome to my world. I was a very big fan of the Beatles growing up. Yeah. And you can see that Paul, kind of after the theory, and Paul before, there are slight different facial features. Is there? Right. Slightly different facial features, perhaps. Is it just a different shadow? or is it just taking from a slightly different angle? Just getting older. Maybe just getting older. Yeah. There is a bit of that.
19:47Declan Donnelly:Grew a beard. He grew a beard. He grew a beard very easily.
19:50Anthony McPartlin:Really good beard. Yeah, really good beard. If this was the case and they tried to cover it up, why would you put clues in your songs? Why would you give people clues if you didn't want anybody to know about it? What's the point in doing clues if you didn't want people to know?
20:05Declan Donnelly:To add to the mystique of the band? To keep the album still chugging along? Was it a kind of a, was it a record company thing? A marketing tool. Yeah. Paul's dead. Oh my God, what are we going to do? So then one of them is when they're walking across Abbey Road on the cover of Abbey Road, Paul is not wearing any shoes. He's barefoot. He's barefoot. And people are saying that's a clue that he's dead.
20:30Anthony McPartlin:And he's in a white suit. So he's an angel. So it was that long ago that he... Yeah, it was early days of the Beatles.
20:37Declan Donnelly:But he's since come out and rubbished that Paul, Paul McCartney. Well, he would. And then didn't John Lennon sing something about, here's another one for you? Here's another clue for the walrus was Paul. The walrus was Paul. No, they're rage baiting. Rage baiting. The Beatles were rage baiting. Maybe they were, but that's good. We're still talking about it now in 2026.
20:56Anthony McPartlin:Maybe it did happen. Hear me out. Hear me this theory. Maybe it did happen and Paul was replaced and they knew they could never keep this secret forever. So they say, well, let's lean into it. and sorry I'm getting emotional yeah let's lean into it and start these rumors that we can poo poo and rubbish and it's a bit of a conspiracy theory but while people are looking at the conspiracy theory and debating whether it's true or not they're not looking over here which is actually where it has happened and it's true so we can go oh yeah that's just a conspiracy theory but actually it's true but while they're talking about the conspiracy theory so it's like a double bluff so like when we shot the film Alien Autopsy and the autopsy film came out right when they, so the premise of Alien Autopsy the premise of Alien Autopsy right is our characters shot a fake Roswell New Mexico alien autopsy that was supposed to take place in 1947 it actually took place in a flat in London in whatever it was 1992 right, the American military were very happy for that video to go out because all the talk was about, is the video real or not?
22:12Anthony McPartlin:And they could poo-poo it and go, yeah, it's not real. It's absolutely not real. And they couldn't authenticate it and all of that. Because while everybody was looking at that fake alien autopsy video, they weren't looking at the real issue. Which was? There was an actual alien autopsy in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. But while they weren't talking about that, they were talking about, is this video fake or not? So all of everybody's energies were going into, is it real? Is it fake? Is it real? Is it fake? They weren't looking over here.
22:42Declan Donnelly:I was also in that movie and this is news to me. Because I wasn't looking both ways. We should get Ray and Gary on. Ray and Gary are the real people who we played in the movie who fake the alien autopsy footage because they said they had the footage, but the footage burnt and they had to show it to some gangsters.
23:07Anthony McPartlin:Go and watch Alien... You've probably seen it. Everybody has. It's a bit like Jurassic Park. Everybody's seen it. Go and watch Alien Autopsy. You've already bought it.
23:15Declan Donnelly:It'll be in your library, obviously.
23:17Anthony McPartlin:So watch it again. Go and watch Alien Autopsy, the movie and we'll get Ray and Gary on and we'll have a right chat about it.
23:23Declan Donnelly:Yeah, deal? Okay, deal. That's if they'll agree to come on. Yeah, I'm sure they will. So just to finish off on the Paul McCartney thing, we met Paul McCartney. Yes. A couple of times. Yes.
23:33Anthony McPartlin:He's lovely.
23:34Declan Donnelly:Lovely man. Really lovely man. And he's a hero of ours. I think he's real, right? Yeah, I don't think he's dead. I don't think Paul... He didn't have a beard when we met him.
23:43Anthony McPartlin:No, he didn't.
23:43Declan Donnelly:Do you think he'd grow a beard? Well, I've seen the forward. Oh, yeah. If that was him, maybe the old Paul could grow a beard. But I haven't seen him in a beard in a while.
23:56Declan Donnelly:Paul is real. Paul is real. Paul is real. Paul is real. One last one? Yeah, come on. Yeah, OK. I go for the shortest one there is. Ah, the hollow moon theory. It's actually a spaceship in brackets. Now, I've talked about this. Yes, you mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. So what I'd heard was that there were reports from a couple of the astronauts who landed their lunar spaceship on the moon. Did they though? Well, did they? Don't know, to be discussed. When the lunar spaceship landed on the moon, it hit the moon and the moon rung like a bell. So something is only going to ring like a bell if it's hollowish inside.
24:38Declan Donnelly:And also people who claim the moon is hollow also say look at the craters on the moon or only a certain depth that you don't ever see a really huge crater, do you? Not like Mel's Hole. Not like Mel's Hole. There's no Mel's Holes. Well, we don't know how deep that is yet. I'll come back to you on that though. Next time we do this, put Mel's Hole in there. Put Mel's Hole in the hole. So the craters are a certain, there are a certain depth and nothing seems to have gone deeper than the shallow craters on the moon. Right. Why? Why is that? I know what you mean. Could you dig a hole on the moon? So the moon is the moon.
25:12Declan Donnelly:What is the moon? Is the moon there as a spaceship? Is it there to, has it been put in place? By the aliens. By the aliens. That's another theory that it was, you know, millions of years ago. Is it a surveillance instrument? Yes. Is it like a pigeon? Is it the biggest pigeon that we have? So it's the biggest spy, but not from the US government, from another race. And all the craters, all the craters like eyes. I haven't read any of this, we should make this up, but it's cool though, right? So there we have it. The craters are eyes and the moon is a spying device. It's official. Sleep well, guys.
25:56Declan Donnelly:You're not having that? I wouldn't put it past them. Past who?
25:59Anthony McPartlin:The Martians.
26:00Declan Donnelly:Is it Martians?
26:01Anthony McPartlin:Well, that's very interesting.
26:03Declan Donnelly:Can we end it there? Let's do one more. We can't end it there. One quick one, quick one. Because that's a tough one to finish on. We need a giggle. That's an even smaller one. For a small guy, you don't need to expect for that one, surely.
26:17Anthony McPartlin:Well, this is in contrast to The Moon is Hollow. This one says the moon is made of cheese theory. Oh, for God's sake. Who wrote this? Your daughter? This sounds like a Lola one. Yeah, she's not here. Funny that. She's not here today.
26:30Declan Donnelly:Where is she? So are these both, they're not going in? The hollow moon and the moon made of cheese? Hollow moon is interesting. Come back to it? We'll come back to that. Yeah, come back to it. It's definitely not made of cheese. If you've got any more thoughts or any more, I mean, information is what we really need. Not just your thoughts, but any more info on any of the discussion points today, then please get in touch at hanginghouseatbellabox.com. and also add your own discussion points. Yeah. We'd love to hear from you. Yeah, we'll have your discussion points.
27:01Anthony McPartlin:Yeah, and let us know what your opinions are on them as well. I like this. It's good, isn't it? It's really good. Very good fun. Are you going to get Substack? No, I shouldn't have thought so. Do you go on TikTok? Very rarely. Mel's Hole. Mel's Hole.
27:15Declan Donnelly:Make sure you write it in properly. Mel's Hole. That's it. Write it correctly or you could get your computer taken away.
27:23Anthony McPartlin:That's it for today. We'll be back on Thursday. all being well with another podcast. If we're not cancelled by the US government if we're not here it's not really me it's an impersonator. We'll be back on Thursday with another podcast. Until then. Respect guys. Respect guys. See you next time. Rehearsal. Bye bye. Bye bye.
27:44Declan Donnelly:This one? Yeah. I'm off to kiss.
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From the publisher
It's a Monday bonus episode and the introduction of the Discussion Jar! What's inside? Well, things to discuss of course, and this week they're all conspiracy theories.
Ant finally talks about the Hollow Moon Theory, and Dec tells us what he reckons happens when you die. They also discuss whether birds are real, and the mystery of Mel's Hole!
If you have a topic you'd like the boys to discuss, send it in to hangingout@beltabox.com and we'll be back on Thursday with another hang!
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00:00 - Catch up02:10 - Dec’s become a morning man04:00 - Ant’s new hyper fixation: Mel’s hole07:50 - Discussion Jar10:00 - The pigeons are spying on us?!15:00 - A man frozen in time18:30 - “The Beatles were rage baiting”23:35 - Hollow moon theory
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