S11 EP19: Harry Aikines-Aryeetey

22:23So it was education that was, I think one of my sisters in the borough, she got like the highest, like, you know, what's the thing that you do before in primary school to get to secondary school? 11 plus. Yeah. She was like ranked number one in the borough with one of them. So they were really driven on that. And then five, six years later, I come along and I was just. I'm just going to run.

22:45Josh Widdicombe:sport yay and you ran 10 seconds dead that is incredible yeah yeah I've gone sub 10 windy so that's when you've got too much wind behind you not not literal wind in your belly wind behind you big curry and then a run you weren't nearly poached we'll talk about your kid in a minute but you weren't poached by rugby that feels like the rugby team would try and nick you and use you do you know what this is it I didn't go to the right school did I I went to you know these are things with sport and life experiences unless you're sort of exposed to it you're not to know whether you would have been good at it or not I only got poached to go to America and train but because I signed a contract with Nike like I said when I was like 15 you're here now, this is what you're doing type thing so that kind of gave me a bit of direction.

23:25So what's your daughter doing? What's her clubs then? You say she's not really getting into the sport is she more of a performer type or what does she do at the weekend? Yeah, K-pop demon hunters at the minute They are, they're obsessed, they all love that It's ridiculous innit? She's transitioned from her Disney state to K-pop demon hunters. It's sad when Elsa goes in it when they're not into elsewhere anymore it's quite sad yeah because you're like i know all the words now you know let it go rob let it go oh here we go a bit of fun isn't it i think us gail dads get it worse as well because we really commit to the play you know i'm here right now i've now got to commit to the nails to the to the makeup to the i put on my cuban hills the other day oh did you i'm going to show you this picture right through the screen you won't be able to see obviously on um but i put on my cuban heels and i turn around and all i hear behind me is clip clock clip clock and because i was wearing my heels she went and put hers on amazing it's hilarious she's excited about your first dance and stuff yeah so my first dance i did um salt and pepper push it and so the whole week when i've been practicing it all she's been saying is just like out of nowhere, just be like, salt and pepper's here.

24:37Josh Widdicombe:Push it real good. Like, it is nerve wracking. We did the Christmas special together and obviously it's not live. You're not on live television. That was my highlight, Josh, doing it with you, being able to hold your hand in the auditorium. It was so much fun. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So you weren't there on Christmas Day? Couldn't possibly comment. Couldn't possibly comment. For God's sake. He'll tell me you do the Sunday show on a Saturday in a minute. I don't trust anyone these days. Claudia was busy on Christmas Day, unbelievably so. So they had to do the whole thing on December the 3rd. That was the scariest thing I've ever done.

25:17Really?

25:18Josh Widdicombe:Yeah. Wow. I was terrified. You look dirty, bro. You look good. He was dressed as a penguin, Harry.

25:28You're a positive guy, but he looked funny. He would look good. if he came down the stairs oh we're going out for dinner Rose wouldn't like yeah you're looking good Josh let's go he looked great for the dance but the thing is

25:39Josh Widdicombe:like I said that dog in you was not giving anything away I'd built a career on that once you've been on a panel show with some people that are really scary or you've done stand up in some place where you think you're going to die you have to know how to front it out a bit don't you but you were good to be fair Josh you were both really good I think they'd set you up to be like the shit one but if we put him in a silly outfit and give him a silly dance it'll be funny but then what i happened about naming no names there were people that looked a little bit more sophisticated and glamorous that were sort of nailing the shit part where you you were actually good thank you rob thank you so how are you feeling about your daughter watching strictly like i think you could do quite well i'm gonna say this i've got concerns i'd love to hear them so i think you've got a superb from what i've seen you're a good dancer you've got a natural rhythm you've got a natural exuberance i love this very very good i can't remember what the type of dance is that you did but it was active and big and jumpy aroundy and all that kind of stuff you need to be a judge shot jumpy around you pick nancy up and you did spun around all that kind of fun you danced your pecs we all enjoyed it my question is are you too stiff for the romantic numbers you're not wrong mate you're not wrong this is it this these are things I'm scared of is it's these muscles are actually going to work against me.

27:03Have you been doing yoga?

27:04Josh Widdicombe:Have you been, have you been stretching? I've been stretching. I've been more so for recovery purposes because this process does work your body. Is this, is all this me trying to hold a frame with my upper body and the delts. I'm like, yeah, mate, I'm good for 10 seconds. That's it. You know, when it comes to romance and being stiff, 10 seconds.

27:25Sorry. I'll set you up for that one So that's going to be more of a challenge for you Is those more sort of serious ones Can I ask a question How much Like obviously You're not gifted Because you've worked very hard on your body But you've got a very aesthetically pleasing You know A lot of I imagine women and some men Will be liking seeing a bit of flesh of Harry As the process continues Are you sort of Like diluting that through Because you don't want to go tops off for a show You want a little bit of peck You want to sort of keep a bit back So they keep you in Do you know what I mean before you really show off the bod.

27:57Have you got that in mind?

27:58Josh Widdicombe:Don't be too good too early because people want to see you go on a journey. The J word, journey. You're not wrong, Rob. I think obviously like physique wise, I am quite lucky. I've actually got a deficiency of myostatin. That's one of the reasons why I build muscle a lot. So that is just a genetic makeup. This must be what I've got then. I write that down. I tell my doctor, he keeps wondering what's happening. He just keeps going, you're so heavy. I'm like, yeah, it's your microstatins. Every time I go for a walk. Mayo, Mayo. Mayo, that's the one. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? So what, you've got a deficiency of something that means that you...

28:33Yeah, so if you Google the Belgian bluebell cow, they just stand in a field and they're like jacked. Good to get it, mate. It's my screensaver. I'll just have a look. It's like looking in a mirror for you, isn't it, Rob? Yeah. I can't wait to see your reaction when you see what this cow looks like. Fucking hell. Jesus. I reckon he'd beat you on jewel. Yeah, man. I don't think he's moving off that platform, is he? So they move a bread to go down on that sort of myostatin thing. So they get this muscle. Yeah. Yeah. So that is a ripped bull. If you were to,

29:06Josh Widdicombe:that is like a cartoon. Literally. Right. They're ridiculous. So myostatin stops muscle being built. So I have a lack of that. Right. I only started weight training when I was like 20 odd, which side of your family is the cow on. I'm just like, funnily enough, We used to do a Ghanaian, not Belgian. Funnily enough, he's on my mum's side. He's on my mum's side. Yeah, my mum's side. What an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? That'll be as they take you to a field in Belgium. This is your distant relative. This is a cow called a... Yeah. I wouldn't give his mum shit. She's got that as well. She's got to smack your head off her massive arm.

29:46She's ripped as well. Quick clothesline. Yeah, so body-wise, in terms of what I'll be wearing, is actually depicted by your dance, right? So if you're dancing like a cha-cha or a salsa, they want to see your waistline. So all the stuff, obviously it's all about your frame, but then equally you don't want to, well, I see like my shoulders, right? I've got no neck, like my traps are so big. I've got no neck and they need to see your neck. So it's a problem. Oh, you do that like extended neck thing? Yeah. If you look at all of the pros, I absolutely love, especially like I've never obsessed over men before, like I have through this process, because you are literally looking like I've studied Vita.

30:24I'm looking at Johannes and all of them, their posture and their torso. Johannes's posture is wild. My gosh. He's got an extra six inches just through his neck.

30:32Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, he gives me an extra six inches. I'll tell you that.

30:39What is going on?

30:44Lou really wants to do straightly. Lou does. Lou does. Yeah. And she wants to be with Johannes.

30:48Josh Widdicombe:Yeah. He's great, isn't he? He is great. He is great. God is something else. Yeah, they're amazing. But if you look at their necks, so if you were to wear like a tux or something or other, and it sort of shortens the gap between your neck, so you might not see me in a tux because it will make me look like I've got no neck. So it looks like I'm like this when actually I'm trying to be long. So your dance depicts more of what you're going to wear. Right. Are you happy with your outfit for week one? Do you know what? I think I am. I think I am. I've got, it's more so the routine. the routine depicts how you're gonna what you're sort of gonna be moving like so therefore the outfit works around the routine so i'm really happy with it i think it brings up my energy like i don't think i'm gonna i know you think i'm gonna be good but i don't think i'll be in it as long as most people might think so i'm just happy that i can get across my energy would you be delighted with blackpool i would be over the moon with blackpool i think i'll be over the moon with Blackpool.

31:43Isn't that because that's when the money goes up?

31:48I think there's something like that. But for me, Blackpool means you might be in line to... Would you like to do the tour? The tour. That's it. Because I would like to do the tour. Oh, so if you get to Blackpool, you get to do the tour. That's why they want Blackpool. So they get to do it more. Got you.

32:01Josh Widdicombe:Is your daughter going to go? So there's this thing that happens where you can't have your kids come in the evening because it's a long night and it's a live TV show. so they do a family day where all the kids of the production staff or the contestants can come and watch is your daughter going to come to the family day if you're still there yes and that will probably be the day that i have my worst performance because she's there yeah do you know it's like like i genuinely growing up athletics gladiators everything that i've done i've been so independent no one could phase me i literally wouldn't invite anyone to come watch me run from quite a young age i used to just jump in someone's car you know whoever the person was meeting the track drive halfway up the country go and race come back so i remember going to meet the queen once i didn't even tell my parents you know i went to buckingham palace you know the rest of their soul but the moment your child is around like they're all that matters yeah and once she leaves that building i need to know that she's okay i need to know that she went off okay I need to know there wasn't a tantrum.

33:05I need to know that all of that stuff is okay. And my brain will be frazzled until I know she's asleep and well. I was going to say, I never invited anyone to gigs. I didn't even like, when we did the O2 for Pairing in Hell, I just forgot to invite people because I just go on my own and do it and go home. I'm not like, I don't need people there. I find it hassle.

33:21Josh Widdicombe:Let me tell you what happened to me last night, Harry. This was mental in Bedford last night. So we both know Karen Hauer, my partner for Strictly. We love Karen. We love Karen. She lives near Bedford. I got her two comps for her and Simon, her partner. They put her front row centre. Can you imagine how stressful that is? Basically, the only person you can see at the whole gig is the one person you know. She did bring numbers one to ten as well when I laughed after every joke. She was like correcting my posture. Was she a good hype person? Did she laugh out loud? She laughs a lot, doesn't she?

34:00Josh Widdicombe:You've met Karen. She laughs a lot. They're under pressure to laugh though as well then if they're watching, do you know what I mean? Have you got any gladiators coming to watch? I think some might pass through. If anything, I was hoping you guys might come and watch. I'd love to come and watch, Harry. I'd love to come and watch. I am away on tour, but I can get up there and watch before then. When's the first one this week? Yeah, we've got one this week and then obviously, unless it's Blackpool. When is it finished? I'm away on tour in Australia, but if you get to the final, I'll be there. Everyone vote for me, please, just so I can have Rob come and watch me.

34:28Josh Widdicombe:I'm going to see what night I'm not on tour and I'm going to come with the wife. I love that. Have you met Stefan Dennis? Paul Robinson from Neighbours? Yeah. What's he like? He's pretty awesome to be, babe. This is a parenting podcast, Josh. We're talking about Harry's journey on Strictly, but now you're just talking about people that used to be in Neighbours that are on Strictly now. And I'm too polite not to answer, so... Josh, I don't give a fuck. I'm here for me, promoting me. Hopefully I'll do well in Strictly. Get a presenting job off the back of it. I've got a kid I love. Let's get this done.

34:59Can you do my PR, Rob? Give this guy some sort of sports entertainment Saturday night show. Bring back Ninja Warrior. Harry's the host. Josh is next to him. They weirdly get on because they like Dragon Ball Z. He's a fit one. He's the unfit one. Bosh. He'll do the energy. He'll do the jokes. He's a serious athlete. I'm not. Yeah, exactly. He's got the dog in him. He hasn't. He's got the dog in him. He's got the dog up his ass chasing him. Yeah.

35:23Josh Widdicombe:You are in the middle of the odds, Harry. Yeah. Have you looked at the odds? No, no. I don't really know how odds work. I've never, I went to Ascot for the first time this year and I've never known. Oh yeah, I saw you. How was getting your suit made? It was interesting because that's where they were like, your thighs are really big, but they're quite slender and then your waist is really small, but then your lats are very big. So, but they did a good job. They did a really good job. The top hat was, I wore that on the hottest day of the year. I think it was like 30, 34 degrees. Oh my word. Should I run you through the odds here?

35:57Josh Widdicombe:So the favourite is, and I'm so sorry that I don't know who this is, Lewis Cope. So he's a favourite because he did Billy Elliot. Oh, yeah. And he was part of a hip-hop crew. So obviously he's got past dance experience. Yeah, he's a professional dancer. Yeah, I'd have a bit of money on him as well, actually. As opposed to the massive bloke who played Hodor in Game of Thrones. But then, I don't know, he's then got to learn a different type of style of dance. So he's probably... I know, and also I think it was a bit like Tasha last year. I don't know. You get far, but I don't, I think... If we were doing like a sport one, it would be like, right, so we've got Harry here.

36:30He's the favourite. He's doing long jumps. It's not really running, is it? It's a bit like running. He has to jump as well. So, Ellie Goldstein. Ellie's good. Ellie's really good because like, obviously, she's breaking down barriers. She is the first Down Syndrome model to feature on the front of Vogue, I think it was, or GQ, one of the two. A model, actor, influencer. Yes. Tom Skinner, move along. George Clarke. Lavoie. Lavoie. Kee Paterson. Yeah. Karen Carney. Karen's good. She actually was part of a hip hop group, she said, when she was younger. Fucking hell. Turn it in.

37:04Josh Widdicombe:Vinda Sopal, Alex Kingston. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Tom Skinner's above you in the odds, Harry. I love that. That's got to hurt, hasn't it? Look at the shape compared to the shape of you, Harry. Mate, I'm not surprised. This is what I'm saying. I'm not relatable. I'm like this guy that you look at, who's got bulging muscles, you know, Everyone looks at me and thinks he's all right. The kids will love you as well, and the kids watch it. They'll be in bed. They're not voting. Ross King's 100 to 1. What a pun that would be. He's going to do it on Zoom from LA, if it's anything like the other stuff he does.

37:39He's dancing on Zoom to Lorraine. Big news here in LA, Lorraine. I'm doing the kitchen. I'm dying from Zoom.

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38:21Josh Widdicombe:Do you hear that? Sounds like breakfast is ready. Because Quaker's coming in hot with morning nutrition, 100 % whole grain oats, and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day. And that sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26. Hey, oh, let's go! Does your daughter come and watch you at Gladiators in the crowd? And does she like it? she goes absolutely well the funny thing is the thing that i can't get over with my brain is that she knows the difference between nitro and daddy yeah but i'm the same person you know when i come out she's like nitro nitro and then what's even funnier is that when all these little kids are asking for my autograph she joins the queue to get an autograph oh that's so good i'm like get to the front what you doing and then like she'll literally be like no i need your autograph that I'm like, I'll do it later.

39:23No, no, no. I need you to sign it. It's hilarious. She really does play into it. It's very healthy, though, of her, and astute that she can see the difference in the personas. Because when I was doing it, my daughter was just crying the whole time. She was trying to get beaten up. And I was like, I'm just beating the beaver. And then I couldn't concentrate. She was crying. So I was getting smashed to pieces by legend. But that's because she loves you, innit? She's like, what's going on? Why is my dad getting here? I was like, why does he look so scared and small? And why are these men so big? it is such a weird world though isn't it when you watch it and the kids there like i love it because my daughter has been able to watch it quite young so three and four are the ages that she's watched it at and like you do wonder if they'll be able to sit through it like you know we do the typical i'm a helicopter parent so you know i check in every moment i can but they love it the music's playing the you know tug of war the sugar hype like they literally have a field day day even as long as it is she literally embraces it but the problem is she then goes back to normal life thinking that chest bumping everyone is a normality many of the gladiators got kids

40:25Josh Widdicombe:because obviously a lot of them will be like in their 20s and stuff mate older than that well you've got one one or two at 40 mate um viper yeah yeah he's one of the older ones um yeah he's got a few kids he's a scary dad isn't he viper he's so soft when we went to gladiators my daughter genuinely didn't want to meet Viper. Like she was like, I just can't, Dad. What do you do as a dad though? Like, because so for example, right, Aubrey Isler, she calls him Uncle Viper, but then she looks at his TV persona and then she's like, oh yeah, don't like him. But then when she sees him, because he comes around quite a lot.

40:57For the first 30 minutes, she stands away, like looking at him like, what? I have to coach her in such a way. I'm like, look, you've got to be brave. You've got this, you know, he's Uncle Viper. It's fine. Like I always find that I'm giving her all these like pep talks. you're trying to like give them an essence of confidence but like they're leaning into something that is natural to them yeah i mean though you'll get loads of kids coming up wanting photos of you because your personality is so like i'm nitro i'm happy i'm the chatty smiling one so that must be like overwhelming actually for viper it's better because they'll be like oh you can't ask viper it's like with me and romesh romesh gets away even though he's like well famous what less people will ask him for photos because they'll think they'll tell him to go away where me they're all over it so you're me you're me and he's bifo i love that yeah because it's true though it was like we did a meet and greet we've done a couple together where we had maybe like a thousand two thousand people and i spoke to every single individual whereas he didn't open his mouth once

41:55it's true he kind of ruined the character if he did it you know and that's what he said he's like nope you know i'm here this is my job this is what i'm doing he had a great day because i think it's It's weird with Gladiators because obviously they want to protect the brand and protect the characters, but it's a very open world now with social media and other stuff. So there are, you know, people can see what's going on and kids are intelligent enough.

42:14Josh Widdicombe:When we were kids, the Gladiators never used their real names. But this generation of Gladiators, you do operate under your real names. Yeah, yeah. And do you know what? If you guys ever want to smash hit on anything you do, just bring Viper around because he's a great guy outside of it. You know, he's great in social settings. if you get him to like wince a smile see if you can make but your stuff would go blow up because he's never smiled if you put anything on tiktok and he literally has a wince of a smile the comments and views on it go crazy i think i remember we were trying to book you before to do something but it was like oh he can only come on as nitro yeah i was like okay well we've met him and we know his name's harry and he's quite a good guy and he's got well does nitro have children i'm not sure well i don't mind dealing with much of the character but we'll have to talk about having kids so he's from right near you viper he's from leatherette in striking distance striking distance with that pugil stick right yeah he was a model mate he's been in james bond he's been in james bond he's like you know he's an actor he's often been in some of those roles where it's like i'm the triad boss you know like those guys are in a bar and they call you Cliché, yeah.

43:27Yeah, the clichés that we know in this world. That's what I'm saying. They've done well with the casting. They've done really well with the casting.

43:34Josh Widdicombe:And are you too young for the first Gladiators? Not at all. I'm married to who I think is my version of Jet. Okay. A tan brunette. Like, you don't realise that at this point in life, we are setting everyone's standards of, you know, what they might look forward to in life. So I apologise to all the dads or mums out there that when their daughter brings home me. I think it's very positive. The new gladiators, the female gladiators are bodybuilders as much as the male gladiators, whereas that wasn't really the case in the first gladiators. I think that's a very positive thing. But what you've also got to appreciate is the same way technology improves, the physical ability of everyone improves.

44:18Not to say that the other gladiators in the past...

44:20Josh Widdicombe:So you're saying you could beat the shit out of an old gladiator? I mean, they did have a few Olympians, but across the board, I think we're a little bit more, maybe more dynamic or we've got more accolades within our sports that we came from. So we're a little more decorated and, you know. Very well put, opposed to a load of old juice heads from the 90s. I was an athlete, Josh. I'd run the TV. Have you just think Sharon Davis had any accolades? That's for you to say, Harry. If you think Sharon Davis' swimming gold medals were worth nothing, that's your choice. Was Sharon Davis a gladiator? Right at the end, she was, yeah.

44:49Josh Widdicombe:You know, and they're like, what will save this series? Let's start doing celebrities as gladiators. Oh, I'm glad to start the downfall of the latest one then. When the beaver was the beginning of the end. And so with Strictly, is that going to eat up your life? How's that going to affect your parent? And it's quite weird, isn't it? Because you might be doing this for two weeks. You might be doing it for three months or so. I bet Pete Wixt didn't think he was going to be doing it as long as he did. Do you know what I mean? You might be doing this for quite a long time. how is your family preparing for this strictly kind of hurricane to hit it's like a weird one because what we've done is we put things in place so strictly really good with training time so i can do the school drop which is great because it's really important that you know especially that my daughter started school like i just just dropped her off just now and her teacher actually said yesterday where i was quite busy so i didn't drop her off and i didn't pick her up yesterday and she said in the day towards the end of the day she's like oh i think i miss my daddy now and like when you hear things like that you're like oh mate i need to so the fact that i get to do a drop which is really good i wake up in the morning i'm there she can see me as for the rest of the day i'm going to be training till like five you know five six so it's sort of wrapped up but i can do bedtime oh that's good the dancer whoever it may be do they come to you like are they having to train in south london yeah so luckily enough my routine hasn't really trained because i'm actually training where i train anyway at the track you're training at the track yeah the facility i train that is like a high performance center that no one uses like there's literally in the middle of the runway of the long jumps they've set up a creche really yeah like no one uses satan arena it's ridiculous it's like so underused it's got a full 400 meter track indoor 60 meters straight obviously i've been training there since before you know any of that stuff was built back in like 05 you know they're really nice and they're like look you can use this studio so it's actually quite good from a parenting point of view that you you know you're near your home all week and then it's just the weekends you're filming i've moved away from it but it's part of my like routine because i would travel to train there anyway so we've just sort of slipped into the same process so where i would go to train on the track and do my training there i'm just not staying on the track i'm going into the dance studio amazing so when you're when you're not doing strictly for example are you just training for gladiators or are you still doing any athletics or what other stuff are you doing throughout the year like what's the plan for you now your identity crisis yeah i know right i don't answer gladiator runner which are you picking i don't know the funny thing is so last year this is where we have to be really appreciative of where we are in life and what we do so i started the year took my daughter to disney world and i ran in florida and i was actually uk number one for six weeks in the 100 meters oh wow i ran at 35 yeah at 35 i was i opened up with my fastest ever opener at 35 so the body is still good but then obviously i was in a position where i could have probably made the relay team you know had i pushed it and you know went for it for the olympics or i had to film gladiators now i was gonna have to answer that question when i got to that point but then i hurt my leg anyway so i couldn't do the gladiators in the way that I wanted to, but I got given epic pranks.

47:59And then I still went over to the Olympics and did some reporting. So then, you know, once I then recovered from my injury after the Christmas special, for me, the best way to train is athletics. So I never climbed a wall before. I never held pugil sticks before. I never did hang tough before. But when I did it in series one, I took to it well because I was still competing. I made the British Champs final after filming Gladiators in series one. So I haven't actually retired yet. I'm still moving well. I'm running fast. So I think training like an athlete is what makes Nitro the best, one of the best gladiators.

48:31So the best one of one of the best gladiators or what he does. So within that, I'm going to stay training that way. But then that enables me to still be able to sprint if I want. So that's probably the plan I'll do strictly. I've had to put on a bit of size for strictly because everyone talks about how, you know, you're going to lose weight and it's all going to fall off. But it'll be interesting to see what I look like after. And then I'll just train. Imagine having to put on weight because, you know, you're going to lose it. I just can't comprehend that. That is absolutely the opposite of my entire 39 years of being alive.

49:00I tell you, I'm not having to do that. Ross King.

49:02Josh Widdicombe:He's not worrying about that. He's going, I don't think I'm going to be here long enough to have a real impact. I think you're going to smash it out anyway. I think it's, you were so lovely to my girls at Gladiators when they were a bit worried and that because they were like bashing me up. Like you was going, don't worry, daddy's doing well. And they loved it. You meeting and stuff like that. It's a family occasion though, isn't it? This is what I think about being a dad, being a parent. is like so much for me gladiators is the most amazing thing because all of a sudden I've got this superpower that you know kids listen to me and it's really really weird you know like I've had so many parents just be like oh could you tell my kids to eat their broccoli and they do and you know if I can help parents parent that little bit better you know like that hour that you get a freedom being a gladiator is when I do gladiators you guys watch it we're glorified babysitters for an hour you know so you know if we can send good messages and help people sort of as a family come closer together and enjoy themselves more and that's why when i do see you know families and kids i'm so appreciative because i think about what it does for my child when i see you know i took her to we filmed season one of gladiators right she went really too fast went to chessington and they had this weird little show where a panda and this person was superheroes she was cast i watched that show over and over for all day for like they ran it like they play it for 10 minutes and then you have to wait 20 minutes we stayed there for two hours and i was just like you are making my child feel great you are do you know what i mean so i'm there for it and i'm there for it so you know like when you say like the kids they love it but it's because it's like out of their world so when the parents are involved i love it even more because the kids can really back their parents and look at them in such a way and go you know what i respect you like I praise you you know amazing are you training today yes I need to get the WD-40 out for these hips because they're a bit stiff oh god we won't keep you too long we've got the final question for you we ask everyone what's the one thing your partner does as a parent that makes you feel in awe of them and they're amazing and what one thing does she do that annoys you slightly but you don't want to say it to her face but if she was to listen to this she might go yeah Harry's got a point what she does that I'm in awe of is her ability to be so mindful of everyone else like what she's done with Aubrey and being a mum in the way that she always puts her first and everyone else first really that I'm in awe of because it's such a skill to be able to take a step back right but within that she is like the most like what's the word I'm looking for self-destructive person self-sabotaging is that the thing sabotaging And that's it.

51:43The worrying, the worrying concept. It's just like, you know, don't worry about it. How many times have you said that? We'll figure it out when we get there. Don't worry about it. We should just keep churning it in our head and making it worse. Yeah. Like, I want you to relax, mate. Just have, chill out. I think one time we booked a flight for a holiday and on the return leg of the flight, like this is two months away. Yeah. We had a flight coming back from, I think it was Dubai at like 1am. And the whole time was just worrying about, you know, we're on holiday. and she's thinking, oh, even before the holiday, I wonder how Aubrey's going to do coming home on that flight.

52:15How is she going to cope? What plan do we have? How do we plan the day? What are we going to do about the hotel checkout? This is six weeks ahead. I'm like, we're not there yet. This is a big one in a lot of relationships where it's like, because there needs to be some sort of plan, but it doesn't need to be six weeks out, but also it can be like, let's just see. And you know what happened? You know what happened? We got on the flight, she fell asleep and was perfectly fine. And then your partner will be like, well, that's because we planned the day that I organised six weeks earlier. That's why that worked.

52:43Josh Widdicombe:I've got good news and bad news, Harry. I'm going to say this now. Do you know when the final is of Strictly? It's December the 20th. Jesus. Fucking hell. It's worrying that you haven't looked into that. But I've looked at my tour dates. They're not good. If you are still in Strictly on November the 29th, because I'm gigging on Saturdays, I will be there. What week will that be? Let me count what week that is. So what's week one? Is that the 27th of September? Yes, week one, 27th. You can't get eliminated on week one, can you? No, you can get eliminated on four. So you'll have to get through one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight eliminations you need to get through.

53:27Josh Widdicombe:That's doable. That is doable, definitely. I'm gigging on every single Saturday between now and Christmas, so good luck with it. I won't make it, Harry, I'm sorry. You can jump in on Zoom with Ross. I'll jump in with Ross King. I bet you could do like one of those, you know, the kind of embarrassing sketches they do where you could turn up to the dance thing as the beaver and then they can all have a bit of a laugh. Oh, yeah. I've got a gladiator coming down that's going to help me out. He's the most powerful and strong gladiator there is. Beaver, beaver. I'm available to do the Terms and Tungitions November 29th.

54:00Josh Widdicombe:Don't worry. So you are the sixth from bottom of the odds. so you've got to slightly exceed bookies' expectations, but not that much. Okay. Because remember, Tom Skinner's one of those people above you. So I think it's doable. I'm going to say it's doable. Good luck, Harry. Okay, that's the mark. 29th of November. If I get to the 29th of November, it's a celebration. Let's go. Yes. You're going to do it, Harry. Good luck, mate. Good luck.

54:28Josh Widdicombe:Harry Aitken's Arito. He's such a great guy, isn't he? How much charisma it hurts, doesn't he? it's really bad though I just absolutely love poking the little Strictly Hornet's Nest yeah in panic but I can't help it but I feel bad but he's brilliant Harry I hope he wins Josh I hope he wins I really hope he wins this is recorded a few days after this this outro is recorded a few days after and he is with so I can tell you now that he is with Karen oh that's a great great team they are gonna fucking rip it right see you next time see ya Thank you.