I played prank on Katy Perry which went horribly wrong – it was my most awkward moment on Radio 1, says Scott Mills
SAT in a cramped caravan outside the Brit Awards, Scott Mills was told Sir Elton John, Beyonce and Sting were all waiting to talk to him backstage.
It seemed like an “unfathomable dream” for the young Radio 1 DJ and he admits that night in 2009, in West London’s Earl’s Court, was when he knew he had made it.
But having started at the pop station in 1998, on the 4am to 7am “graveyard show”, over the past 24 years he has become one of Radio 1’s best-loved hosts.
Now, at 49, he is swapping his audience of teens and twentysome- things for the over-35s at Radio 2, in an “unmissable opportunity”.
He tells The Sun: “You forget you’re the soundtrack to people’s lives.
“Many listeners tuned in to me at school, through university and now are married with kids. I’ve seen a lot change.
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“When I started, you could email, sometimes text us, there was no social media.”
His appeal on air led to a stint fronting telly’s Top Of The Pops in 1999, contesting Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and, bizarrely in 2016 winning game show Robot Wars.
He even has a motorway bridge in Fleet, Hants, near where he was born, named after him following a Radio 1 campaign — as well as a toilet block at local football club Eastleigh near Southampton.
As his Radio 1 fame grew, he interviewed more and more A-listers at the annual Brit Awards and festivals — but it didn’t always go to plan.
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He recalls: “Rihanna was a joy to interview but she would always be a minimum of two hours late and that happened during BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend live broadcast.
“I sat outside her bus at 1.10pm and was told she would be ready in ten. An hour later they still said she was coming soon.
“They would say, ‘She’s having food’ or ‘she’s sleeping’. I didn’t want to argue with the bodyguard because he was big.
“By 3pm she walked out of the bus, sprayed both sides of her neck with perfume and said, ‘I’m ready’.
“You would always let it go because she was worth the wait.”
Another time things nearly went awry was when Scott, while interviewing US singer Katy Perry, played a prank involving her then husband, British comic Russell Brand.
Scott says: “I thought it would be funny to hire a Russell lookalike.
“I found a bloke who, when he turned up, really looked like Russell and could do the voice.
“So we sent fake Russell into the studio — and Katy absolutely freaked out and ran.
“We didn’t know they were having relationship troubles so it was a bit misjudged.
“But I remember hearing her saying, ‘I’m not going back out there’, multiple times.
“I pleaded with her to come back. She’s wicked and did, but she said, ‘You need to play my records for the rest of your life on the radio to make up for it’.
“It was my most awkward moment on Radio 1.”
Cheeky antics were rife during the reign of Scott and his co-host Chris Stark, who he hand picked after seeing him DJ at a university in Southampton, where Scott grew up.
Their afternoon show was renowned for games such as Innuendo Bingo where two players faced each other, both with a mouth full of water, and tried not to laugh while listening to daft audio clips.
One edition was during a 24-hour LOL-a-thon for Comic Relief that got “so rude” Scott thought they would be taken off air.
He says: “It was around 3am and I couldn’t believe we were getting away with it.
“It felt really naughty because you’re not allowed to swear on the radio, so the idea I could say the F-word was, like, ‘Wow!’”
But he nearly quit the BBC early on in his career because he feared he would be trapped on the early-morning show.
‘LIVING IN DARKNESS’
He says: “I spent five years doing it, which meant a 2am alarm, and I thought, ‘They’re never going to move me’.
“I needed to start looking elsewhere. I didn’t like living in darkness all of the time.”
He was rescued by then Radio 1 Controller Ben Cooper, who Scott has since claimed is “thoroughly responsible” for making his career.
By 2004 Scott was doing Radio 1 weekend slots and he covered for Sara Cox’s early evening show when she was on maternity leave.
When Sara did not want to return, he took over — and got extra airtime covering for hosts on Radio 1’s Breakfast Show and presenting its Official Chart Show.
He says: “Recently, I was told I’m the longest-ever daytime presenter on the station, which is mad, because it feels like a long time but also doesn’t feel that long either.”
But staying at the top hasn’t been easy and has required him to handle hosting duties regardless of what state he found himself in after parties, events and gigs.
He admits: “I had to become expert at doing radio shows on little sleep. If I can get three or four hours, I can present.
“When I do guest DJ sets they don’t normally end until 2am, then I have to travel home, before I’m back on air that same day.
“Simon, the guy who’s driven me to and from gigs for 20 years, says he doesn’t know how I do it. But it’s just years of practice.”
There have, though, been some near-messy situations after a few too many drinks — for work purposes, of course.
Scott says: “I remember throwing up in the old Radio 1 toilets, which were disgusting, before filling in for Jamie Theakston.
“It was an old building so had rubbish toilets with locks that broke. A few times I had to climb out of the window. All the celebrities had to use them too.”
Indeed, Scott still seems surprised by his stellar career, which began as a childhood dream.
He says: “I made it so much of my mission that my parents didn’t have to say, ‘Maybe you should be a carpenter or have a back-up plan’, it was not in the equation.”
Scott is close to parents Pete, a car salesman, and Sandra, who are now separated.
He has described his mum as “like a best mate”.
The retired office manager was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 54, and Scott has since worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the debilitating condition.
He has admitted he and younger brother Wayne, a wood craftsman, fought a lot as kids, but they became close after Scott moved to London and his sibling helped him renovate his house.
Scott has said it gives him great comfort that Wayne still lives close to his mum.
Sandra now has her own army of fans thanks to Scott’s radio segment My Gullible Mum, where he rings her on air and feeds her bizarre stories to see if she falls for them.
His dad has also been on the show.
Scott was 16 when, following four years volunteering at hospital and local radio stations, he got a job with Hampshire’s Power FM after sending in demo tapes.
He then flitted between Bristol, Manchester and London before then getting the BBC gig at 24.
He says: “I could never have fathomed being on Radio 1. It’s mad, really, a level I never thought that I would reach.”
Having admit- ted he didn’t think he would ever marry, Scott — who came out as gay in 2001 to put rumours to bed — is now engaged to his partner of five years Sam Vaughan.
The DJ has been praised by the gay community for using his show to promote LGBT+ causes, although he has always insisted he is “just a normal bloke who is gay and is on the radio and the television”.
He is now handing over at Radio 1 to Dean McCullough and Vicky Hawkesworth, and will be moving across to Radio 2 legend Steve Wright’s after-noon slot.
‘I’M SURE I’LL CRY’
It is a big act to follow, and he says: “I’ve been in denial for the past two months, but now I’ve done my last charts show and have four more shows left on Radio 1.
“It’s all becoming real and I’m sure I’ll cry. I don’t know what’s planned for my last day, I prefer it that way.
“I’ve spent a quarter of my life, if I’m lucky, on Radio 1 and have a massive step ahead but I’m excited.”
He insists there is “no secret formula” for keeping young listeners plugged in, and rejects the suggestion that turning 50 next year has any-thing to do with his move to Radio 2.
He says: “I feel like I’m 25 and I’m still like a sponge with popular culture. I want to know what the young people like all the time. I’m obsessed.
“I can tell you what’s massive on TikTok, what the biggest tracks are and what’s important in an 18-year-old’s world.
“Radio 1 offered me another two years at the least but it feels like I’ve had an amazing run, plus nobody wants a 60-year-old Scott Mills on the show.”
Furious fans have accused the BBC of ageism after the departures of Radio 2 hosts Paul O’Grady, Tony Blackburn, Craig Charles and Steve Wright, all replaced by younger presenters.
But Scott refutes claims the Beeb is squeezing out oldies.
He says: “I don’t think it’s ageism. On Radio 2 we have Johnnie Walker and Bob Harris, who are both in their seventies.”
He adds that he “would have been a fool to turn down Radio 2” because it is the UK’s most popular radio station and his is a job that “comes up once every ten or 20 years”.
He says: “It’s massive, and if I had said no this time I’d have to ask myself when it would come up again.”
One thing he will regret is breaking up his bromance with co-host Chris — but it seems there are no hard feelings.
Scott is planning to go on holiday with his protege, though admits: “It’s going to be weird not seeing him every day.
“He’s one of my best mates in the whole world and the bromance will continue, just not on air.
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“There hasn’t been one day when I haven’t properly laughed since I started on Radio 1.
“Can you imagine being lucky enough to have a job like that? Well, I’ve had it for 24 years.”
