The British Celebrity Boyfriend Crisis

Summary

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The Rest Is Entertainment

Episode: The British Celebrity Boyfriend Crisis
Date: August 5, 2026
Hosts: Richard Osman & Marina Hyde

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Episode Overview

In this Questions & Answers edition, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde dive into the hottest topics shaping pop culture and entertainment, with a sharp focus on the evolving dynamics of celebrity relationships, the state of awards ceremonies, and the peculiarities of British star power in Hollywood. The tone is witty, irreverent, and delightfully gossipy, with the episode's highlight being Marina’s now-iconic "British Celebrity Boyfriend Market" analysis.

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Key Discussion Points

BTS and the Grammys: The Category Controversy

[02:30 - 07:09]

• Why is BTS boycotting the 2027 Grammys?

  • BTS have refused to participate in the Grammys after being placed in a new "Asian Pop" category, which they feel marginalizes rather than celebrates their music.
  • Marina Hyde:

    "The Grammys have brought in an Asian pop category to sort of ghettoise them into. [...] How are Asian and Latin countries ‘new’? This is all a bit like discovered by Christopher Columbus, isn't it? You know, they were there beforehand..." [02:56]

  • The hosts critique the American-centric nature of awards like the Grammys and Oscars, pointing out how new categories fail to acknowledge the global cultural landscape.

• Is it a problem for the Grammys?

  • Both agree it’s a significant issue, reflecting declining global relevance and awkward attempts at “inclusion.”
  • Richard Osman:

    "When an institution tries to promote itself as a worldwide institution... they've always been American." [05:57]

  • Increasing disengagement with award shows mirrored in shrinking viewership and changing festival participation.

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Satire, Book Publishing, and the "Cozy Crime" Debate

[07:11 - 11:39]

• Satirical Manifestos & Celebrity Authors

  • Count Binface’s by-election manifesto includes a "windfall tax on cozy crime novels written by celebrities," ribbing Richard and other genre novelists.
  • Richard pushes back against genre stereotyping, expressing irritation while accepting the joke:

    "I didn't think anyone would start writing crime novels. It's really, really, really difficult. [...] When they used to call Marian Keyes chick lit. Cause it's very reductive." [07:38]

• The "Cozy Crime" Label

  • Richard wishes the label would disappear, much as “chick lit” has fallen out of favor.
  • Marina:

    "But it's been a nice reminder that the Clacton Bar election is happening because nothing is making me laugh more than Farage just having to chew through that all summer..." [08:44]

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Celebrity Social Media Sleuthing: The Real Detectives

[11:39 - 14:41]

• Breakups Tracked by the Public
  • Discussion on Jade Thirlwall and Jordan Stevens’ rumored breakup, and how ordinary fans track celebrity relationships via social media.
  • Marina:

    "Who's following this is absolutely unbelievable amounts of ordinary people... there are a lot of people tracking the equivalent of transfer rumors. [...] If all these people who just followed what celebrities were doing were maybe put to work in the national interest, we were to solve a number of sort of international mysteries." [12:07]

  • The hosts laugh about the idea of MI6 recruiting online celebrity-relationship trackers for intelligence work.
  • They compare this pop-culture surveillance to football transfer gossip—a parallel audience obsession.

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Fiction & Libel: The Rules for Real-World References in Novels

[17:03 - 21:14]

• Can Authors "Review" Real Brands in Fiction?
  • A listener asks about legal implications when fictional characters criticize real companies (e.g., Starbucks in John Connolly’s new novel).
  • Richard Osman:

    "Whereas knowing that somebody finds Starbucks coffee undrinkable tells you something about their character. So it's a character note. No, he cannot be sued for that." [17:24]

  • Authors can use real establishments for flavor, but can’t make factual allegations (e.g., bribery) about real venues or their staff.

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The State of the British Celebrity Boyfriend Market

[21:14 - 25:09]

• Olivia Rodrigo Moves On; The Boyfriend Market Endures
  • Olivia Rodrigo’s new American boyfriend sparks concern for British boyfriend fans.
  • Marina Hyde:

    "Don't worry. Louis Partridge is currently in Enola Holmes. That is a great shop window for him." [21:44]

  • She proposes "transfer windows" for celebrity boyfriends, referencing Caspar Jopling, Harry Styles, Tom Holland, and more.
  • Marina:

    "There is some feeling that we need a fixed transfer window... maybe one in January after they've had to have Christmas with the woman's American family." [22:36]

  • Observations on the cyclical exchange of British talents and their appeal to American celebrities, especially in winter, when "the big scarf" makes its triumphant return.
  • Richard Osman:

    "Tom Holland... he flies the flag. What an absolute exemplar of our country that man is." [24:27]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Grammys and Cultural Categories

  • Marina:

    "They've put a Latin category in, an Asian category in. And as a result, BTS have said, 'We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope the music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.'" [02:56]

• On Social Media Surveillance

  • Marina:

    "If all these people who just followed what celebrities were doing were maybe put to work in the national interest, we could solve a number of sort of international mysteries." [12:07]

• On British Celebrity Boyfriend Transfers

  • Marina:

    "I feel there's some feeling that we need a fixed transfer window... and one in September, in case you saw anything you liked amongst the celebrity crowds on the Amalfi coast." [22:36]

  • Richard Osman:

    "The Brits come into their own in the winter, right? The Americans like a log fire rather than a Venice Beach." [24:20]

• On Tom Holland as National Icon

  • Richard:

    "What an absolute exemplar of our country that man is." [24:27]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Title | Highlights | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------| | 02:30 | BTS & the Grammys | Critique of new categories, industry politics | | 07:11 | Satire, Cozy Crime & Genre Labels | Count Binface, genre fatigue | | 11:39 | Celebrity Social Media Sleuthing | Fans as detectives, MI6 joke | | 17:03 | Fictional Bad Reviews & Libel Law | Real brands in books, legal lines | | 21:14 | British Celebrity Boyfriend Market Update | Transfers, scarf theory, Tom Holland |

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a sharp and entertaining look at the quirks and contradictions of today’s entertainment industry: the cluelessness of legacy awards, the obsession with celebrity couples, and the comedic absurdity of marketing and genre labeling. With insightful industry perspective and relentless humor, Richard and Marina make the case that British talent—and their love lives—are still one of the country’s greatest exports.

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For ad-free and bonus content, visit The Rest Is Entertainment.

Transcript

[Marina Hyde]

The rest is entertainment is presented by Octopus Energy. Now, show business is full of people who start out as one thing, but then take on some completely new role that completely eclipses it.

[Richard Osman]

And before we get on to how Octopus Energy has done that, a few examples. There are people who start out, you know, bands as singers, as actors. A good example would be Victoria Beckham.

[Marina Hyde]

She started off in a band, Richard. She was in a band called the Spice Girls.

[Richard Osman]

You're going to tell me next that David Beckham used to play football before he became an advertising guy.

[Marina Hyde]

They have earned far more from their second careers, these businesses they've built up, than they ever did in their first ones.

[Richard Osman]

So the idea she's a singer, that gets her through the door, gets her known, the culture knows who she is. She then thinks, I'm going to see if I can do something else. And she has the audience who, if she does it well, goes along with her. But you know what it reminds me of a lot?

[Marina Hyde]

Tell me.

[Richard Osman]

It reminds me of Octopus Energy. Because Octopus Energy has also outgrown its own introduction. It's the UK's largest energy supplier, but it's is now also one of the country's biggest installers of heat pumps, solar panels and batteries. The list even reaches the driveway with a major electric car leasing business as well.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

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[Marina Hyde]

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Rusters Entertainment Questions and answers edition. I'm Marina Hyde.

[Richard Osman]

And I'm Richard Osman. Hello, Marina.

[Marina Hyde]

Hello, Richard. How are you?

[Richard Osman]

I'm okay. Hello listeners, how are you? Let's get straight on with the question, shall we?

[Marina Hyde]

Just hit me with a Question right now.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. We're gonna go straight in with bts.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, my go. I've got a lot to say about this. I know what the question will be about.

[Richard Osman]

Let's start straight away. But I will say to people that we have Marina's update on the state of British celebrity boyfriends in the second half of this as well, which I'm very, very much looking forward to. Thank you for that. We've got a question here which I think is perfect, but we'll start with Connor Little. Can you explain why BTS are boycotting the 2027 Grammys? Is this a problem for the Grammys?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. I do not blame BTS for this. Okay. We did it on the podcast. They're back. They back off their national service boys and they have an album called Arirang. But the Grammys have bought in an Asian pop category to sort of ghettoise them into. I think we know that there are the Latin Grammys. That's something totally separate. We're talking about the kind of primo main Grammys that is the OG Grammys. And they've put a Latin category in an Asian category in. And as a result, BTS have said, we have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope the music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. Now, the Grammys say they did it because this is their quote, our music community sharing with us that they felt they needed to have more opportunities to celebrate different and new genres of music. They've also done Best Latin song. Can I just say, how are Asian and Latin countries new? This is all a bit like discovered by Christopher Columbus, isn't it? You know, they were there beforehand, but

[Richard Osman]

the Grammys have had that for years. I mean, they have so many categories. They go, like, crazily deep.

[Marina Hyde]

I really don't think you can do this in this day and age because they would have been added. Bts, that out was so massive. And you're in the general category. Your question is, is it a problem for the Grammys? Well, I think it is. First of all, just the idea that any of these things play into the idea of America as this kind of culture war country or this kind of. Is not helpful. Second of all, all of these kind of legacy award shows have a big problem in general anyway. You know, the Oscars, they used to tell you when you were going out, there used to be a screen at the back saying, a billion people are watching. Okay, well, last year, 17.9 million American people were watching. And not that many people are watching around the world. The Grammys is the same. They've got about. I think they have about 14, 15 million viewers and. But they will have lots of viewers around the world. BTS would have performed for sure, because you want. You want those people, you want those big Asian markets to be watching as well.

[Richard Osman]

And they played the World Cup Final for a reason.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. They did the halftime show. They weren't actually. They took a long time to nominate BTS. They weren't nominated till 2021. They're very US skewed, these awards. They had a. They've had a bit over the last year. They got that K Pop Demon Hunters golden rose for the Hub du with Bruno Mars. But for me, yes, it is very, very what we're seeing a lot. And actually, this slightly feeds into what's happening in film festivals. We talked about. Oh, my goodness. Lots of people just don't go to Cannes now because do you want your film to sort of fall off the screen and then you spend all this money? The same thing is happening at the Venice Film Festival, which is happening in September already. You can see lots of the Hollywood studios have just pulled back from that and just not putting their stuff out. There used to be the start of an awards run, if you didn't start it at Cannes, and now people just think, am I going to really risk it? And the moment people just start opting out of these big kind of cultural juggernauts, then the cultural juggernaut is in trouble. And I would say that even for the Grammys, for anything like that, this was a really stupid thing to do. I don't blame them for boycotting at all, for being ghettoized in that category. Not at all. And I do think it's a problem and.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, well, it's. When an institution tries to promote itself as a worldwide institution. As you say, the Grammys, they're sort of American, and they've always been American. And, you know, I mean, we've got the Brits.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

You know, but we don't pretend this is suddenly, you know, worldwide thing. But it's the same as, you know, the osc, The Office has Best film.

[Marina Hyde]

We would not put BTS in a best. We would not have a Best Asian Song category.

[Richard Osman]

No. We would have Best International.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

Which is, you know, you can't say.

[Marina Hyde]

We've always had these new countries.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

Asia and the Latin countries.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Goodness.

[Richard Osman]

You know, they're doing music.

[Marina Hyde]

Just discover them.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. Let's. Let's shine a light on that. But it's like the Oscars having, you know, best film in a foreign language. Well, sorry, foreign to who? Because you give away, you know, where you're from and you can't really do that in a connected world. The Oscars, I think, get away with it far more. But, yeah, I think it shows something up, which is only gonna get a bigger and bigger deal. But, you know, really, the whole thing in awards things is they want to. They do want to expand out and they do want to have more categories and they want to have more people who are eligible and they want to have more celebrities come into their thing and they want to have more viral content, so they have to try and keep thinking of new categories. It's just. I think they might have to be more careful. This was a huge miss about which categories they choose.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. Right, I have a question for you.

[Richard Osman]

There we are.

[Marina Hyde]

And it's from Matthew. This is relevant to your interests. It's from Matthew Le Maister, who says Count Binface has released his manifesto for the Clacton by election. Two pledges stood out to me. Number 11, a windfall tax on cozy crime novels written or written by celebrities. And number 18, Wayne Rooney to be the new expert summarizer for the BBC at Eurovision. Are you worried?

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, I read. Well, I say I read. There's about a million people sent it to me and listen, we. We all wish him well in his upcoming battle and we can have a little talk about that. It's funny. It's because this whole. I listen, it's a joke. That's. And that's absolutely fine. But it's cozy crime, which I had never heard of when I was writing the book. And, you know, I've said a million times, I don't think I write it, but that's not. That's. That's not up to me. But when he says written by, I. I didn't think anyone would. Would start writing crime novels. It's really, really, really difficult. So it's taken me by surprise as much as anyone else, and there's only one celebrity I can think of who doesn't write their books and doesn't admit that. So I think, you know, of all the people, you know, Steph McGovern, I

[Marina Hyde]

don't know who that is.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, but Steph McGovern writes books. She's a great. You know, she's always been around crime fiction. You know, Ollie Smith, who's just done one, he's always been a writer, Ollie, So, you know, people are allowed to write Books. But yes, when I read that and I thought written by you do think, oh, I just. It's. Yeah. It's only in the same way that, you know, Marion Keys used to get so annoyed when they used to call her chick lit. Cause it's very reductive.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

A bit of you just think, oh, come on. This is not what I do.

[Marina Hyde]

But it's been a nice reminder that the Clacton Bar election is happening because nothing is making me laugh more than Farage just having to chew through that all summer because no one else has turned up.

[Richard Osman]

It's one of the funniest things of our time.

[Marina Hyde]

It's like a secret diary. Is it happening? I have no purchase on it whatsoever.

[Richard Osman]

I mean, like, what's he doing today? Thinking about it? I mean, he knows he's gonna win. There's absolutely no possibility he can't win. But what a colossal waste of everybody's hot summer.

[Marina Hyde]

Of a long, hot summer.

[Richard Osman]

And an amazing pr. One of the all time great PR gaffs.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

Or not even a gaffe. Just something utterly nonsensical that costs you a lot of money and literally nobody cares about.

[Marina Hyde]

He has to do it.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. It's been.

[Marina Hyde]

She's paying for the cost of it.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. But it's been amazing for Count Bin Face. I mean, it'd been incredible for him.

[Marina Hyde]

It's huge for Ben Face.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. It's huge for Benface on Global. I mean, if we discover that Nigel Farage is actually Ben Face's agent, the whole thing makes sense.

[Marina Hyde]

You're right.

[Richard Osman]

Oh, I've absolutely got this. But I assume that's not the case. But there's loads of other people standing that Laurence Fox is standing. You just think that's funnier in a way. So we all know Nigel Farage is going to win. We all know it's a nonsense. So we all know that we start again. And you know, he has to be under investigation, but, you know, Laurence Fox trying to get publicity from it and being massively beaten by a bin is

[Marina Hyde]

almost funnier, but I'm just unaware of it even happening. And I write about politics. It's like that thing people just used to say, just put them in the Big Brother house but don't film them. That's what's actually happening now. But in Clacton, it's like politics is happening but no one can really engage with it.

[Richard Osman]

The people of Clacton must be thinking, this is absolutely mental.

[Marina Hyde]

Absolute.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, yeah. But quite fun to have been faced, going around and visiting factories and what have you. But yes, I did see this cozy crime thing. It just, it made me think about that that whole term because it does it, you know, it irks me a little, but it's, you know, it's okay. So hopefully cozy crime goes the same way as chick lit. But listen, if I can help out with Count Bin Face's manifesto, then I'm very, very happy to do it. As for Wayne Rooney at Eurovision.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, my God, yes, please, all the way.

[Richard Osman]

I mean, why not, right? Why not? I mean, that would be quite something up there with Graham.

[Marina Hyde]

I think him and Colleen should both do it. I'd like to see if they can work together.

[Richard Osman]

Maybe they should enter. But yeah, cosy crime is a fascinating phenomenon. As I say, I didn't invent it. It's nothing to do with me. I just write, hopefully funny crime books. But in the wake of it, suddenly just this wave of books with very, very, very similar covers and which, you know, I get it and if they were really selling, I'd get it. But then, you know, just week after week stuff comes out. You think, oh, that didn't sell that. I can see the stuff that's selling and it's romantasy and there's some brilliant literary novels at the moment. They're selling loads and loads and loads and, you know, it's a weird phenomenon, but all, you know, films do it, TV does it, publishing does it. But yeah, I hope that cosy crying goes the way of chick lit. I mean, fingers crossed that it does.

[Marina Hyde]

But I'll just as a reductive label.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, I think so. You know, I hope. But you know, people who read the books know exactly what they are. But yeah, God, marketing loves a label, doesn't it even? And when it's not working. Hannah E has a question for you. She says, I read that Jade Thirlwall and Jordan Stevens are rumored to have broken up after six. The main clue being that they didn't Post about their sixth anniversary and Jordan wiped his TikTok clean of the videos they'd made together. Who is keeping tabs on all of this? Is it someone's job to continually check the social media of celebs and figure out who they've fallen out with or broken up with?

[Marina Hyde]

Well, Hannah, this is a good question. The question who's following this is absolutely unbelievable amounts of ordinary people, which is really interesting. You know, we talked about before about Tattle Life and all those kind of horrible sites, but there is a whole lot of people, you know, I've talked about osint, Open source intelligence. And that if all these people who just followed what celebrities were doing were maybe put to work in the national interest, we were to solve a number of sort of international mysteries, intelligence perils, all of this sort of thing.

[Richard Osman]

I wonder if MI6 are keeping an eye on some of these people because there was some of them must be going, this guy is.

[Marina Hyde]

Well we've talked about recruiting people like micro influencers. Just get these people to work for you. They've got apparently eight hours a day to check who's following who. But funnily enough I was trying to remember back when I was thinking about this question. I remember speaking to a journalist back in the day, honestly about 13 years ago maybe. Yeah. And he had commissioned a piece of software which showed him who was not following who anymore on Twitter or who was doing certain things. So AI can do some of this, but it actually can't do as much as you think. There are third party apps which track this stuff, but it tends to be only your own account. But I will say that for an unbelievable amount of people. I mean I often say to people, people, you know, reality TV is like sport for women. And I'm not not saying it because I, I like both but as do

[Richard Osman]

I. Yeah, but there are a lot

[Marina Hyde]

of people tracking the equivalent of transfer rumors.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

All the time. And they are watching influences. If you look at now someone, something like mail online has got masses of correspondence who just cover influencers and influencer beef because there's plenty of it. They interact a lot more. Real celebrities are kind of like becoming more boring. I would say real celebr, you know what I mean? Legacy idea of celebrities. And there's lots and lots of that. And the answer is so many people are watching this stuff all the time and they're just constantly flicking and seeing who's AI can't do it for you. So it really is just ordinary people are that interested. And as I say, we have an army of. In the same way that Ukraine have co opted all those PlayStation players to run their drone army. These people, God forbid we find ourselves in a third world war. But these people 100% should all work at Bletchley Park. Why not?

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, absolutely. It is, it's the equivalent of people just looking out from behind the neck curtains, isn't it? What's going on in the street. Yeah, it's just, it's that, it's that instinct.

[Marina Hyde]

But they're devoting so many hours of the day to it.

[Richard Osman]

I mean, God bless them.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

For Doing good. I didn't know that Jordan Stevens and Jay Therwell were together. So this is.

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[Marina Hyde]

Yet to find out.

[Richard Osman]

Now I know. Yeah. Spoiler alert. Come on, guys.

[Marina Hyde]

Right, should we go to some adverts so you can digest that?

[Richard Osman]

I would love that.

[Marina Hyde]

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[Richard Osman]

Absolutely. One of my favorite scenes. Yeah, you never know.

[Marina Hyde]

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[Richard Osman]

I remember the first one. I really remember. Well, two, I remember Ferris Bueller's Day off where he tells you to go home at the end. But also Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds where they would do bloopers. It just feels like a secret little glimpse.

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[Richard Osman]

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[Richard Osman]

Yeah, exactly. And it's just a lovely little added bonus. You've done everything. You've made your show right. You've given everyone everything. It's just a lovely little extra.

[Marina Hyde]

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[Richard Osman]

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[Marina Hyde]

Welcome back, everybody. Now, please, can I ask you this question From Elaine Campbell. Richard, who says, I am reading A River Red with Blood by one of my favorite authors, John Connolly. In the book, a character won't go to a Starbuck as he will not drink their coffee. Is it okay for fictional characters to give bad reviews? Or can an author ever be held accountable or threatened with a libel lawsuit?

[Richard Osman]

Thanks, Elaine. Well, firstly, John Connolly. He's such a brilliant author. I recommend any of his stuff. So, you know, when I write an awful lot of real things, I try and put real things in as much as possible. And, you know, John Connolly is the same. And, you know, you don't want someone refusing to go into a. Like an unnamed coffee shop or a coffee shop that you met because it doesn't mean anything. Whereas knowing that somebody finds Starbucks coffee undrinkable tells you something about their character. So it's a character note. No, he cannot be sued for that. You know, if he was writing something, you know, about going in and putting poison in Starbucks coffee cups, yes, he could be sued for that, for sure. The simplest way of working out the difference in the first We Solve Murders book. I needed a hotel in the heart of the New Forest because a character had to be put up in a hotel and hired. Been to a hotel, and it's called the Pig, and it's in the New Forest. And I really liked it. I thought, well, great, I'll just do that. So it's not an ad or anything like that, but it's a real place, so I knew what it looked like. I knew where the restaurant was, I know where the stairs would be, all that stuff. So I was able to.

[Marina Hyde]

We know your Instagram offers exciting clues as to your future books.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, I could choreograph it very easily. So it was much easier for me to write this thing. I thought I'd, you know, I'll just write about this place because I liked it and I know it. So I wrote that, put it in the book, and, you know, there it is. And if again, in books, I like it in books where there's places you can actually go, you know, you can go, oh, my God. That's the thing for the book in the new book again, I needed it. They come back to the New Forest again.

[Marina Hyde]

We chase shadows.

[Richard Osman]

We chase shadows. Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

So sorry. Just professionalize that, please.

[Richard Osman]

Thank you. Sorry. Out in September. And again, I needed to be in a hotel. There's. Somebody has to be placed in a hotel. So I'm writing. I thought, oh, great, I'll just use the pic because, again, the universe becomes simpler. And then later on, there's a scene in that hotel where the manager does something illegal for a bribe, essentially, for our investigators. Now that I am not allowed to write. I am not allowed to write. They're at this hotel called the Pier, and the manager takes a bribe and gives them some information. Because that would be libelous.

[Marina Hyde]

That suggests you're impugning their staff because

[Richard Osman]

it's a real place. Exactly. And I'm sort of saying that somebody there would do this thing. And so I had to. Then I thought, okay, I will put them in a completely different hotel, because I would have to change that, because that would be something that they would have recourse. Funnily enough, I changed it straight away. I changed it to. Originally changed it to the Huntsman. I thought, okay, the Huntsman, That's a. That's a nice name for kind of a forest hotel. And weirdly, I was down in New Forest just looking at bits and bobs, and in the same village as the pig. I drove past a hotel called the Huntsman. I must have seen it.

[Marina Hyde]

Yes.

[Richard Osman]

I simply must have done this, because the name came to me. I just wrote it down. So I had to change it again. I think it's now called the Hunter's Rest. And there are places called the Hunter's Rest in various places, but not in this place. But, yeah, so I. I can absolutely write about something real. I could, you know, go down and complain about something. I can't then say, oh, a member of staff did X, Y, or Z, because there are real members of staff at this place. And that would. Yeah, that would be.

[Marina Hyde]

Actually, you don't want to be caught up in one of your plots.

[Richard Osman]

Exactly that. But, yeah, you can. You can. God, you can slag off things. You can't, you know, you can't libel them in the. So you can't say that a coffee company were union busting or they, you know, they, you know, exploited labor. You can't do anything that you can call them. But if you say, I hate Starbucks. Yeah, that is absolute. Or if you say, I went to a named theater and the seats are too close together, is there anything like that you can do just in the same. If you can do it in a Yelp review, you can do it in a book.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

Ah.

[Richard Osman]

Back on a favorite subject of yours, one of the things I get asked most about when people talk to me about this podcast is your item on British celebrity boyfriends.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, my God. If a young woman. So many young women stop me in the street about this. Yes. Okay.

[Richard Osman]

Anna Worrell has a question about it. She says it looks like Olivia Rodrigo has moved on from Louis Partrid with Julian Cronenbergs, I want to say, who is not only a private equity associate, but also American. Is this a worrying sign for the cult of British celebrity boyfriends?

[Marina Hyde]

Wow. Okay, Anna, first of all, I'd say, don't worry. Louis Partridge is currently in Enola Homes. That is a great shop window for him. Okay. He's in Netflix. That's a great shot window. A lot of American celebrity, female celebrities might see him in that and think, wonderful.

[Richard Osman]

I'm looking. That's. You know what? That's what I'm looking for.

[Marina Hyde]

We've seen plenty of moves. I mean, since we did that item, styles has. Has gone to Kravitz, Zoe Kravitz, Harry stars.

[Richard Osman]

Is that right?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

I only just heard about Jade Thirlwall and Jordan Stevens.

[Marina Hyde]

Well, I think the market is in excellent health. There have been some very eye catching transfers, actually. Caspar Jopling, formerly with Ellie Goulding, has now signed to Olivia Wilde following a successful medical.

[Richard Osman]

Has.

[Marina Hyde]

Yes, he has. Now I. There. I think there is some feeling. There is some feeling, given that I've created this ridiculous universe. Yeah, I feel there's some feeling that we need a fixed transfer window.

[Richard Osman]

Yes.

[Marina Hyde]

Okay. Maybe one in January after they've had to have Christmas with the woman's American family. Yes, that's a moment for.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. Or the American woman has had to have.

[Marina Hyde]

Issuing a come and get your plea.

[Richard Osman]

Right. Yes. Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

And one in September, in case you saw anything you liked amongst the celebrity crowds on the Amalfi coast. Right. See, I think that's when I would put the transfer windows for British celebrity boyfriends. There are many options. The Americans. I'm told the Americans have now discovered Ibiza, which will certainly allow the island to ascend to its terrifying final form. And so I think there will be. I think we'll see more movements in the market this summer at the end of this summer. And by the way, the celebrity summer ends in about September. Let's have another look at where we are with British celebrity boyfriends. I don't see anything to worry about Anna in the market at all. I think we're seeing movement. People are signing, you know, Olivia Wilde. She's a big player in the market.

[Richard Osman]

Yes.

[Marina Hyde]

To take Casper Jopling. This is. I think it's all very, very, very healthy. And we're gonna see plenty more of it. I feel very positive for Louis Partridge. I think Definitely another American. He'll be signed to an American soon enough.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. I think that Louis Partridge is the Cole Palmer of the situation, really. Which is, you know, perhaps he should have gone to the World Cup. He didn't. But he goes again. That's the point. Yeah, but it is. You know, we. We've talked in previous Q and A episodes about why there are so many Brits in Hollywood, and we talked about, you know, the. The. But we. We keep sending over our most handsome men.

[Marina Hyde]

Men.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, To Hollywood, to a group of women who have only had American men that they've grown up with.

[Marina Hyde]

And then they come to London and they go to the pub and they do all those things.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

But scarves. You know how important I think the scarf is to it. I think summer makes it a bit difficult. But the big scarf, because we're going to see it all back. Don't worry about it, Anna. It's all. It's all fine. The market is fine.

[Richard Osman]

The Brits come into their own in the winter, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Americans like a log fire rather than a Venice Beach.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

Yes.

[Richard Osman]

Okay. That's very good news. And also, I mean, Tom Holland just. I mean, he flies the flag. I mean, I know he's not the archetypal British celebrity boyfriend.

[Marina Hyde]

He's a British celebrity husband now.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, he's a British celebrity husband. But, I mean, my God, what a absolute exemplar of our country that man is.

[Marina Hyde]

Absolutely.

[Richard Osman]

That's a great marriage, isn't it?

[Sponsor Voice 1]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, it's terrific. I mean, but it's so. But that's so much part of why that film is. Everybody likes them. Everyone really, really likes both of them. They got them when they weren't together. They're so, you know, I mean, it is. You couldn't hope for more if Sony and you were making that. That you've got them for their whole story and now they're married.

[Richard Osman]

I mean, honestly, it's like when Cantona went to Man United.

[Marina Hyde]

Very much so.

[Richard Osman]

You think, here we go. This was always meant to be.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. It's destiny.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

And on that note, on that positive note, let's wind up. Remember, there is the World cup of bald men. Truly an incredible bonus episode for our members.

[Richard Osman]

I would say showbiz bald men as well.

[Marina Hyde]

And it's showbiz bald men.

[Richard Osman]

It is a celebration, just all bald

[Marina Hyde]

men in the world being made.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah. Because I don't want people to be disappointed they didn't qualify.

[Marina Hyde]

No. The World cup of showbiz bald men. You Want to join it's thereesticentertainment.com for AD, free listening and bonus episodes. Otherwise, we'll see you next Tuesday.

[Richard Osman]

See you next Tuesday.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

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