Chris Evans, 53, featured TV chef and close friend, James Martin on his Thursday morning Virgin Radio show last week, to talk about the third series of his cooking program on ITV. And, as an added bonus, he let slip his big surprise for his show’s Christmas special.
“Is it you playing the guitar? It is, isn’t it?!” He quizzed as James stifled his laughter.
The radio DJ recalled the last time James surprised a crowd by playing the guitar.
“So, James threatened last year at carfest to play a song on the live stage for the main act on the Saturday night,” Chris explained.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” the chef interjected.
James said that he had rehearsed “like crazy” before his big debut and that he was up against musical legends like Jools Holland and the Kaiser Chiefs.
He said: “You know my friend James Martin? A colourist contacted him when he was on the BBC on Saturday Kitchen there before he went over to ITV to do it rather successfully on ITV.
“And a colourist got in contact with him and said ‘let me start choosing colours for your show’ and the ratings went up by a million the next week and they never, ever went down again.”
Chris even admitted that he uses a colour technique on his radio show and he believes his winning colours are orange and turquoise: “It’s really important and if I’m interviewing a guest, if I’m back at the news tower, I always wear turquoise or orange and this is proper science going on here.”
If there was any question about how close the pair are, earlier this year Chris claimed that the celebrity chef had helped save his marriage to his third wife, Natasha Shishmanian.
He told his listeners: “James saved my marriage, well you saved my honeymoon!”
After losing their passport, they were unable to go on the African safari they had carefully planned but were saved last minute by James’ lavish catering do in the New Forest.
“My friend said ‘go and get Tash a dress and drive to the New Forest, James will cook you a special meal’.”
James may have saved Chris’ honeymoon, but will he be able to save his surprise treat for the festive episode?
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show airs weekdays at 6:30am.