S5. Ep 24. Two Gays and the Pop'n'Olly Party

Season 5: Episode Twenty-Four. Benji and Brad are joined by the wonderful Olly Pike, who is the Chief Executive Unicorn of Pop’n’Olly. The boys discuss all things LGBTQ+ education in schools and how changes are being made to create an inclusive society. Benji and Brad also play a brand new game with Olly where they throwback to some of their favourite cartoons of the 90s! Plus, Benji opens up about his social anxiety and how he is overcoming this by joining gay social groups in London, where things haven’t quite gone to plan just yet!

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:19

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of my Big Gay Podcast, with me Benji and me Brad giving you the life, the loves and lolls of living in London, Two gays, one city. What could possibly go wrong? Oh gosh.

Speaker 1 0:36

How are you feeling today, do?

Speaker 2 0:37

you know what I'm feeling. I'm alright, I feel good. I really feel like I have made the most of being back in London this week. I have hit the ground running.

Speaker 1 0:45

I was going to say you have been Mrs Social of the Year this week.

Speaker 2 0:50

Well, yes, we will come back to that specifically in a second, but I have been literally no club, another sleep, another club non-stop. Mama, she's back, but I'm feeling a little bit like we always say I definitely feel like I'm getting old, but I feel so good, I feel like I finally got a social life back and, yes, it's been a very eventful week for me. But before we go into that, how have you been?

Speaker 1 1:13

Do you know what I did? A really wholesome thing. You know I'm living the wholesome life at the moment. Sure, I went to the theater in the West End in London to see Nicole Scherzinger in the new musical Sunset Boulevard.

Speaker 2 1:27

I have heard really good things.

Speaker 1 1:29

Honestly, it blew my mind. She is well, she's a star, right, she is an absolute star. Her voice is amazing, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:38

Is it worth what she's getting paid weekly?

Speaker 1 1:40

Why? What's she getting paid weekly? Is it the same weekly wage that I get for the podcast?

Speaker 2 1:44

It is not. No, I absolutely am not going to disclose that. I don't know if I'm supposed to know, but it is high, it's really high, really.

Speaker 1 1:53

Yeah, are we talking more than say 25K a week?

Speaker 2 1:56

We are yeah.

Speaker 1 1:58

More than 50K.

Speaker 2 1:59

No, I told you I'm not going there.

Speaker 1 2:00

More than 50K Shut up.

Speaker 2 2:03

Anyway, so back to me. Ok, so it was good yeah.

Speaker 1 2:09

It was really good. Highly recommend going to see it. I mean, tickets are a bit pricey.

Speaker 2 2:14

I wonder, why yeah.

Speaker 1 2:16

I mean, it's not paid for our wage, isn't it? Yeah, but if you rock up on the day, manage to get really good seats for under 50 pounds, oh, that's actually not too bad. That's not too bad, is it? But it's a risk going on the day, right, because they might not have any seats available, true? So, yeah, if you live in London, that's a good risk to take. Is she doing all the performances? I don't think so. No, not all of them.

Speaker 2 2:37

That's when you know you have made it in the industry, when you don't have to do every day. I think I can offer this job, being like I don't know, manager of a bank and just being like, yeah, no, I'm just not going to do this day or this day, I'm just going to stay at home.

Speaker 1 2:51

Yeah, I want every Monday off, just because I feel like it.

Speaker 2 2:54

Yeah, sure no worries, yeah, can you just get someone else to do my job? That day Is that?

Speaker 3 2:58

right, yeah.

Speaker 2 2:59

Yeah, train them up just as normal, don't? Pay them nearly as much as me, but just they can do it those days. I'm not doing it. It's going to be sunny.

Speaker 1 3:04

Yeah, literally, literally that. But if you are going to go see it and you don't live in London, then there's various ticket in apps and things that you can sometimes get some discounted rates on, so do check those out. It is worth seeing. She's only doing it for a limited time, it's only for like a couple of months, so highly recommend. Are you going to go see it?

Speaker 2 3:21

I will go see it because I actually love Nicole Scherzinger and, although we're joking about her taking the time off, she has worked at our staff to get where she is. Yeah, and she is an icon. She really is, she is an icon, yeah.

Speaker 1 3:31

I love that.

Speaker 2 3:32

I'm not so sure about the show itself. I saw the last tour when it was in, I want to say, in Manchester, and it was good. But yeah, it's kind of a different version. This one isn't it. They've stripped it all back.

Speaker 1 3:43

Yeah, it was quite a modern take. There was lots of like videography, like screens, very like stripped back, hardly any set. It's all quite stylish, quite modern twist, I would say.

Speaker 2 3:54

Okay, sorry, something's just come into my brain. I am never allowed to talk about theatre, and yet when you go to the theatre, suddenly we're allowed to give it a five-star review.

Speaker 1 4:05

Because I see really good stuff with you know A-list celebrities. So you go see niche things and I'm like I have no idea what you're talking about, hon.

Speaker 2 4:12

Tell me one niche thing that you know that I've seen One, just one Exactly.

Speaker 1 4:17

Wicked about a million times Niche, that is.

Speaker 2 4:21

it's a cult. Now, Definitely a cult.

Speaker 1 4:24

Well, anyway, you got your wish Happy Theatre podcast day. There you go, You're welcome.

Speaker 2 4:29

You're just angry because I shagged Buck backstage. That's what you're angry Moving on.

Speaker 1 4:33

It wasn't Buck, it was the wizards. You said it was. No, I didn't.

Speaker 2 4:37

No, I didn't. I was just angry because I thought you were trying to drive.

Speaker 1 4:40

That's what I've been telling everyone that you got your wizard sleeve out for the wizards.

Speaker 2 4:47

No, but I just shagged the munchkin instead. I don't know why I'm even fighting. Anyway anyway, we're really digressing because I've had a really really full on hectic week and I do feel like I need to share some of these stories with you.

Speaker 1 5:02

Yeah, well, I'm actually really proud of you this week because I know sometimes you get a bit of social anxiety, don't you? And I've been encouraging you for ages to put yourself out there more, meet new people. Because you said you want to expand your kind of gay network. Right, our friends?

Speaker 2 5:16

It wasn't so much to expand the network. I absolutely love the friends that I have. I don't include you in that, no, you know, you know I do, really, of course, but I, yeah, I feel like since lockdown, my social radar has just sort of dropped off the face of the earth. And as much I love the people I hang out with, I'm hanging out with the same people all the time and I have made a couple of new friends, but they're ones that I've, like I've made through work in a sense, so I still work with them.

Speaker 2 5:45

So like I've befriended a lot of very talented and I'm very, so happy to have these friendships, but like drag queens and singers, and it's lovely, but I see them in work environments and then, if I go out with them in a social, we don't really have much more to catch up on other than work. So I wanted to throw myself right in the deep end and meet up with a group of people that I don't know anything about. They don't know who I am. See, like I said, do I join this WhatsApp group? I told you this last week, right?

Speaker 1 6:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the WhatsApp group. You, you were following someone on Instagram or someone like that, and they said I'm going to create a new WhatsApp group for guys. And here's the link, and you joined.

Speaker 2 6:21

And I joined. Yeah, I agreed to the rules, I did all the things and did it. So it's not. It's not one of these WhatsApp groups that a lot of gay people are in. It's not one of these like sex party ones or like nighttime WhatsApp groups which just helps everyone get to bed, if you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It's actually supposed to be like a gay banter social group. So nice. Yes, I agreed to go meet up with them on Saturday. Just gone in.

Speaker 2 6:45

London right In, yeah, in central London, in Soho actually, and I felt good about that because obviously I spend a lot of time there. So I know the clubs and I know the escapes and where to go and and I knew who was performing where and when. So if it really went bad I could just go watch somebody doing a show, like one of the drag queens. Like actually bumped into Ruby Violet the icon that is Ruby Violet.

Speaker 1 7:06

Oh love Miss Ruby Violet, she's. Amazing.

Speaker 2 7:08

She's good. I've got lots to tell you about her, but that's a very different time. So, yeah, and then on the day I called you because my yeah, my social anxiety, just it skyrocketed. I was like almost paralyzed. I felt like I just couldn't get up off the sofa. Like I'd got dressed, done my hair, like everything, I was good to go. I was like I can't, I can't go out the door, I can't do it.

Speaker 1 7:34

Yeah, Cause you called me right and we had a phone call and I was like what are you doing? Get yourself off the sofa and go and make some new friends. What?

Speaker 2 7:42

are you doing? I think what you actually said was get some alcohol in you make a mess of yourself for once.

Speaker 1 7:50

No, the good thing about alcohol, right, is it does give you that Dutch courage, that confidence. So, if you do have a bit of social anxiety. A little drink before you go or a shot or something just gives you that extra nudge to put yourself out there a bit more For sure.

Speaker 1 8:04

Because you're a very confident person, right when people know you and know who you're about. You're very funny, very quick witted, very confident. So I always think of people that have social anxiety, because I have a few friends who have the same thing. Yeah, I just think you're such an amazing person Like you don't want to hide that from the world Like you know, you should be proud of who you are because you have so much to offer.

Social Anxiety in New Group

Speaker 2 8:24

That is so lovely of you to say this is you know, I love you so much. I really appreciate you and the words. However, when you're the person that suffers with it, you don't see any of that. Yeah, of course. Yeah, like you might say, like, oh, you're really funny, you're confident. No, if I'm in a social situation and I look like I'm coming across confident and funny inside, I am like dying and I'm working my arse off to try and make sure people don't think why is that guy so weird? That's what's going on in my head, right. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm in a battle, and anyone that suffers from well, I guess, anxiety in general, but specifically social anxiety, will fully get what I mean by that. Yeah, you feel like everyone is staring at you or you feel like nobody cares that you're there. It's literally one or the other and either of them are terrifying, but yeah. So soon after lockdown, I realized I had this. I was working from home and I just wouldn't leave the house for like four days at a time, five days.

Speaker 1 9:16

Yeah, that's not good though.

Speaker 2 9:18

No, even just like to go for a walk around the block, I couldn't do it. I was just really I don't know. I couldn't even tell you why I was nervous, I just was. Anyway, so cut to join this group. Um was going to be on Saturday. I called you, absolutely terrified. You gave me a lovely pep talk. Um, I did have a very quick drink before I went out. I just had like a gin and lemonade with my housemate and made my way to Soho, and All I can say is the rest of the evening did not go at all like I thought or I hoped for. But I really feel, to give you the full insight to the story, we need to take a very short little break, fill up our drinks and come straight back. But I promise you right now what I'm going to tell you you will not be expecting from Benji.

Speaker 1 10:00

Okay, I can't wait, let's do it.

Speaker 2 10:06

This episode is sponsored by rainbowlotterycouk.

Speaker 1 10:09

Play now and support LGBTQ plus dreams. Right, my drink is topped. I'm all ears. Tell me a story.

Speaker 2 10:19

Well, speaking of top, we were talking about my social group. Now I'm joking. I'm joking. The story, honestly, is not going where you think it's going, I promise you. Right now I'm a little bit shocked by myself, but I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

Speaker 1 10:35

Another musical theatre reference. Today we're doing all the musicals Moose, moose, oh gosh, I'm just going to leave that one.

Speaker 2 10:44

Anyway so, yes, I said yes, I had that chat with you, I had the couple of drinks and I left the house. I got to Soho and I was very much on time, very punctual, and I just thought, no, I can't do this, because if I go in there's only like three of them there, then I'm going to have to reintroduce. This is what my brain does. By the way, I can see you look at me like, right, okay, but you remember, you don't have this problem in your head. Okay, but this is how my this is what my brain says. If you arrive now and then you're like the third or fourth person arrive and you know there's like eight to 10 people going, you're going to reintroduce yourself every single time a new person arrives. Right, so I was like, can't do that. So I went around the corner to a lovely little bar called Little Coup, which we've been to before. Super fun Went there. Friend works behind the bar, so they had a drink killed half an hour and then I went back, right.

Speaker 1 11:31

So a couple of questions for you. Carry on. Yeah, so you've been messaging for about a week on this group. Yeah, seven, eight days, yeah, and how many people are in the group? Roughly 70. And how many people were going to the social event? Eight to 10. Oh, so it was actually a small group. Okay, fine, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 11:46

I'm there, I'm there, Fine. So I had that other drink at Little Coup and I make my way to the main bar. Now, another part of the story which I probably should have told you is within that group and let me finish before any sort of judgment comes my way In that group, obviously it's not a sex group, it's not anything like that. However, it is a group of 70 gays and eyes they wander. Everyone's singing in the group and people do DM each other and there are various like vanishing photo pictures in there. Fine, One of the boys who do you know what? Fuck it. I'm actually going to name him because no one will know their surname anyway. His name is Jack. Yeah, he slips into my DMs after a joke I made about Hannah Montana. Very funny, this is what dreams are made of.

Speaker 2 12:28

And the bands just like kicked off and I was like, oh, this is really good, chat, chat, chat, chat, chat, nice. I was like, oh, maybe we should go for a drink. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing leads to another and we arranged to go for a date before the social event and go for drinks to meet each other.

Speaker 1 12:41

Oh, so I think that's quite risky. So a date with one of the group members then arrived, together at the social event.

Speaker 2 12:47

Well, if I'm honest, I had said well, listen, I don't mind not going to the social group. I am actually free on Saturday. If you are too, we could just go for drinks first and if we then want to go meet up with them, we could do. But it was very chill, really chill, right, nice. He was like, oh my goodness, I feel really like very touched, absolutely loved to like blah, blah, blah, using all the words like thank you, handsome, and like, oh my gosh, I'm really excited and just really like overly flirtatious, right. So that was in like day two or three of being in the group.

Speaker 2 13:15

Day four, I see that he's been really flirtatious with the main person of this group, the admin, the head, the head honcho. So I see that I messaged him. I'm like, hey, look, I'm just seeing this flotation is going on in front of everyone with this guy. Can I just ask like, is something going on? Because I have not joined this WhatsApp group to have any sort of drama or weirdness, and if he's your ex boyfriend or you're kind of seeing him, could you just tell me? Because I don't want to step on toes. I actually am here to make friends. I never thought you were going to jump in my DMs and ask and like it was going to move towards a date scenario. So I gave the option. His reply no, absolutely not. That's just like banter for the group. Like it's all fine, I'm really excited to meet you, handsome, back on tour. This terminology Me Okay, fine.

Speaker 2 13:56

Next day he's even more flirtatious with this guy. So I send a screenshot to him. Like listen, I really think there is something going on that maybe you don't want to tell me, which absolutely fine, but I just I don't think this is right for me. Him again no, don't be so stupid. But la, la, la.

Speaker 2 14:11

Next day happens again the way. It's the third time and the only time. The last time he did it Sent in the screenshot. He didn't reply for like eight hours. He then replied like you know, you're sounding a little bit jealous and I was like, okay, not the first time I've been called jealous in my life, but actually I'm not jealous at all. I'm literally just so heightened with worry of joining this group and then being like that person that I don't want to happen. Anyway, he doesn't reply to me for the next two days. The Saturday comes about when we were all not supposed to go for drinks. We obviously end up. We don't go for drinks. Yally, yally, yally, cut to all the other things I've already told you. I then turn up to the venue and he is already there with everybody else.

Speaker 1 14:52

So that I agree with maybe playing to the anxiety as well, right, because you've had that pre kind of chat going on. So I'm with you, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 15:01

Right and I was doing all I could to make sure there was not an awkward situation Like I haven't even met these people yet. So this is where it starts to take a turn.

Speaker 1 15:10

So I can't just ask what did you do when you arrived? What did you say?

Speaker 2 15:13

Oh, top, top Benji mode, the mode that you were talking about before confident, smiley, happy, cracking jokes, just being great. Live my best life.

Speaker 1 15:22

You know what? I'm really proud of you for doing that, because you are that person, so I'm glad that you brought that to the surface.

Speaker 2 15:28

Thank you. I don't know if I am that person, but I'm working on it, okay. So, anyway, when it went in, hello, hello to everyone. Hey, what's your name of blood? Chacha, chacha, chacha. I see this guy, jack, staring at me, and I'm like I make eye contact with him across this group. I'm like hey, he's like Hi, you're right. I was like yeah, straight to us, like there's a vibe. I'm just not gonna. I'm not gonna do that right now. I'm going to talk to the people that are smiling, actually wanting my attention, which is lovely, right, really, really nice guy. Like really, if any of you boys are listening, you were lovely, not you, jack not you, jack, and I'll come to that in a minute.

Exposing Betrayal in a Social Group

Speaker 2 16:00

But the rest of you, absolutely lovely went to the bar. One of them followed me, like, oh, I'll come with you to the bars, you don't wait by yourself. Even though you had a drink like really like touching, lovely, exactly right Once from a social group, right, come back to the group. Chacha, chacha, chacha. There was this one point where I wasn't in, I wasn't really directly in a conversation. I was like in a little circle like four boys, but I wasn't actively involved in it. And then the exact same thing was happening next to me, but Jack was literally like shoulder to shoulder with me and did still didn't say anything to me, and I was like that's fine. I really think I've done all I can in the situation. If he doesn't want to talk to me and he's ignored my last text, I'm just going to assume there's going to be no conversation right now. So let's just let the evening transpire and see where we go. Right, I think that's probably the right thing to do. Yeah, I would do the same.

Speaker 2 16:42

So we then leave that bar and we wander across the road to Admiral Duncan, because they all wanted to go watch drag queens. So we go in there. Really great, I actually like an absolute gift. Thank you. Whoever was watching over me Get into Admiral Duncan, it's absolutely rammed. We watched. The front of the stage in the corner is a another group of friends of mine and yours. There was Sean who did all the social media for us for price.

Speaker 1 17:08

Oh yes, oh, he's lovely, he's so nice.

Speaker 2 17:11

Yeah, there with Tom, his partner, and then a few of the other boys I don't need to name, but they were people that I know from the scene. They're like oh my God, ben, do you get me hug? Absolutely lovely. So that put me like, relax me ever so slightly. Still stayed with my other the other social group, the new one watching the drag show. I looked the other side of the stage and there is Jack stood all by himself drinking his drink by himself, not waiting for the toilet, just literally stood watching, looking absolutely miserable. So I'm there, I'm there looking at him like, right, benji, in this moment you can leave him by himself, or what you are looking at is your biggest fear is being in a social group and being left on your own. So I went in my head I was like, no, do the right thing, make eye contact and beckon him over.

Speaker 1 17:55

That's really good of you because as well he is now seeing you thrive in that social situation, because you've gone into a new space and you know people, so suddenly you're chatting, chat, chat, chat. So I would have done the same.

Speaker 2 18:07

So well done, yes, thank you. And I knew the drag queen and I just I felt very, I felt very comfortable where I was anyway, so I could see he was not feeling comfortable, so made eye contact, I smiled and I was like I was like come over, and he like gave me like a weird face and I like laughed. I was like come, like, come, join all of us, yeah. And he was like okay, and smiled Okay, nice, love this. I was broken, great. So he comes over and I was like so surely now he's going to come over and say hello to me? He doesn't. He comes and stands behind me. Still, I stood there for a few seconds like surely he's now going to say hello? He completely ignored me. Again 10 minutes later, I turn around and the guy that he was flirting with in the group is hand is like around his back and they are making out literally like against my arm and I was like okay, so all the things I called out, just literally. I was like this is not a nice person.

Speaker 1 18:59

So yeah because he was I think it's gaslighting right, that's the term gaslighting when you were saying hey, I think this I'm going on with you and the guy and he's like no, there's nothing going on, when clearly there was because it was building up to that moment.

Speaker 2 19:10

Okay. So this is where the evening turns. I then go back to watch the drag queen and this other guy in the group was like are you okay? And I was like yeah, yeah, why? And he was like oh, just, your face just changed.

Speaker 1 19:20

Oh, and I've said that face before.

Speaker 2 19:23

So podcast is I really struggled to hide what I'm thinking at some time, especially in those situations, and my face clearly was like face of thunder. I was overthinking everything and I was. I was pissed off, yeah Right. So there I was watching this drag queen like with deaf eyes. He was like you've changed, like you're okay, and I just told him the whole story that I told you. He was like, oh, my goodness, he said he has done that to me and this other guy that was in the group and he goes. I know of one other person who's not there today, but he's also done it too Jackie, daddy dog.

Speaker 2 19:59

So me, I saw red and this is the bit that's going to shock you. So I was saying I'm, I had a few beers. I wasn't drunk by all means. I was very much in control and I own all my actions, like everything I did. I still stand by it. There was no drunken sort of you know mishaps and I was like I really think I should say something. And this guy was kind of egging me on. He was like, yeah, absolutely he should. Like he's been slagging off this other guy as well. That I really fancy. That's really unfair. I was like, okay, that's nothing to do with me, but clearly clearly this guy is causing riffs.

Speaker 2 20:31

Yeah, whatever words you want to use Sociopath, psychotic, toxic, all the above, whatever you like. He was ticking all of them in my eyes. So me, tap, tap, tap on the shoulder. It's like I stopped them touching each other, like literally Hello. He turns around like smile, like oh, like a shock that I was there. Oh, hey, I was like hey, why have you been ignoring me all night, straight in Great, call it out, call it out.

Speaker 2 20:58

I said Jack, why have you been ignoring me all night? He's like I haven't been. I said no, you absolutely have been. You ignore me at the last bar, you've ignored me here. I just made the effort to beckon you over and you still didn't have the decency to come say hello. I said what is going on? He was like oh well, you were talking to all those other guys. I thought you were trying to hook up with them. So I just did. I thought I just leave you to it. I said Jack, this is a social group and you haven't even said hello. How do you not understand? There's something wrong with that. I said also you've been messaging me all week and I've brought up the fact that you are flirting with this guy and you've denied all of it and made me feel like I'm psycho. You even painted me with the brush of being jealous when all I'm trying to do is understand the situation.

Speaker 2 21:39

And he was like no, well, I'm really sorry. I said you are only sorry because I have called you out. I said also, I know three other people you've done this to, and by this point the guy that he was kissing was getting involved the admin of the group and listening. I said I know three other people that you've done this to, and this guy was like what's happening? I was like well, xyz explained. He was like Jack, and Jack was like no, like just you, the admin guy, who I won't name. I was like no, no, I know three other people. I said so if you would like to take a guess of which three people I know about, go for it. I said but I bet you the names are going to be different. And his face is like oh well, I don't think I have been. I said go on, you name the three or I will. And so he named some names none of the names that I knew, so there's even more people that he's been doing it to.

Gay Community Challenges and Unity

Speaker 2 22:23

And I literally said I said you. I said you have got to sort yourself out. This is a gay social group where people are trying to make friends and you are in here fucking people over like a psychopath, just trying to get getting what's called a kicks of getting people to ask you on dates. I said you're a toxic prick and I hope I never see you again. And he was like I'm really sorry. I said you're not sorry. I said stop saying sorry, because you are only apologizing because I've called you out in front of everyone. By this point, sean and the other boys were like grabbing my hand, like Benji, like come on, leave it now.

Speaker 2 23:01

Leave it now, yeah, and I was like no, no, no, I'm done, I'm rich, I'm fine, I'm so fine. But I was like this person. I said you are vile. I would never expect to deal with someone like you in a brand new group of like gays who are obviously all of us trying to make friends. You are using, you are using and abusing. So then he got, he looked a little bit teary, not going to lie, I mean. I said other things which I won't go into, I won't repeat on the podcast. But then he left and the main guy left with him and I went to go outside and try and resolve and be like look, I'm really sorry I popped off on you, but you got to understand where I'm coming from.

Speaker 1 23:34

But they, they left together which is bad on the admin guy right, because he's trying to create a group of, like a social group, and he's aware that then this is all going on and it still goes off of that guy. Yeah, yeah, so that's not great.

Speaker 2 23:47

But to give him credit I don't think he listens to the podcast, but to give him credit. He then called me the next day for like a good hour, did he? Yeah? And then explained his side of things and actually they went for drinks around the corner and listen in my head. Fine, if, if Jack needed consoling or felt a bit shaken by me literally ripping him a new asshole and not any good way.

Speaker 2 24:09

Even if you're like the most vile person in the world, it comes from somewhere and I don't want to add to you feeling bad about yourself Because you know me, I I'm very fair, I'm very honest and for so many times in the past I've seen people treating other people badly and I've gone home and kicked myself and not calling them out, and I think it's because I was in a brand new situation.

Speaker 2 24:30

I, yeah, I acted the way that I did. Now I think people listening at home I agree that maybe the terminology that I use with him I may have come across a little bit too strong, but the main thing I want people to take away from telling the story is within the gay community we have so many problems that we're still trying to change. We have like countries that would like, even from countries in the world where you still can't be gay, to, even in London, like people, people getting stabbed for being gay. Let's call it out. Why the hell are we causing issues within our community? We should always have each other's backs big, each other up, and it's absolutely fine if you're not best friends with everyone, but do not make their life difficult or make them feel any other way than sort of accepted and great, especially if it's a brand new social group.

Speaker 1 25:18

Just in general. Right, as a community we've got to look out for each other. You know, we are all the same, we've gone through the same lived experiences, obviously different versions of, but I'm sure at some point in our lives we have experienced some sort of homophobia, right? So, yeah, we've got to look out for each other and do as you say be nice. We don't need to be the mean girls and all of that, you know.

Speaker 2 25:39

Yeah, so that was my social story. That was my best attempt at making me friends.

Speaker 1 25:47

I love how it went from calling me up going oh, brad, I don't know if I should go. I feel we nervous, got lots of anxiety. So then you causing drama, causing riffs, calling people out on their behavior I love it.

Speaker 2 25:58

But well, people said the exact same thing. So I put this big message in the group like hey boys, this group is not for me. I'm really sorry for any angst that I've caused. Yeah, really long message. I think I finished it with like Jack sought your life out. It's a laugh. The main admin deleted it, which I felt edited, which I did. I read it.

Speaker 2 26:15

I'll let you edit me sometimes, but I don't like being edited Because what I said was really justified and the message was up for what? 15 minutes at about 1am in the morning and I had 22 of the guys message me privately Like are you okay? Like are you on your own? Like I'm not in London, but if I can help, like I don't want you out there by yourself, yeah, like, really lovely. And that I think that's the main reason I stayed in the group, because all of a sudden I felt I was focusing on the good of the group and I think, for so long with my anxiety, I always focus on what can go wrong.

Speaker 2 26:48

And the bad things were. Actually we should be changing our mindset to it. But imagine what good you could get from this group, even if there isn't bad as well. Think find, find the good, find the good things. So, yeah, good TBC on how the rest of the next meetup goes.

Speaker 1 27:03

Wow. Well, you know how to make friends. I certainly do. Yeah, I mean, maybe it's Stem's film.

Speaker 2 27:11

My Childhood, who knows? But speaking of childhood, we've got a very special guest on the podcast this week Ollie Pike from Pop and Ollie he is. You know Ollie. We've spoken about him, I think, before off air.

Speaker 1 27:21

Yes, yeah, I do know Ollie. I actually think what he's doing for the community is fantastic.

Speaker 2 27:26

It is amazing, and actually we were at London Pride. Sadly we didn't see him there, but we were marching the same Pride this year. But, yes, so we're going to take a little break. So go grab yourself another drink, coffee, alcoholic beverage, whatever you like, a little snack one two and after this break we will be back with the very special Ollie Pike.

Speaker 1 27:50

Hey Brad, oh hi, benji Brad, what's on your mind? Oh nothing, benji, just daydreaming, I guess.

Speaker 2 27:57

What are you daydreaming about this time? A thicker hairline? Not today. Oh then what is it?

Speaker 1 28:03

I just wish I could do more to support the community without breaking the bank.

Speaker 2 28:07

Oh, and dreaming of true love's kiss Well you're in luck because you can do more to support the community. Really. How? By playing the Rainbow Lottery. Of course, you can play from as little as one pound and 50% of all tickets goes towards an LGBTQ plus organization that you get to choose Whaaaaat. And every week you could win up to £25,000 as well as other fantastic prizes. So when you play, you really do help support the community Exactly, and I've won twice already.

Speaker 1 28:37

Where can I get tickets?

Speaker 2 28:39

Just head over to rainbowlotterycouk. It's super easy.

Speaker 1 28:44

Oh, do you think the Rainbow Lottery can also get me true love's kiss?

Speaker 2 28:47

I doubt it. Oh Play the Rainbow Lottery today from as little as one pound to win big and help some incredible courses.

Speaker 1 28:53

The Rainbow Lottery Supporting.

Speaker 2 28:55

LGBTQ plus dreams. Players must be 18 and over. Always play responsibly, wet dreams not included.

Speaker 1 29:06

Okay, benji, we've had a break. Have you calmed down a bit?

Speaker 2 29:09

I fully calmed down, I've had a little refresh, I've had a bit of air and, yes, I'm ready to continue with the podcast. But I do feel better having shared that story with you.

Speaker 1 29:16

Great. Well, no thanks for sharing. This is a safe space and we're all about growing and learning here. Speaking of growing and learning, we've got a fabulous guest about to come on.

Speaker 2 29:25

I see what you did there. Yes, like we said before, we have a very special Oli Pike who he goes into the education world and, in his own words, he combats LGBT plus prejudice before it even begins or develops, and he stands for children and not born prejudice. But it's a learned behavior and we're very excited to have him on my Big Gate podcast. Please put your hands together for the very special Oli Pike from Pap and Oli.

Speaker 1 29:52

Hi everyone how's it going? We are great. We are so happy to have you on the podcast today. Thanks for taking the time to come and join us. You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 30:02

This is going to be really cool. I feel like you guys are really chill much as I have like a nice little chat oh absolutely or kiki, whatever the kids are calling it.

Speaker 1 30:13

Speaking of the kids, you probably know more than us about what's going on in education at the moment, because you are out there working with the younger generation.

LGBT+ Inclusion in Primary Schools

Speaker 3 30:20

Thanks, yeah, I really am and the kids are absolutely amazing. They're hilarious. I go into a lot of primary schools and the kids they're so unbored with the whole LGBT plus aspect of the world Great. When I tell them about different types of families, a lot of them are like, yeah, yeah, how many subscribers have you gotten, tiktok? And I'm like, okay, first of all, what's TikTok? But you know I'm trying to get down with it, so you know I'm getting there. Love that, love that.

Speaker 1 30:49

And is it just the primary school age range that you cater towards?

Speaker 3 30:53

Yeah, I mean, that is what I'm just naturally more passionate about, because my background is in children's theatre and children's television and I just fell in love with that world. It's so fantastical and imaginative and I just love sharing stories with that age group and the fact that I can make it LGBT plus inclusive and that I can inspire kids to be more accepting kind of adults.

Speaker 2 31:15

I just yeah it's my dream job. When you first started going into schools, did you think you'd have any sort of like I mean, backlash maybe is a too strong a word, but like did you have any idea how the kids might react? Like, were you sort of taken aback by how open they were to these things? Because obviously, when you're a child five or six you don't really necessarily have any sort of built-in homophobia or anything like that. So what was your sort of experience with it?

Speaker 3 31:40

Well, I think, first of all because it happened in this for quite a while. I've been doing this for about 10 years, oh wow. And when I first started like making the videos and writing the books, I wasn't thinking about schools. I was thinking more about same-sex parents. I was like, oh, this would be great content for them. But then what happened was is that my videos started going like a bit viral and then schools were getting in touch with me telling me they were using it in their assemblies and their classrooms. I was like, oh my gosh, like are you even allowed to do that?

Speaker 3 32:08

Because I was super naive 10 years ago and I wasn't really sure what was and what wasn't allowed. So, yeah, and then I was like, oh, there's clearly like a need for this type of content. And the company just growing grew, I made more and more content and kind of focused specifically more on schools and primary children. And, yeah, when I started going into the schools, I was kind of like I think I had, you know, my arm around because, going back into a primary school for the first time since I've left, I was a bit like, oh, is this going to be triggering? What's this going to be like? But I was just kind of like really overwhelmed with some of the schools and how inclusive they were and the way you know the culture of the schools in general was just like, oh yeah, we welcome everyone, we've got children who've got same sex parents, and things had really changed since I'd been at school and it was just amazing to see Because you just said like it would be slightly triggering.

Speaker 2 33:02

Are you saying that?

Speaker 3 33:03

did you have a really bad time at primary school then, and was that to do with sort of not understanding sexuality, or yeah, I didn't have a really bad time, but I think it's, you know, a common experience for queer adults to have had some difficulty during primary school.

Speaker 3 33:20

I'd like to senior school, because it's just that sense of like I'm different, I know I'm different, but I can't quite put my finger on it. That was my experience anyway, and I've actually written like a whole video slash poem called a boy, not the same, which is about how I felt as a child. I kind of felt really different from my friends and I felt a lot of shame because of the toys I played with, because of the way I wanted to dress, because of who I wanted to be friends with, and I just know that such a kind of like universal experience for a lot of gay people, for a lot of queer people, that was my experience.

Speaker 2 33:57

You said before, when we were talking to just before we hit record that you are now going into schools. You're not only talking to the kids, but you're also talking to the teachers, and you said the parents as well.

Speaker 3 34:06

Yes. So Pop and Ollie, me and my amazing team have had a bit of a brainwave. You see, what we were doing is we were going into schools and providing workshops, talking to the kids, sharing our videos, really simple stuff about different types of families, stuff about combating negative gender stereotypes and also for the older children for years five and six, kind of an introduction to what LGBT plus means really really basic and received really well by the children and loved by the teachers and the senior leadership teams in the schools as well. But there was sometimes like a little bit of a problem with the parents because a lot of them, you know, they didn't have this education when they was at schools. So not many of them, but some of them were jumping to conclusions about what we were teaching and getting really stressed out and we were like you know what? Why don't we just nip this in the bud and let all the parents know exactly what we're going to be doing in the sessions? We shouldn't have to do that.

Speaker 1 35:07

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 35:08

Because heterosexual people don't have to do that. But for this moment in time, like it's such a toxic debate, particularly around gender and transgender people and gender non-conforming people, that it's like there's just to be an open book. We've got nothing to hide and I feel like if we can just hold the parents' hands, not all of them because, like a lot of them are like yeah, this is amazing, let's do this.

Speaker 1 35:30

Yeah.

Speaker 3 35:30

Hold some of the parents' hands and just be like it's going to be okay. We're teaching your children about different types of people because it's really important they need to know his why they need to know and his how we're going to teach them Do you have a memorable moment of a time when you was at a workshop and maybe a parent had their views changed and came and expressed that to you afterwards.

Speaker 3 35:52

I would say I mean, we've only been doing this very recently, like the past six months, but already we've experienced, you know, such positivity from the parent session, with parents being like this is really great. I'm really grateful you're coming in, so that's been really lovely. We do get the odd I like to call them prickly parents. So Jack Lynch, who is my colleague and kind of heads up our workshops department, they do a really great job of like leading these sessions and you know, once they finish, the odd parent might be like oh, but isn't this all like an ideology? And Jack very kind of tactfully expresses how, you know, this is actually their lived reality because they are non-binary, they identify as they them, so it's not an ideology for them. Sure, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1 36:43

It makes total sense.

Speaker 3 36:44

But Jack always handles it all really well, really professionally.

Poppin' Olin's LGBT+ Inclusive Education Campaign

Speaker 1 36:47

Great. Well, it's amazing what you're doing and, honestly, we need people like you to go forward and pave the way for the future generations. And am I right in thinking you've got 30,000 books sold worldwide? You've won awards. It's all popping off for poppin' Olin.

Speaker 3 37:02

It is popping off, but it's been like popping for 10 years. It's been like a long journey and I keep thinking like I'm fresh and I'm new and you know, but actually I've been doing it for a while, so but I am really proud of what we've achieved. Yeah, like 30,000 books distributed worldwide. We're just about to hit 10,000 books donated freely to UK primary schools, which is a lot of books that we've given away for free.

Speaker 1 37:32

And is this part of your Pride in primary campaign that you're doing it?

Speaker 3 37:36

is yes, nice link there. Thanks so much, thank you.

Speaker 1 37:41

We did our research. You see, when you came on, oh brilliant, thanks, gang, so yeah obviously my main company is called Poppin' Olin.

Speaker 3 37:49

The website is poppin'olincom, but our Nibblin I guess I don't want to call it a sister site. It's like a non-binary site. Do you get what I'm going for? Totally get it. Our other site is called prideinprimarycom and that's basically a huge database of every single primary school in the UK and whether they've got copies of our books, because our aim with that is to make sure every single primary school in the UK has at least one LGBT plus inclusive book in their school in their classrooms. So what you can do is log on there and look up your primary school, look up your local primary school, see if they've got books and if they haven't, guess what you get to donate to them.

Speaker 1 38:31

That is so great, so that's the campaign Because I would love to be involved with that, because I came from a bit of a small town and I probably similar experiences to both yourself and Benji where it was very suppressive of the time where we grew up. So to be able to make sure that my old primary school has got some LGBTQ bus literature in is fantastic.

Speaker 3 38:52

Well, should we look it up right now? Let's do it.

Speaker 1 38:54

Let's do it.

Speaker 3 38:54

Where is it so?

Speaker 1 38:55

what part of the country in Kent McKent boy back in the day.

Speaker 3 39:00

Okay, so that's like Southeast, isn't it?

Speaker 1 39:03

Southeast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, southeast.

Speaker 3 39:05

Gosh. One thing I'm not good at is geography.

Speaker 1 39:07

And art and storytelling.

Speaker 3 39:09

But like, yeah, Okay, so what? So you can search for a specific school? Do you know the name of the school?

Speaker 1 39:17

Whitfield primary. So it's about W-H-I-T and then field Okay.

Speaker 3 39:23

Whitfield, whitfield primary. How do you spell field? No, I'm joking, I've got it. Yeah, okay, I've got Whitfield school. Yeah, guess what, it hasn't got had any books donated to it yet.

Speaker 1 39:36

So well, that is going to change right here, right now, because I'm going to donate a book to my primary school.

Speaker 3 39:42

Yay, thank you. That's really cool. You can choose like any of our books to donate. You can just donate one, you can do. Our most popular one, I would say, is what does LGBT plus mean? Great, which is like an introductory guide into what LGBT plus means.

Speaker 1 39:55

I feel like, if they've not got any books, that's probably the one to start off with, isn't it?

Speaker 3 39:59

Yeah, or we've got kind of like the fairy tales as well, which are like a nice little introduction into, you know us queer folk.

Speaker 1 40:07

Yes, great.

Speaker 2 40:08

I think something for me. I am a gunkle, I am a gay uncle and my sexuality has never, ever come up with them. So I've got nephews and nieces aged from about six to 16, never spoken about it and for years, when I suddenly became an uncle, I was terrified because I was like I know that this conversation is going to come up at some point. Or they're going to say like Uncle Ben, are you going to get married, do you have a girlfriend? And all this. But what I will say is not once ever have they gender specified any relationship that I've been in and that for me is so important as a gay person Because I was although I'm not in education anymore, but because of what I went through I was so scared that one day I'd have to tell them this conversation.

Speaker 2 40:50

And I actually never have had to. And I really think it's people like you who are going in and educating the younger generations to kind of avoid the stigma. It's not that I'm not proud to talk about it, it's that I'm nervous for them and how they process it, and actually we don't. I don't have that problem as much anymore. So for me, as a gay uncle, never having to have that conversation. I just want to say thank you for what you're doing, because I really think it's groundbreaking and it's it's actually so important, not just for the younger generations, but for us as well.

Speaker 3 41:17

Oh, that's lovely to hear and thank you, and yeah, that is part of the reason why I do what I do it's not just me, I'm not like the only person doing this.

Speaker 3 41:26

It's, you know, everyone who works in inclusive education. It's bringing so much to the movement. There's queer teachers out there, there's queer headteachers, there's other authors and writers and lecturers, and you know, it's our kind of collective effort that is helping to make the next generation the Gen C's I'm no, the ones below Gen C's yeah, what they called. Is there a term for that?

Speaker 1 41:49

I don't know what are they. I don't know, we'll be back to A.

Speaker 3 41:52

We'll be back to like Gen A right.

Speaker 1 41:53

Oh yeah, that would make sense yeah.

Speaker 3 41:54

Wow, I just liked you remember when Spice Girls covered Generation X do you remember that?

Speaker 1 42:01

That's our vibe innit, that's us, that is my vibe.

Speaker 3 42:04

I'm not that generation. I'm a millennial, believe it or not. I know I look like a Gen Z, but I'm actually millennial.

Speaker 2 42:11

So for people wondering obviously we did email Pop and ask if Pop wanted to come onto the podcast.

Speaker 3 42:16

But they were unavailable.

Speaker 2 42:17

But for people that don't necessarily know who Pop is, could you explain so?

Speaker 3 42:21

Pop is this little balloon sidekick that I dreamt up 10 years ago, and he's just never left. It's like you, brad.

Speaker 1 42:31

I'm the Pop to your Ollie.

Speaker 2 42:33

Yeah, I'm a Pop you.

Speaker 3 42:37

I mean, pop is very useful. He's a really great little metaphor at times actually for helping to explain kind of like quite complicated topics. Like we have a video about discrimination and I say to Pop, who's like this blue balloon? I'm like, can you imagine if the shop didn't serve you because you're blue, or this person didn't let you on the bus because you're round? So he's a great tool to use without making any children feel othered.

Speaker 3 43:04

Yeah, yeah, it's clever in any particular way, so very, very clever. That is Pop. Yeah, he doesn't do any of the heavy lifting, though.

Speaker 1 43:11

Never around to record Polka.

Speaker 3 43:14

Trying to get him to do promo is like.

Speaker 1 43:18

And so, ollie, if you're going to write a new book, is there like a process that you go through, or is it just when inspiration hits, that's the next story. Or is there a formula Like how do you go about writing a new story?

Speaker 3 43:30

Normally a lot of doodles and scrap pieces of paper. Yeah, I always just get like I have so many ideas in my head. I'm like I should turn that into a story, but like I just have to make a note of it because otherwise I'll forget it. So I have like a lot of notepads filled with like half written stories, but it's kind of like the essence of an idea.

Speaker 3 43:48

Yeah, they come to come together eventually, and sometimes they'll take years until they like actually become something. And then other times it'll like take a week because I'm just desperate to like get it out of my head and get it into some sort of format that I can share it with. Yeah, so every process is different. However, with the more educational stuff we do take a little bit longer than that, because we have an amazing head of education called Malayne who's been in teaching and teacher training for over 20 years and she works really closely with me going through all the content and just making sure that it's understandable for different age ranges, that we're using the right language, that we're not overcomplicating things and that the children are just going to get the most out of it in the clearest way possible.

Speaker 2 44:32

Amazing, Great. So we know on the podcast that we have a lot of listeners that are within education their teachers, but we also have same gendered parents and obviously we grew up not really understanding how to educate the younger generations on this. So for them listening, where can they go to sort of hear more about you and the work that you do and potentially get you into their sort of their fields?

Speaker 3 44:50

Papanoli in general. I would just head to our website, which is papanolicom, which is like the hub, where you can find everything. You can access our books, you can access our teacher membership area, you can access our digital training, find out more about our workshops. So that's probably the best place to go. Other than that, just search Papanoli on, like all the socials, on Instagram and not Twitter, because I hate Twitter.

Speaker 2 45:14

Yeah, it's not even called Twitter anymore, is it?

Speaker 3 45:17

Oh my gosh, it's so toxic, I can't even say it, I mean we're on there if you want to follow us on there.

Speaker 2 45:22

If people went to go Google Papanoli, I guess it would come up with all the social places where they can go and follow and find out more about you and get in touch with you or a member of your team. Yes, amazing.

Speaker 3 45:30

And if your teacher, you know, find me on LinkedIn, you know, so we can connect professionally. I just like discovered the powers of LinkedIn. I'm like, oh, this is cool. People are going to think I'm really smart.

Speaker 2 45:41

But, oli, well, it's been amazing talking to you. I thought I could actually talk to you about this sort of thing for hours, because it's something that's very close to my heart. But we were wondering, brad and I on the podcast, we like to get guests on to play games, so we were wondering if you'd like to come back after a very short break and play a little fun retro game with us.

Speaker 3 46:00

I would absolutely love to do that.

Speaker 2 46:02

Okay, Before we take the break, I've got to ask when you were younger, did you watch cartoons?

Speaker 3 46:08

I still watch them now. Well, there we go. I feel like you're going to be really good at this game.

Speaker 2 46:11

So we're going to take a very short break, grab a drink, and we'll be back after this very short break. So, oli, welcome back. Like we said, we have a very, a very brief fun game to play with you Before the break. You said that you do, in fact, still watch cartoons. Is that right? It is true, great. Well, because of the line of work you're in, working with children, we thought let's go all go back to our childhoods and let's come up with a little game which we haven't actually given a name to.

Speaker 1 46:40

Oh yeah, we haven't. But, we'll brainstorm that and then we'll announce that afterwards.

Speaker 2 46:46

That's the right order to do it, in sure. So what we're going to do is we've got five theme tunes of retro. I can't believe I'm calling them retro because to me they still seem current, but they're not current. Retro shows that you may or may not hopefully you did watch as a kid and all you have to do is tell us which ones they are. Now it gets a little bit more difficult because we're going to play them one after the other, almost mashing them up, right, but there are at least. There are five that you're trying to find. Okay, cool.

Speaker 3 47:15

Can I make notes? Am I allowed to make?

Speaker 2 47:17

notes. Of course you can make notes.

Speaker 3 47:20

Okay, great, I'm very organised.

Speaker 1 47:21

Yeah, I'm serious, I'm taking this like I'm in it to win it. And Oli, there is actually a little prize If you do quite well at this game. We thought we'd send you a little my Big Gay podcast mug in the post. I love mugs.

Speaker 3 47:33

Yes.

Speaker 1 47:34

Well, there's all to play for, then, oli.

Speaker 2 47:36

Okay, there is all to play for, so I will play these back to back and they will cross over each other, which makes it slightly more difficult. Okay, but there are five. Are you ready? Yeah hit me. Are you ready to play? Insert game here. Right, here we go. Here is the first track.

Speaker 3 48:01

Easy, easy, yeah, got it. Ah, what's that one? I know that one. Wait, this is going to be fast Ah.

Speaker 2 48:25

Well, Ollie, that was all five.

Speaker 3 48:27

I've definitely got the first two stupid E's in, Can I? I just need to sing I wanna be the fairy ghost. No one ever was.

Speaker 2 48:36

We'll be back after this short break.

Speaker 3 48:39

Now Ollie. This is my actually favourite Pokemon. All right, I got it. That was Pokemon, Right, I need to hear again. So what was? Or do I not get to hear again?

Speaker 2 48:51

Don't worry yet. Of course you do. We're going to play them all again. Are you ready? Yeah, right, here we go. I'm going to play Pokemon.

Speaker 3 49:07

Come on, Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. Oh yeah, I know I wanna be the very best. What's that one?

Speaker 2 49:30

I'll leave this one parallel, but longer for you.

Speaker 3 49:32

Huh, huh, huh huh huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. No, no idea, Some sort of guitar, okay? Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. These all seem very tetris. I'm saying hey, hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 2 49:52

They're definitely not. Wait, do you get this one? I've never seen before.

Speaker 3 49:58

Nah, don't know that one.

Speaker 2 50:01

Wait for the chorus coming up, here we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 50:26

Avengers, Alright, okay, I was never into Power Rangers, so that is why I didn't recognise that that's good. Okay so I definitely didn't get 5 out of 5, but I'm very confident I got the other 4.

Speaker 2 50:40

Okay, so, ollie, what was this one? That was Little Pingu. Okay, very good. And the second one.

Speaker 3 50:56

Telly Tubbies right, that's it.

Speaker 1 51:00

Just a little throwback. Do you remember back in the day when Telly Tubbies come out and it was the thing I remember my sister was into it. My mum tried to get her a tinky-winky teddy bear and she couldn't get them in the shops because everyone was stealing them out of the trolleys. It was carnage.

Speaker 3 51:14

I mean Telly Tubbies is like 20 years old now as well, which is concerning Because it's like how old are we?

Speaker 2 51:21

It's freaky. My favourite was La, la.

Speaker 3 51:24

Yeah, I think that was my favourite as well. She's kind of basic, wasn't she? Yeah, that was the one I identified with.

Speaker 2 51:33

Right, anyway, and this was the third one.

Speaker 3 51:38

X-Men.

Speaker 2 51:41

Now, I'm sorry, X-Men cannot be referred to as Hedgehog.

Speaker 3 51:46

No, you're right.

Speaker 2 51:49

It's a bunch of men in capsies.

Speaker 3 51:50

Yeah, there's a lot of fierce females in tight suits as well, which I wanted to be when I was younger.

Speaker 2 51:57

I thought you just said there's a lot of fists.

Speaker 3 52:00

That's what I thought you just said there's a lot of punching for sure.

Speaker 2 52:04

Oh my, okay, this took a turn. Okay, and what was this one?

Speaker 3 52:09

This is Pokemon. I can't believe I didn't get this one. That is Pokemon.

Speaker 1 52:14

Ollie, what's your favourite Pokemon?

Speaker 3 52:16

My favourite Pokemon. Again, I like the really basic one, you know, the one that's like a little egg, that's like what's it called? Mitsu used to hold it. Oh, what is that one? I feel like you could be Egatron Togetic. No, that's not what it's called Togapie, is it Togapie?

Speaker 2 52:38

It's a new Pokemon. That one was really cute. Brad's got a fun story about Pokemon, not this. Tell us.

Speaker 1 52:48

Come on, brad. Well, ollie, I once hooked up with a guy and we somehow ended up in role play and he was wearing a Pikachu, like for a onesie. It just happened, so I did have sex with Pikachu.

Speaker 2 53:00

Togapie.

Speaker 3 53:01

Pikachu.

Speaker 2 53:02

Wow, can I just say that was one of the first stories we ever brought on the podcast and we are now haunted by Pikachu gifts.

Speaker 3 53:10

Whenever we upload stuff.

Speaker 2 53:10

People just send us Pikachu gifts.

Speaker 3 53:13

Remind me not to get a Pikachu onesie, but please.

Speaker 2 53:16

Not around.

Speaker 1 53:17

Brad, anyway and for number five.

Speaker 2 53:21

What was this one?

Speaker 3 53:25

Well, this was Power Rangers, but I didn't get it, do?

Speaker 2 53:27

you know what I feel like you did really well and I think you should still get in the my Big K podcast mug.

Speaker 1 53:33

You're still getting the mug. Thank you for the shit, yay, thank you.

Speaker 3 53:38

I mean, yeah, four out of five was pretty good.

Speaker 2 53:41

It was a long intro, to be fair, but also you didn't watch Power Rangers, the GZ no, I was like it's too violent for me. Well, fun fact, I was obsessed with Power Rangers and then I wasn't allowed to watch anymore because I kept on beating up my brother and sister. Oh really, it actually made me really violent.

Speaker 2 53:58

What was your favorite color? The pink one? Well, it was the red one, then the black one came and then, all of a sudden, I was just in love with the pink one. I think that was my sexual awakening. I was like pink is just the next thing, I'm definitely gay. Yeah, I think if I was interested, it would have been with the pink and yellow one, yeah, but yeah, I kept on drop kicking him in the face.

Speaker 3 54:20

It was all just very fast paced, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 54:22

It was very stressful, yes, yeah, it was high rate.

Speaker 2 54:26

Anyway, that was our game that we didn't give a name to, but congratulations. We will be sending you my big gay podcast, mug.

Speaker 3 54:33

I can't wait to sip from it. So thank you so much.

Speaker 2 54:36

I mean, there are options for you. You can either have the generic logo on, or you can have a team Benji, or you can have a team Brad mug.

Speaker 3 54:42

Don't do that to me. I'll have to message you privately.

Speaker 2 54:46

I look forward to your message.

Speaker 1 54:48

Hey, I could be the chosen one this time.

Speaker 2 54:50

To be fair, there's no team Benji mugs left. They've all sold out.

Speaker 3 54:54

No, I'll just get generic.

Speaker 2 54:57

Generic is good, all right, well, oli, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. We really do appreciate it. Like we said before, if you want to go follow what Pop and Oli and Oli is doing, please head over to their website it's popandolycom, and you can find them on various social media.

Speaker 1 55:12

Thank you so much for what you're doing, and you're paving such a bright rainbow future for the younger generation, and it's people like you that are doing that, so thank you for that.

Speaker 2 55:22

Because one day these people will be leading the country and they will be fully educated on everything they need to. So, yeah, what you're doing is incredible.

Speaker 3 55:28

I know we've had a lot of fun today, but I just want to make sure everyone knows I do take my work very seriously and no doubt they'll see that when they log on to my website and see what we've created and thank you for letting me platform it today on your platform, so really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 55:44

Pleasure and I'm definitely going to be going on to the Pride in primary campaign that you're running and donate in a book. I think that's such a great idea.

Speaker 2 55:52

Thank you, I'm going to be doing everything and hopefully we will. Maybe we'll meet you face to face.

Speaker 3 55:57

Finally, one day, very soon. I'd love that. Yes, yeah, let's do it. That would be great. Okay, ciao. Thank you.

Speaker 1 56:07

Bye, we'll play you the big dirty bangers to track you out of bed.

Speaker 2 56:37

We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week.

Speaker 1 56:42

So look at us, we are on the wholesome journey.

Speaker 2 57:13

We're on the way to the big gay podcast. We're always looking for fun, refreshing stories and places to go which are supportive of the queer community, so if you have anything you'd like to write in with, please do, and if you're thinking I wish I had myself for my big gay podcast mug like Oli Pike.

Speaker 1 57:28

Well, you're in luck because you can head over to our website and purchase one. Any sale of my life we put straight back into the podcast. So it's like the circle of life you know, you give, we give. It keeps going. Everyone's a giver. Wow.

Speaker 2 57:44

Okay, but like I said, that is all your time from this week's episode Until next time. See you next.

Puns, Funny, and Donating Books

Speaker 1 57:51

Wednesday Right mate.

Speaker 2 57:52

Before we finish we really need to talk about your puns and how to actually be funny because they're not acceptable. What when I said it's all popping off in the comments and how to actually be funny because they're not acceptable.

Speaker 1 58:03

Yeah, I was creasing up at myself saying that.

Speaker 2 58:07

Yeah, on your own. So please can we workshop your jokes next time. But don't forget, before we go, you need to head over to his website so you can donate those books to your old school. Just make sure, when you go to the top, pop it in your basket. Also, I don't know if you found Oli on Instagram. He's actually a really good dancer. If you scroll down, you can watch this video of him popping and locking and jamming and breaking. Anyway, mate, I've got to go. I'm absolutely starving, so I'm going to go pop a pizza on your oven.

Speaker 1 58:36

Oh, and for dessert, are you going to treat yourself to a lolly pop?