Unfortunately, he didn’t last long, eliminated on episode three after attempting to win a comedy challenge by eating a raw egg, shell and all.
And thus Dave became the first (and only) member of Radio 1’s 37-year fraternity of DJs to be eliminated from The Bachelorette. I caught up with Dave for a beer and to discuss his time on the show, as well as his musical endeavours.
You were eliminated pretty early. I assume for you it would have been a few days?
Yeah, I think it was three days or something.
Was that devastating?
In short, no. I was like, "Well, I’ve done my best, I’ve just been myself." So I wasn’t devastated. I was like, "Man, I wish I could have stuck around for a bit longer because it was so fun meeting all the guys, and Lexie’s a great girl."
The one thing which made me laugh and was kind of like, this is on me ... I never talked to Lexie. I should have talked to her. But before I went on the show I was like, I’m just not going to swoop people. I’m not going to go in and like, take time off other people.
So I’m a little bit gutted because it was so fun while I was there. But at the same time, I literally ate an egg and didn’t even talk to her, so it [her sending me home] is 100% fair. It was a raw egg, too.
Do you watch the show?
It was a ritual in the flat every year since Art Green’s season in 2015. It was one of those things that we’d watch as a p***-take, like "This show is so stupid", but then the thing with irony is, you’re eventually going to get invested in it. When I got the opportunity to go on it, I was like, "My friend’s would never let me live this down if I said no."
We need to talk about the egg. I feel like I phased out and then suddenly you were eating an egg and I was like, "Where was the joke?"
It was a bit like that, where was the joke?
I had all these things written down, and I was kind of expecting it to be like one person says one thing and you kind of bounce off each other? So that was my "comedy" routine, and I’m using the term "comedy" very loosely. My backup plan was to just eat an egg, go into that Aunty Donna/Monty Python absurdist humour. Just eat an egg — what a way to finish a set!
So I get up there, I panic because I forgot all my jokes, I say the egg joke: "What type of car does an egg drive?" And Matt, who I was versing, he knew the answer and he said it, but because it was windy nobody heard it. So everyone else’s perspective is I get up there, I mumble something, Matt mumbles something back and then I just eat an egg. I definitely misread the room.
Do you think you were there for "the right reasons"?
I was there for the right reasons, but going into that show I think you have to take it with a grain of salt. Like there’s 7billion people on the planet ... The chances of you finding someone you’re compatible with are pretty low. So I was like, "I’m not going to fall in love just because I’m here, I’m going to make sure it’s compatible."
What are you doing now musically?
The Shitz kind of came to a natural end. Jono [guitarist] had a few originals he wanted to play with, and then halfway through last year we thought "Let’s lay the foundation, get some stuff recorded". So we recorded our first single, and then late last year we recorded two singles to release.
It was kind of like a natural progression from The Shitz, like I still want to have fun but still serious. We’re not looking to be a cover band to play every weekend, we want to play gigs where we’re playing originals..
What do you play?
I play bass so it’s easy mode ... Oh sorry, I never even said, L. Hotel is the name of our new band/project. I play bass, Fred Richardson’s on the drums and we’ve got Jono Everts and he’s the guitarist and singer.
And you’re on Radio 1 as well?
Yeah, I’ve been there five years. Student radio is fantastic ... there’s such a broad range of alternative music. I love Radio 1, I’ve had so many great opportunities here.
- Fraser Thompson
