EP276: Scraping the Barrel #54 – with a mystery traitors legend

Speaker E 0:02:46 I underestimated the logistics of getting you in the room. Oh yeah. Careful, careful, hang on, hang on, there's cameras there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:09 Right, I know, I've got all water bottles up here. Oh, right. Well, this is new. I'm so nervous. Right, hang on. Goodness me. Oh, I need my headphones.

Speaker G 0:03:26 Yes, that's them.

Marc 0:03:29 Can you honestly not see?

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:30 No, I can't see. I can only see sort of down, obviously. Oh, ready?

Marc 0:03:36 Hang on a second. Compose myself.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:41 Hello and welcome to Life with Nat. As you can see, it's a little bit of a different one because I've got a blindfold on. Unfortunately, it's not Valentine's Day, so, uh, not sure why it's on. There's a mystery guest, listeners. I'm not sure who it is, and I feel a little bit nervous about it, but Mark has set this up, so it's a Scrape in the Barrel with a mystery guest, which will be better than a normal one. So charming.

Marc 0:04:09 Well, thanks, thanks very much for that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:10 Well, it will, won't it?

Marc 0:04:12 Yes, it will be.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:14 But what's going on here?

Marc 0:04:15 Right, okay, so firstly, yeah, you're fiddling about that blindfold.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:20 I know, it's annoying.

Marc 0:04:20 Right, are you definitely— you can't see?

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:23 No, I can't see.

Marc 0:04:24 Okay, have a random stab in the dark. Who do you think the guest is?

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:31 Well, no, I— you say random, but because you're a talker And you don't stop talking to me. You've sort of been so excited about this.

Marc 0:04:40 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:40 That I know it's a woman.

Marc 0:04:42 You— that slipped out when we were talking to Emma the other day. Yeah. So that's 50% of the guesses gone. So I know it's a woman. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:47 You've also said it's extremely relevant at the moment.

Marc 0:04:51 Did I say that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:54 Yep.

Marc 0:04:54 I say too much, don't I?

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:56 Yeah, you do. You don't stop.

Marc 0:04:57 Oh dear.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:58 So.

Marc 0:04:58 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:59 After my Andy Burnham podcast, the Prime Minister, Yes. I'm thinking, is, is Laura Koonsberg gonna turn up?

Marc 0:05:10 No. Oh, good guess though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:12 Thank you.

Marc 0:05:13 Laura Koonsberg, what, she, she comes on and says you're trying to take my job?

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:17 No, no, she's just like, oh, what's happening with the politics, and has a little chat with me.

Marc 0:05:21 Right. No, not Laura Koonsberg.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:24 Okay.

Marc 0:05:25 Um, but okay, I guess that was good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:27 Can I have a couple of guesses before this? So nerve-wracking.

Marc 0:05:30 Why is it nerve-wracking?

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:31 It just is. It's really stressful.

Marc 0:05:33 Why is it stressful?

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:34 Because I don't know who I'm gonna talk to, Mark.

Marc 0:05:37 Well, and they can hear you now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:39 Okay, well, that's fine.

Marc 0:05:41 Just think about that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:43 Okay. Yeah, can I have a clue? Um, is it someone on television?

Marc 0:05:48 Well, yes. I don't— I'm trying to think how to answer this without giving anything away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:52 Are they on the television now?

Marc 0:05:56 I'm glancing over at our mystery guest, actually. I mean, yes, yeah, a bit. They're, they're, they're, they are, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:05 Okay.

Marc 0:06:05 But this—

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:07 Is it an actress? Um, what's that noise?

Marc 0:06:12 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:12 No. Okay.

Marc 0:06:14 This is really— it's actually quite difficult, the position I put myself in here. Not an actress, no. Come on. I feel sorry now because they're waiting around, waiting to hear some guesses. I mean, I'm trying to think of some clues. Okay. All right. Okay. Joanie.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:29 Yeah.

Marc 0:06:30 Before she went to bed tonight.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:31 Yeah.

Marc 0:06:32 Begged me to tell her. I don't know if you believe that or not. Did she— she didn't speak to you about it, presumably?

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:37 Absolutely not.

Marc 0:06:38 Okay. Well, she did. She, she knows. She was very, very excited.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:45 Is it a comedian?

Marc 0:06:46 No. Joanie was really excited.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:48 Is it someone from The Descendants?

Marc 0:06:50 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:51 Is it someone from K-pop Demon Hunters? No. Is it someone from The Traitors?

Marc 0:06:59 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:59 Oh, is it a celebrity?

Marc 0:07:04 Uh, is it from—

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:06 is it someone from the Celebrity Traitors? No. Oh, so it's from The Traitors. Oh, okay. And it's a woman. Is it a winner of a Traitors? Uh, I think I need to know.

Marc 0:07:24 That's a good question.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:25 Did she win?

Marc 0:07:27 She might have done.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:30 Yeah, a little bit.

Marc 0:07:31 I think you can take the blindfold off.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:32 I can, and I know who it is.

Rachel Duffy 0:07:36 Hi! Hello, Natalie, how are you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:38 I'm very good, how are you? Hang on, I've got to get this fucking thing off. Stop swearing! Sorry.

Marc 0:07:45 At least it matched the outfit.

Rachel Duffy 0:07:46 You gave me a good giggle there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:48 How are you?

Rachel Duffy 0:07:49 I'm good, how are you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:51 Oh, I'm so happy to talk to you because I messaged you. Do you remember?

Rachel Duffy 0:07:55 You did, you did. You were very, very kind. You messaged me after the show to say well done, and I was like, oh my God, because a few people from the telly reached out and I was like, Natalie Cassidy messaged me. My sister was like, oh my God. So yeah, you were very good. And then again, you messaged after my mum passed away a few days later, and we had a little conversation, um, and I just thought you were lovely, so thank you very much.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:20 Well, Mark, you've played an absolute blinder.

Marc 0:08:23 Excellent.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:24 Really have.

Marc 0:08:25 I thought that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:26 I loved watching you.

Rachel Duffy 0:08:28 Aw.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:28 I really did. You played the game so well. Like, let's talk about that for a minute because we're all watching it, we all love it.

Rachel Duffy 0:08:36 It's addictive.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:37 But you were in it.

Rachel Duffy 0:08:39 I know, and it actually feels really weird because I'm watching the celebrity one back now, and it's throwing up our series. All over social media, and there's like little edits being made, and remember series 4 of the civilian one, and you're like, did that actually happen? Oh my God, 'cause you can't remember everything.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:55 Yeah, does it feel like a cheese dream?

Rachel Duffy 0:08:57 Yeah, it feels like, I've never heard cheese dream, so I'm gonna use that one, but it feels like it's somebody else's life, and you're watching it going, did I say that? Did I do that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:09 You and Steven, you were so, It was so good, and it was— you were brilliant. And I think now— so, this series is absolutely fantastic, and obviously, when this goes out, we would've had a couple more episodes, so we might get a bit more spicy.

Rachel Duffy 0:09:24 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:25 But I do— I'm gonna be honest, I feel like we've got a couple of traitors in there who don't wanna be traitors, and I feel like that can be a little bit of a shame, 'cause you've gotta play that character, you've gotta play that part, and you were absolutely unbelievable at it.

Rachel Duffy 0:09:42 Well, to my detriment, you know, I got a lot of heat. I got a lot of heat. And they were like, she's so mean, she's this, she's that, she— words I will not repeat on your podcast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:51 Mm-hmm.

Rachel Duffy 0:09:52 And I thought, lighten up, it's a blooming game. I didn't go there to knit a jumper, you know, not Tom Daley. I like— I went there to be selected as a traitor, to lie and to murder and to win. And I did it. So I don't apologise for a thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:08 And you absolutely shouldn't, 'cause you were brilliant.

Rachel Duffy 0:10:10 Thank you. Oh, I'd love to do it again.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:12 Yeah, would you? Maybe they'll do a classics. Give it a— give it 10 years.

Rachel Duffy 0:10:16 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:17 And they'll do like a classic series. Mark, what do you think about Rachel's part within the show? 'Cause we watched all of it with everybody.

Marc 0:10:24 Oh, it was brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:25 It was so good, wasn't it?

Marc 0:10:27 I, I have got a question though. Yeah, yeah. I'm interested. You know, you, you said to me about tonight you had to put your kids to sleep and All that sort of stuff. Put them to bed like we've done with Joni.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:36 Can I just say something also?

Marc 0:10:37 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:38 I've gotta do this.

Marc 0:10:39 What are you doing? Fucking hell. What are you doing there?

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:44 What are they? They, they're fake eyelashes. I went to work today, Rachel, and I don't like a lot of makeup, and I get fake eyelashes for certain jobs. Yeah, they are driving me mad. I've gotta get them off. So there we go.

Rachel Duffy 0:10:59 That's a first.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:01 There you go.

Rachel Duffy 0:11:02 Thank you so much. So refreshing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:04 Thank you.

Marc 0:11:05 I'm quite distracted by— sorry, I beg your pardon. That's right, that's fine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:08 Go on.

Marc 0:11:09 No, what was I saying?

Rachel Duffy 0:11:10 You were going to ask the question.

Marc 0:11:12 Yes. And, um, it's an interesting one because it's a conversation that we have quite a lot. Me and Natalie have it a lot because naturally we've got, we've got 2 girls and like they're kind of, they've grown up with their mum being in the public eye. What I'm really interested in— I mean, I'm sure you've been asked this before, so sorry, you probably have had to answer this several times— but how did that work? As in, did you— obviously, A, you've got to keep it quiet, and then how did they then react to their mum?

Marc 0:11:40 You know, I would imagine a lot— 10 million, more than 10 million people watched that. How did they react to, to, um, you know, all of a sudden everyone knows their mum?

Rachel Duffy 0:11:49 Yeah, well, do you know what? It's a weird one because when I went to film, I told them I was doing a course. I was doing a course for work that was gonna help me further my career.

Marc 0:11:59 Right.

Rachel Duffy 0:12:00 Not technically a lie, you know, a course in murdering people. But myself and my eldest child had watched series 3 together, and I had applied when that was on, so, or I had been thinking about applying. So we had watched the series, and he was like, oh, Mommy, this is class. So we loved it together.

Rachel Duffy 0:12:20 And then I'd obviously applied and I got onto it and I thought, he's gonna love the fact that his mommy's on a show that is so cool. And then when I got selected to be a trader, and then obviously when it was a lot of drama, and then when I won, I was thinking, my kids, I'm gonna be the coolest mom in the whole world. And I was for a little bit. And then they're like, it takes me about 3 hours to go around Tesco because everyone wants to stop and talk to you. So at this point now they're like, for God's sake, mommy, would you just shut up?

Rachel Duffy 0:12:47 But I told them, so the news come out and the cast was released the 1st of January, I got them little t-shirts to wear and they opened them. So this was a late Christmas present that, you know, arrived late in the post and I'm so sorry. So they opened it one at a time and it said, the 3 of them were sitting on the couch and it was like, Mommy is on. And then I took my t-shirt, like my cardigan off and it was like The Traitors. Oh.

Rachel Duffy 0:13:08 And my eldest boy was all, the proper show, like the show. And he jumped on top of me and the other 2 jumped on because obviously they were just like, you know, they didn't really understand it, but they just thought it was so cool. And it was really hard being away from them me and my husband went to London to watch the final and they were watching it at home with my sister, like all the rest of the family. And obviously I knew that I'd won.

Rachel Duffy 0:13:34 It didn't look like I was going to win, so my little boy was messaging me going, Mommy, I'm so worried for you, because it looked like I was out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:41 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:13:42 So they were like, just, you know, we're so proud of you, but I'm so worried. And I was like, listen, what will be will be. And then whenever we won and I got a photograph of their wee faces holding my big banner, I was like, The strangest thing ever.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:54 It was fantastic. Yeah. How long is it? 3 weeks?

Rachel Duffy 0:13:57 4 weeks, so 12 episodes. Yeah, 3 episodes for 4 weeks. So that was a tense time watching it back because, again, we recorded it months earlier. So you're going, oh God, what the hell did I say in that episode? Or, how big was my mouth? Or, how smart or sarcastic was I in that episode? And you don't know until you're watching it back and you think, Oh my God, did I actually do that? Or when the whole Fiona thing and Harriet thing kicked off, you're thinking, like, my family's watching it with me going, oh my God, I can't cope. What happens? I don't know, I can't tell you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:30 You, you, you played a blinder, but there were certain, there were certain points, because I thought you started off as sweet Rachel, and then you got into it, and you just knew you wanted to win, and that's what I loved. And every single, um, interview you did, and the things we watched when you weren't playing the game and you were sat there having a chat, it was just like, I'm here to win, and I'm gonna win. But there were certain moments where I thought, oh, she is— she doesn't care, actually. She really is gonna win this.

Rachel Duffy 0:15:05 I was like, but like, what's the point in playing a game if you don't play to win? That's my stance on it.

Rachel Duffy 0:15:10 I'm like, especially— I've, I've grown up playing games. We have a very competitive family, and I played the card game version of this before, for 15 years. So it's like, that was like me training for the, the Game Olympics, as I call it. And I was like, show up, put on like your big girl pants, do a good job. And I have a very smart mouth, so I knew I'd be good at like talking my way out of stuff, talking my way into a few things, but I got out of it too.

Rachel Duffy 0:15:34 And so yeah, I was like, I'm there to win.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:35 Yeah, you were fantastic. Can I just say, I have to bring this up, um, because you're from Northern Ireland I've just done a care documentary series, and it was with a company called Big Mountain, which is in Northern Ireland.

Rachel Duffy 0:15:49 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:49 And I think everyone knows everyone in Northern Ireland, right? I know her. Do you know Jane or Ali? Ali. Ali.

Rachel Duffy 0:15:57 Both, yeah, I met both. So they're like, oh yeah, Rachel.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:00 And when it was on, we were texting and da da da. And I said, absolutely brilliant. And we were talking about it. So now I've got you, I'm a bit like— I, I just wanted to say I love Northern Ireland, and I love the women. I love it here as well. Oh, no, it's such a beautiful, beautiful place.

Rachel Duffy 0:16:17 Yeah. It's good people.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:18 Great people. But you do— everybody knows everybody, don't they?

Rachel Duffy 0:16:23 Yeah, we totally do. And that was my concern when we went on the show, and I could hear an accent down the car— the carriage. And I was like, oh, crap, he's from home. I was afraid I was gonna know Maddy, because that's the danger when you know someone, you know, it could get you into trouble. But yeah, we always know there's like 6 degrees of separation in Northern Ireland. You can find someone Oh, they're connected to my postman's butcher, such and such. But we say, well, we'll find out how we know you before we leave the conversation.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:48 Well, what a beautiful place that you come from.

Rachel Duffy 0:16:54 I'm glad you enjoyed coming over to see it. The next time you're over now, I'll tell you all the dirt that I can't say on screen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:59 Oh, and then we need to go to just a pub and listen to music and have a drink, and you can tell me all the gossip.

Rachel Duffy 0:17:05 Yeah, I'll teach you some Irish dancing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:07 Oh, yes, please. I'm not too bad, actually, so…

Rachel Duffy 0:17:10 Oh, yeah?

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:10 Yeah, I'll show you a bit of my dancing. I'm a chatterbox. No, you're not.

Rachel Duffy 0:17:14 No, I'm not. Yeah, I can't, I have 2 left feet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:20 I'm sure after a couple of Guinnesses you're all right in the pub.

Rachel Duffy 0:17:24 Yeah, I can kick my leg up in the air. Yeah, after a couple of Guinnesses.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:27 Brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:14 Grab a knife and fork and tuck in, baby. Rachel, so I— now I've got you, it's so brilliant. I would love to talk to you. So you've got 3 children?

Rachel Duffy 0:20:26 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:27 How old are they at the moment?

Rachel Duffy 0:20:28 12, 10, and 5.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:30 What, what, what, boys, girls? What we got?

Rachel Duffy 0:20:35 2 boys and then the little girl's 5.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:37 How is that? How's it going?

Rachel Duffy 0:20:41 It's, it's busy. It's, you know what, it's great fun, but you learn a lot about yourself as a parent. especially when you're parenting yourself. Do you know, there's a lot of traits that my children now have that I know I have, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, it's like, it's a lesson in self-awareness.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:00 Yes.

Rachel Duffy 0:21:00 But it's lovely. Like, a lot of stuff I'm doing now is for them, but it's also hard being away from them. Um, yeah, and we're having good fun. They're at fun ages.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:11 Yeah, they are fun ages. Yeah, our daughters are 10 and 16. Yeah. Um, one sat on the floor with headphones on at the moment because she was excited that it was you. I mean, she's never ever bothered to listen to the pod.

Rachel Duffy 0:21:26 So is this Eliza or Joey?

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:28 Eliza.

Rachel Duffy 0:21:29 Hello, Eliza. Hi, Rachel. How are you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:34 I'm good, thank you. How are you?

Rachel Duffy 0:21:36 I'm fabulous. Nice to meet you. You too. I tell you what, you just take your mom's chair. You just push her off the chair there, me and you'll have the crack.

Speaker K 0:21:42 I think, um, it would be a better podcast, me, my dad, and you.

Speaker L 0:21:45 than my mum being here.

Marc 0:21:46 No, I was gonna say, it's better I get out of the seat and you come and sit here. Probably, actually.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:51 Yes, much more. But you love Rachel.

Speaker K 0:21:56 Can I just say that when my mum messaged you when you won, that was my idea.

Rachel Duffy 0:22:02 Aww.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:04 It was, honestly, it was so fun.

Rachel Duffy 0:22:05 We sat on the sofa watching it, 'cause we both wanted you to win, and I was like, oh my gosh, you need to message her, and then we both formed the message and everything. Well, it did make me scream out loud, and I'm like, oh my God, actually people that are famous that now know who we are. And it was very surreal, and you think, and then you realise, actually, hang on a second, millions of people have watched it. That was the thing for me, because I was on The Bake Off when I was younger, and now I look back and I watch videos and the episodes of me when I was on it from like 6 years ago. No way!

Rachel Duffy 0:22:37 I actually still can't believe that I did that.

Speaker K 0:22:40 Like, it's, it's weird watching it.

Rachel Duffy 0:22:44 Did you love it?

Speaker K 0:22:44 Oh, it was so good. But I remember it so vividly, but it's watching it back and then all the little things that aren't shown, you remember.

Rachel Duffy 0:22:55 It's really odd.

Speaker K 0:22:56 It's really weird.

Rachel Duffy 0:22:56 Oh, well done, you. Thank you. So when I come over to your house, then she can, she can bake something for us? She can certainly bake a cake. Joni is currently—

Speaker C 0:23:07 we're in competition of who can make The better cakes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:10 I've got 2 daughters who love baking, which I will say to you, Rachel, isn't great for cleaning up.

Rachel Duffy 0:23:16 No, no. We'll see. I'm a baker as well, so I'm manifesting Bake Off for myself next year.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:22 So hang on a moment, what a crossover that would be, wouldn't it? Fantastic.

Rachel Duffy 0:23:29 I love baking.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:30 Well, you've got to go on there.

Speaker K 0:23:33 I know Rachel could be on the Stand Up to Cancer one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:36 Yes.

Rachel Duffy 0:23:36 Wouldn't that be cool?

Speaker C 0:23:37 I think that would be the better one to do.

Rachel Duffy 0:23:39 I'm putting it out to the universe to potentially do that because I find baking gives me a lot of— just even after you bake the cake and I like all the icing and the little intricate parts, it's just so therapeutic.

Marc 0:23:50 Yeah. So do you— are you a bit of a dessert person? Do you like desserts?

Rachel Duffy 0:23:54 I'm just a bit of a food person. A food person. Just love food. But I'm a better baker than I am a chef.

Marc 0:23:59 Fine. I mean, so, so we had a bit of a chat the other week. me and Natalie, about— because I suggested—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:09 There we go.

Marc 0:24:09 No. I said— we were talking about Yorkshire puddings.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:11 Yeah.

Marc 0:24:12 And I said you could have— because Eliza's— Eliza's friend Alex, he was round, and I was like, look, have a Yorkshire pudding, put some ice cream in it, we'll microwave it, we'll make it a dessert. And we had it, and it was really nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:26 Sorry.

Rachel Duffy 0:24:27 What can I—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:27 Did you just look at her face?

Rachel Duffy 0:24:28 No. Gravy goes in a Yorkshire pudding and a dollop of spuds. Ah. And no, you don't. It's— no, it's savoury. I was— Mark, I—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:37 well, however, I have to say to you, it was really good. I reckon we've got 40 or 50 text messages. Got me. From people saying that they love them with dessert. So I'm wrong again.

Rachel Duffy 0:24:49 I've never heard that in my life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:51 Oh my God, you wouldn't believe it. Hundreds.

Marc 0:24:54 There is, I mean, hundreds. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:57 Oh, we're gonna do that later.

Marc 0:24:59 We'll do it later. We don't need to go and check. We won't bore reading that right now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:01 But I'm so happy you're with me. That makes me very happy.

Rachel Duffy 0:25:04 Yeah. Yeah.

Marc 0:25:04 I have to say, I think You and Rachel are the only 2 people that have said no.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:07 No, there's 2. There's 2 other messages. 4 people.

Marc 0:25:10 So 4 people, yeah, have said no. I mean, there'll be—

Rachel Duffy 0:25:14 4 sensible people.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:17 4 sane people.

Marc 0:25:19 Fair enough.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:20 Um, I wanted to, whilst I've got you, and I know you've got to go, and I can't thank you enough for that. It's lovely what you've done, Mark. Ah, this is so lovely.

Marc 0:25:28 Well, I think it should be like a, you know, it's really—

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:30 No, I know, because I think she's a great woman. So it's so nice.

Rachel Duffy 0:25:34 You're gonna make me cry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:36 No, and I did message you when your mum passed.

Rachel Duffy 0:25:40 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:41 Because I thought, what— I know what it's like to have a very busy time. And you were going through such a busy time when that show came out and having to do all the press and going around and do whatever. And at that same time, I know that you lost your mum.

Rachel Duffy 0:26:05 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:06 That's why I did have to message you and say, I hope you're okay.

Rachel Duffy 0:26:09 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:09 How was that experience for you, and how are you?

Rachel Duffy 0:26:15 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:26:15 Do you know what? It was a bit of a blur because— so, we won the show on the Friday night, did all the press on Saturday, and you're just thinking you're on the biggest high ever, and everybody wants to chat to you, and you're just thinking, I'm so proud of myself. I'm so proud of Steven. I'm so proud of, you know, the whole cast. And you're up here, here.

Rachel Duffy 0:26:34 And then rang Mummy from the BBC studios on the Saturday, and, um, we had a wee giggle and stuff, and she was like, I'm so proud of you. And I'm like, oh, this is great, can't wait to get home and see you and give you a big cuddle. And I was due to go on her— on Morning Live on the Monday morning, and we got a phone call, you have to come home. And we're like, do you know, because she was ill, she'd been ill for a long time, but she was— she wasn't on death's door. This was a big surprise.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:00 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:27:00 And then it was like, you have to come home. And I remember, like, I actually don't think I've spoken about this, but we got a flight from Manchester home, and I sat beside a lovely guy, and his wife was a huge fan, and he was a lovely distraction, and me and him chatted and stuff. And meanwhile, my sister was over here, like, the other side of the plane, and she was like, I can't believe you have to sit and entertain a conversation. I was like, no, I needed this distraction.

Rachel Duffy 0:27:25 Yeah. Turned to walk off the plane, and a wee woman squeezed my hand and says, oh, I'm so happy for you, and I hope you get to make so many memories many happy memories with your mum. And I'm going, oh God, like us going home to think she might not make it. And I just remember thinking, oh my God, this is just what life's going to be like. People are so excited and so invested, and I have all this stuff going on at home.

Rachel Duffy 0:27:47 And she died the next morning, and they had said, you know, it could be 72 hours, and she'd passed away within 12 hours. And it was good for her, and there was no suffering, and it was all very peaceful. But then you just think, I remember when she passed away thinking, I have to tell people. I have to communicate this because there was press everywhere and they wanted, you know, information and interviews.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:11 And also, you know, your story was about your mum.

Rachel Duffy 0:28:14 About her. The last line of the whole series is about my mum. And I'm like, that's a lovely legacy, you know? And it's heartbreaking that I've said, I can't wait to make all these memories. Now, that was filmed last June and I had loads of lovely memories with her that obviously people didn't get to see.

Rachel Duffy 0:28:27 But I remember having to write an Instagram story and put out, we are devastated at the loss of our mum. And I'm going, is this actually happening? Mm-hmm. Is this life right now? So it was really cruel.

Rachel Duffy 0:28:39 And then we have the best family in the whole world, massive Irish family, like there's over 100 of us. And I remember at Mummy's wake, and Mummy had the best sense of humour you'd ever, ever witnessed. And people were like, right, cousins were doing bouncers at the door in case press showed up or in case crazy fans showed up and all of this here. And there was like secret call signs, you know, if we needed to get people out the door.

Rachel Duffy 0:29:02 Like, only for them in the aftermath, like, there's 5 siblings in our house, or there's 5 of us altogether, and a fabulous husband. Only for them, like, those next couple of weeks were blurry, but they were brilliant. And then bit by bit, like, it was my siblings that kept saying to me, you spoke about Mommy so much on the show, you have to continue to do that, it's so important. And I just thought, you know what it is? And Mommy loved loved talking about her illness and loved giving a voice and loved being an advocate.

Rachel Duffy 0:29:34 Yes. And I just thought, I have, I have a gift, I have an opportunity and a platform to do that for her. So I remember going back on to do my first interview back on Morning Live and walking in the building and thinking, oh God, I'm on. My hands were shaking and I was like, I'm wobbly here and I'm— I hope I don't burst out crying and stuff. And I was like, you know what, even if you do, whatever.

Rachel Duffy 0:29:53 But I went and I did that and I was like, right, this is the start of it. There's a purpose for the year that I can go and make the memories with my family and give Mommy that space to talk about her and her life, which she would've loved.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:05 Did she— do you think she would— she was watching the series?

Rachel Duffy 0:30:11 Oh, she was watching it on repeat in the nursing home.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:13 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:30:15 She had the BBC iPlayer on, and every time you went in, my siblings would send a picture, and they're like, look at Ma, and it would just be like— She was just smiling. She was watching it, and she'll sat— 'cause I got t-shirts made, and— And I got her one saying, my daughter's a traitor. Like we, we did, and it was quoted a couple of times where I would say our family would celebrate the cat having kittens. We have a party for everything. We celebrate everything.

Rachel Duffy 0:30:39 We just kind of live big and bold. So I got all these t-shirts printed, and I'm sure people were thinking her head's up her backside, but they loved them. And my family wore them all the time. My mommy wore the t-shirt, and I showed her pictures that I'd put up of the siblings, and she says, well, where's mine? Why is my picture not up?

Rachel Duffy 0:30:54 And you're kind of going, and I know you understand this, but you're going, right, you have to be very careful because she's very vulnerable, you know, she has Parkinson's, she has dementia, you know, she's been quite ill. I don't want to put her up online, you know, just because she was having a real hard time at the time. She put my picture up online. You let people see your mummy, I thought, and you didn't argue with my mummy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:13 No, no.

Rachel Duffy 0:31:13 So, so we put her up on TikTok and she went viral with near 4 million views, and she would tell the people in the nursing home, I'm famous. Yes, I'm totally famous. So, um, she loved it, and she had been very ill that Christmas, and then January was a huge kind of— it was a big lift for her, and it was, it was almost like getting Mommy back again, and the jokes were flying, and it gave her a really big lift. But yeah, she, she watched it. She did fall asleep in the middle of the final because it was all too late for her, but she watched it the next day and she loved it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:43 Well, it's lovely, and what a lovely thing to have done. to make everyone so proud. And actually, in a time of real darkness when you do lose someone, to have you at the forefront of something really massive, how lovely for your children and all the other family. Do you know what I mean? It's so lovely.

Rachel Duffy 0:32:04 'Cause even, even my siblings, like our family group chat, and that we slag the life out of each other, like you have to be very thick-skinned in our family, but—

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:12 Oh, trust me, mine's the same.

Rachel Duffy 0:32:14 But like they show up when you need it. And they were like, Rachel, like this was a big, it helped us through our grief journey, do you know, where we had so much to look forward to, you know? And I take my family everywhere I go. I'm like, who wants to come to this? How about we do this? So it was just like, it was a nice distraction and something really unusual. Like that's not normal life, like what we've had in the last 12 months. So it's really helped and been a nice kind of— Yeah. um, nice experiences throughout the year, and we've all really enjoyed them. There's been lots of tears though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:47 How are you? I was going to say, how are you doing? Because I interviewed Andy Burnham last week.

Rachel Duffy 0:32:54 I heard.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:55 Right, so, you know, PM, then Rachel Duffy.

Marc 0:32:58 Did you have a blindfold on when you saw the PM?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:03 I didn't.

Marc 0:33:03 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:04 No, I didn't. So when I interviewed the Prime Minister last week, I was talking about the national care system, this sort of service that he wants to get into place and how he's gonna do it and whatever. But at the heart of it, I was just sitting across the road from a man who was sort of my brother's age, who had laid his dad to rest the Friday before. So we were doing all this sort of chat about everything to do with care. And I just went, hang on, can we just— I know you're the Prime Minister, but are you all right?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:42 You know, sometimes you just wanna say to people, Yeah. Are you okay? That's a lot to do. Yeah. And you've got the biggest job in the UK and you've relocated your whole family from Manchester.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:55 How, how are you? And I, I wonder if you got that 'cause you were going through this sort of frenzy of stuff. And I know you've got a brilliant family like us. That's what this pod runs on. I've got the best family in the world, massive family.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:07 That's who we are. But did, uh, were you okay? Did you just get through it, or do you feel like you, you did deal with it? Were you okay?

Rachel Duffy 0:34:16 Um, I feel like I'm dealing, 'cause we lost Daddy 10 years ago and I didn't deal with, with that very well at all. And I kind of suppressed it and thought, I'll be okay for the family. And this time round, I was like, I learned the hard way that you just have to go through it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:28 You've done both this time round. Yeah.

Marc 0:34:32 And you're like, I was gonna say, it's very strange that, because that's a very, very similar situation to Natalie around here. Yeah. Natalie lost her mum.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:40 I lost my mum at 19.

Rachel Duffy 0:34:42 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:42 And it was very sudden. And actually I just got on with life. Everyone was like, oh, she's lost her mum, but she's all right.

Rachel Duffy 0:34:49 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:50 And I just cracked on with everything and did whatever. And then when I lost dad, I feel like I lost both.

Rachel Duffy 0:34:55 Yeah. It's, it's a whole other grief cuz we had cared for daddy for 9 years. He had been sick for 9 years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:00 Mm-hmm.

Rachel Duffy 0:35:00 and he died in 2016. And then Mum had Parkinson's for 27 years. So I've been caring, we've all been caring for Mum for a long time. Like, I was 16 when Mum was diagnosed. So it was, it was really strange. But I find this week really hard. So it was my birthday yesterday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:14 Happy birthday. And it's the first—

Rachel Duffy 0:35:16 thank you. And it was the first time in my life that I didn't get a card from my mummy, and it broke my heart. So I cried so much this week, and I'm glad I got it all out of the way. And I give myself— 'cause you learn as you kind of, As you work through life, you learn. And I was like, I have to go through this. I have to sit on the bathroom floor and cry my eyes out and be angry at the world and kind of get all those tears out to then sit on my birthday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:43 Oh, we need, we need Auntie Lily here, really.

Marc 0:35:46 I know, I just found the wrong person to be here.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:48 This is right up my, my lovely sister-in-law, we do grief pods.

Rachel Duffy 0:35:53 Ah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:54 So I actually urge you genuinely to go back and just just have a little look at the pod and find the grief pods. We do them sort of every quarter, but yeah, people absolutely love them. And we just talk about people's—

Rachel Duffy 0:36:06 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:07 And it is really comforting, actually.

Rachel Duffy 0:36:09 Yeah, because initially I would've said, oh God, I'm not gonna listen to that. That's so sad.

Rachel Duffy 0:36:14 And then you realise actually it's quite therapeutic because you can't hide from grief. I like a good game of hide and seek, but I'm not hiding from grief 'cause it's gonna find me. And I was like, so I'm gonna sit, I'm gonna go through it, I'm gonna let it come over me. And then I woke up on my birthday, it come down, and the kids had all my lovely things, and I had a lovely day. And I thought, like, I had lovely messages from my aunties and stuff, my mum's sister, saying, your mum would be so proud of you.

Rachel Duffy 0:36:39 And I was like, I don't need any tears, thank you so much. And I was like, so I find this part of the year hard, and I know, like, obviously Christmas is going to be a bit tough, but I'm allowing, I'm allowing that to happen. And instead of trying to be the perfect per— because I'm a perfectionist, Natalie— So instead of trying to kind of You have to have it together. I'm like, so what if you don't have it together?

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:03 It's your own— You're only human. Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:37:04 Yeah. And I think it's a nice lesson for the kids to say, you know, I'm having a bad day, which is okay. And if you have a bad day, just share it with someone. So I'm doing— I'm having a much better week now than I was earlier in the week because I've allowed myself to have that really shitty day. So thanks for asking.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:22 That is very, very honest, and I'm very, very pleased. And our listeners, trust me, They love our grief pods and they will absolutely love what you've said. They really will appreciate it.

Rachel Duffy 0:37:32 There's no point in trying, you know. You don't get any medals when you're grieving and going, oh, I'm great, I got up and I did that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:38 I'm fine, I'm great. Oh no, I'm good.

Rachel Duffy 0:37:40 Yeah, I have makeup on me and false eyelashes on, or, you know, or I'm sharp.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:43 Oh, don't take the piss, Rachel. All right, just 'cause I had them on today, so I need to mention them again.

Rachel Duffy 0:37:49 They're beautiful. I thought you had them on especially for me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:52 I hate them. No.

Rachel Duffy 0:37:53 Um, I hate them too. I glue my eyes together more times than anything. But yeah, I think it's more, Like, you just— I think there's a lot that I like listening to people and watching people when they're being really authentic and they're being raw and they're just kind of like, listen, this is who I am, this is the way life is. And you sit and you go, I appreciate that more than this has happened to me, but I'm fine because I have it all together. No, you don't. No, you don't. So we're navigating it bit by bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:21 Bit by bit.

Rachel Duffy 0:38:23 And you're absolutely brilliant.

Rachel Duffy 0:41:28 About what?

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:30 Exciters.

Rachel Duffy 0:41:31 I'm not watching.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:32 Shut up, you wind me up.

Rachel Duffy 0:41:36 I'm addicted to it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:37 Come on.

Rachel Duffy 0:41:38 I'm addicted to it. So I was asked at— I was on the red carpet to the BAFTAs.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:43 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:41:44 When all of the kind of— that was my first big, big red carpet. And they were like, right, the lineup's just come out, who do you think? And I'm like, oh. So my prediction back then in May was Joanne McNally. Obviously have to back another Irish girl. Of course you do. And we have to back the women. And, uh, and I love Maya Jama. I just think she's cool. And I said, imagine those 2 as traitors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:05 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:42:06 Now I do think, and I'm gonna maybe go on TikTok tomorrow and put this out here, and it might be short-lived. Imagine Maya Jama, because she's very close with Joanne, imagine she recruits her.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:18 Oh, that's so good.

Rachel Duffy 0:42:19 And the 2 of them have the best time cackling away in that turret. So that's my prediction.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:25 I just think that we need to get someone who really enjoys being a traitor in there.

Rachel Duffy 0:42:31 You need a bit of sneakiness, 'cause I think you enjoy— I always hear on the Traitors, I'm sadistic, I want the bad guys to win all the time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:39 Yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:42:39 And you want them to be extra sneaky and extra kind of like, you wanna see them having fun because then you have fun watching them. So, and I feel sorry for James because I'm like, when you didn't want to be one, it's very hard to then be shoved into a role. But yeah, I hope that— He's doing a great job. He's doing good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:00 But I don't know how long his honesty will last, 'cause I feel like you've gotta get in there and then you're a character. You are a traitor. You're not you, are you, when you're a traitor? Are you?

Rachel Duffy 0:43:12 Not one bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:13 You're not you, are you? Because you're playing a bloody game.

Rachel Duffy 0:43:19 Yeah, no, you're a sneakier version of yourself where you're doing all the things that you don't get to do in everyday life, and you're lying to people's faces, and you're having a ball doing it, and you're being really manipulative. And so, yeah, I think we need to see a little bit more of that. Although I think Maya has that in her. Like, even when she was saying, let's, let's, let's get serious about murder, I'm like, yeah, bring it on.

Marc 0:43:40 Yeah. When— I've gotta ask you this. I'm sorry, this is going back a few weeks now. This is a bit boring, but the Richard E. Grant thing— we mean that— don't roll your eyes again, Natalie. Every time I speak— I love him. Right, now honestly, did you— well, so I, I wasn't convinced when he said, I'm a traitor, and he sort of styled it out, and he said— and then he said, oh no, uh, I, I forgot, I was just honest. Did you, did you believe that, or do you think he did it as like a little wind-up? Do you— I don't know, what do you think?

Rachel Duffy 0:44:13 He's since come out to say that he put it out there as a little bit of a joke, but nobody else got it, and then he panicked. And you're kind of going, hang on a minute, I don't believe that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:23 Sorry, did he say that?

Rachel Duffy 0:44:26 He said— where was he interviewed? And because I came across the video the other day, and he said, like, I put it out there and I thought they would laugh. And then I think he kind of just— I think he went too deep into it because then somebody said Why would you be so stupid to admit you're a traitor? And I says, well, I did it. As soon as we left Traitor's Peak, Rhys had said to me, are you a traitor?

Rachel Duffy 0:44:46 And I said, yeah, a big, fat, dirty one. But we laughed straight away, and I hid behind my sarcasm. So that was part of my game plan where I'd be like, can't even take her seriously. Where he kind of dipped his toe into that and then come back out. Where if he had stayed in character and says, those ones can't take a joke, or—

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rachel Duffy 0:45:04 But it was like, did he or didn't he? But I would've loved to have seen him stay on the show. I thought he was brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:10 And I just loved—

Rachel Duffy 0:45:11 he loved being a traitor.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:13 Yeah, he was so— loved the murders, loved the—

Rachel Duffy 0:45:16 And his wee smile, his wee smiley face, and he would've enjoyed it. So, I was raging he was voted out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:21 Me too.

Rachel Duffy 0:45:22 Yeah. But fingers crossed the traitors can do it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:26 They can do it. They can do it.

Rachel Duffy 0:45:29 I think so. Well, my other prediction was for Julie to stay in, and then—

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:33 Off she goes. Off she pops. Again, she was a brilliant faithful. And because she was loud and proud and wanted to chat about everybody, you want those characters. characters. It seems— I want to see this week, I want to, I want to see a little bit more, a little bit more stuff going on. Everyone seems a little bit quiet and a little bit comfortable.

Rachel Duffy 0:45:57 But do you not think that that's the flaw in a celebrity version of this game? Because they have reputations and they're doing it for charity and they know each other, and it's slightly different.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:08 Well, we went in They should not think like that at all. If I went in there, I would not give a fuck.

Rachel Duffy 0:46:14 So are you gonna apply for series 3 of Celeb Traitors? I— you'd be, you'd be, you'd be a rocket head on that show.

Marc 0:46:23 What would she be?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:24 What would she be, Rachel?

Rachel Duffy 0:46:26 I put her as a faithful and she would go mad.

Marc 0:46:29 That's interesting. I don't think so.

Rachel Duffy 0:46:30 But, but I think a good strategy as a faithful is to go in and be loud and get it wrong, like Joanne McNally. They're not gonna vote her out because she's wrong. And then she, you know, do you know what I mean? If you're gonna be loud, you have to actually then play a role. Because if you're just loud and throwing names out or whatever, but yeah, you'd be a brilliant faithful.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:47 I would.

Rachel Duffy 0:46:48 I'd pay to watch that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:49 Ah, bless you. We'll see.

Marc 0:46:52 See what happens.

Rachel Duffy 0:46:52 I'll give you some tips.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:53 I'll be on time.

Rachel Duffy 0:46:55 On how not to get murdered. You know, I'll give you the tips when we're doing our Irish dancing lessons with— Oh, I can't wait.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:00 We've got Guinness, we've got dancing, we've got traitors lessons. It's all going on.

Rachel Duffy 0:47:04 We've got Yorkshire puddings with gravy and that ice cream.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:08 Thank you, Rachel, very, very much.

Rachel Duffy 0:47:10 If you come over here, I'll get you a cup of tea in a Christmas mug. I hear you love Christmas.

Marc 0:47:15 I mean, that's another episode in itself. I'm gonna say that now.

Rachel Duffy 0:47:19 I, you know what, I actually started listening to Christmas songs.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:23 Can I, can I— Rachel, no, no, this is— shut up.

Marc 0:47:27 Separated at birth. Shut up, you twins.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:29 Shut up.

Marc 0:47:31 It's absolutely ridiculous, this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:33 Yesterday. Yeah. No, no, I'm lying to you. The day before yesterday, get in the car.

Marc 0:47:39 Tell me you didn't put Magic Christmas on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:42 We just had a look to see if it was on.

Rachel Duffy 0:47:43 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:44 It was there. Off it goes.

Rachel Duffy 0:47:45 I have it on my car.

Marc 0:47:47 Oh no, Joni was so excited. Poor Sean.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:50 So what I would say to you, what I would say to you is it went on. Me and Joni did For Liz Never Dad, got really excited.

Rachel Duffy 0:48:00 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:01 And then I said, We're turning it over now to Magic Soul because even for me, I can't have it on continuously. Yeah, yesterday I got in the car to see my niece. Oh, I don't mind. I had a little bit of John Lennon. Yeah, a couple of songs.

Marc 0:48:18 John Lennon? What, a Christmas song? What are you talking about? Yeah, John Lennon.

Rachel Duffy 0:48:24 Which one's that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:28 John Lennon's.

Marc 0:48:29 What song is that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:31 So This Is Christmas.

Marc 0:48:32 Is that John Lennon?

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:34 Um, what? No, hang on. No, it is. Is it really? News to me. Don't wind me up.

Marc 0:48:41 Oh no, no, I'm not winding you up. Go on, have a little look. Fact-check that. You need to fact-check that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:46 War Is Over. No. Oh, that's—

Rachel Duffy 0:48:49 is that War Is Over?

Marc 0:48:50 It's not John Lennon.

Rachel Duffy 0:48:51 No, that's Band Aid, is it not?

Marc 0:48:55 No, give me the fuck— give me my phone. Sorry, Rach, this is terrible, the production that goes into this.

Rachel Duffy 0:49:00 Well, I, I had chestnuts roasted on an open fire on mine this morning, and I'm kind of coming along. Yeah, I drank out of my Christmas cups all year round.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:10 Do you?

Rachel Duffy 0:49:11 Yeah, all year round.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:13 Now that is interesting.

Rachel Duffy 0:49:15 Do you know, because even, even when I was like working on my regular job Yeah. And you'd work from home and people would be slagging me going, oh, here's the Santa cup coming out. I'm like, but it's the bath cup, so it's just on all the time.

Marc 0:49:28 I, I can't believe it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:29 Am I right?

Marc 0:49:30 Listen to this, Rachel. Go on, go on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:32 Yeah, I am right. John Lennon, Happy Christmas, War Is Over. I swear I didn't know that. So this is Christmas.

Marc 0:49:39 I didn't know that was him.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:41 Me neither. Is it? Yes.

Marc 0:49:47 I did not know that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:49 Crazy. My mum's favourite. I knew it was Yoko Ono. No, no, I bow to your knowledge.

Rachel Duffy 0:49:53 You've come on this podcast to get educated.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:57 Well, there you go.

Marc 0:49:59 Not a lot of people have said that, but yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:01 Just click. Can we just click?

Marc 0:50:03 Yeah, that's the trailer done.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:05 Just clip that up.

Rachel Duffy 0:50:06 Yeah, this is the most educational podcast I've ever been on in my life.

Marc 0:50:11 Brilliant. That's it. That's the second clip. That's the second.

Rachel Duffy 0:50:14 It is only my third one. Perfect. Or fourth, fourth if you count Uncloaked.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:24 Oh, oh, it's been so lovely seeing you.

Rachel Duffy 0:50:27 I actually can't believe I'm sitting here talking to you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:28 I, I genuinely can't thank you for your time on an evening where the kids are around and you could be sat having a chill out watching the Bake Off.

Rachel Duffy 0:50:37 So They're, they're delighted because I got an extra large cookie for my birthday yesterday. So my little girl, when you were chatting to me, had— she's snuck into— she should be in bed, she's 5. She snuck into the room. She knows her mummy's not going to give after when I'm speaking in my nice voice. Yes. And she's lifted a bit of the cookie and she's run back upstairs, probably to watch Smurfs on the telly. So she's living her best life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:01 That's what we have to do as working parents. You let him get away with fucking murder.

Marc 0:51:05 And before you go, Rachel, I'm sorry, but it's traditional. We— and Natalie did this with the Prime Minister.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:11 I did.

Marc 0:51:11 So you're in good company.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:12 Go on.

Marc 0:51:12 There's a couple of questions that Natalie will want to ask you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:15 Yes, life with Nat questions, which are really important. Okay.

Rachel Duffy 0:51:18 Okay. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:21 When you go into a shop, do you use scan and shop, or do you Uh, put all your food in the trolley and go to a till?

Rachel Duffy 0:51:32 I do my scan and shop and bag it on my way around.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:36 Do you use a shopping bag to bag it in or a basket?

Rachel Duffy 0:51:41 A shop— a trolley and a shopping bag. That's when I'm doing my big grocery shop. Otherwise, if I, if I do a little run into shops, I'm like, I don't even get a basket. I get 50 things and drop half them on the way around.

Marc 0:51:52 Interesting.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:53 You don't put them in a bag.

Marc 0:51:55 Have you ever— basically, have you ever gone around the supermarket with a bag and put all your goods into the bag? Not, not a trolley, not a basket. Have you ever put it directly into a shopping bag is the question.

Rachel Duffy 0:52:06 Without scanning it?

Marc 0:52:07 Well, that would be theft, Rachel.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:09 No, I mean, I mean, that we scan and put it into a bag. Bag for life.

Rachel Duffy 0:52:14 Uh, yes, but the bags are in a trolley.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:16 Yeah, I, I carry mine. I don't have a bag and I'll scan it and just drop it in and carry it.

Marc 0:52:23 Yeah, to explain, to explain the curveball that got thrown into the question was Natalie mentioning about the scan and What I, I now do that, by the way, but what I used to do is I would run around the supermarket with my shopping bag and I would put stuff into the bag, and then when I got to the till, I would take it out of the bag, scan it, and put it back in again. I now scan and shop, so it's gone, but that's, that's the historical question.

Rachel Duffy 0:52:47 Yeah, I do see people doing that, but I think if you're gonna like scan it and then put it into the bag, yes, it's better.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:55 Okay. Okay, when you're in the shower, Rachel, when you're in the shower, do you stand? Do you ever wash your feet? Now what I'm saying is we're in the shower, the shower's on.

Rachel Duffy 0:53:07 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:08 Do you actively pick your foot up and wash it, the soles of your feet, every time?

Rachel Duffy 0:53:13 Yeah, I'm very methodical.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:16 Okay, fair, fair. Well done.

Marc 0:53:18 Do you do that? I've never asked you that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:19 No, that's the whole point of the question.

Marc 0:53:21 Well, I don't know. I don't know where it originated from.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:23 If— unless my feet— unless it's baking hot, 34 degrees in the summer, of course I wash my feet. But— and now if I'm in the shower, unless my feet are visibly dirty, I don't pick my feet up because I feel like they just get washed.

Marc 0:53:38 And yeah, your feet up. Yeah. Oh dear, that's nice.

Rachel Duffy 0:53:43 I've never been asked these questions.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:44 Oh no, well, these are the sort of highbrow, highbrow questions you're going to get asked. It's highbrow things.

Rachel Duffy 0:53:50 I love it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:51 Thank you.

Marc 0:53:51 You need to send Rachel a shopping token as well.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:53 Have you ever had a unicorn swimming ring? Sort of a huge— Yes. A huge— On a hen party. How much was it? Do you remember how much you both paid for it?

Rachel Duffy 0:54:06 Probably about £10.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:07 Not bad. Yeah. And then we'll be pleased.

Rachel Duffy 0:54:11 Yeah. Then we busted at the end of the night because we were very intoxicated.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:16 Good.

Rachel Duffy 0:54:16 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:17 Well, there we are.

Marc 0:54:18 I mean, yeah, imagine what the Prime Minister's answers to those were. No, did you actually—

Rachel Duffy 0:54:23 did you ask the same questions? Not quite.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:25 He wouldn't go for those, so I had to ask him sort of, how do you take your tea? Do you cook? And do you watch the telly? But they're not as specific. They said, we really like the questions, but they're a bit specific for the Prime Minister.

Rachel Duffy 0:54:38 Oh, so he does more vague. I have a question for you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:42 Yeah, anything.

Rachel Duffy 0:54:43 Would you rather have uncontrollable laughter at a funeral or cry the whole way through a wedding?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:49 Uncontrollable laughter at a funeral. 100%.

Rachel Duffy 0:54:56 Oh, you're dark and twisted.

Marc 0:54:57 That's really bizarre.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:59 Oh, absolutely.

Marc 0:55:00 That's very odd.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:01 Everyone I've asked that, because we were talking about random questions recently, everyone had said crying at a wedding because you can get away with it and say, you know, you're overcome with emotion.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:09 I don't want to cry all day.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:12 Good to know. Good to know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:14 Oh, I'm up for the crack, as you say.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:19 Yeah, yeah. Do you know what? Life's too short. You have to—

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:21 You know, you know, I'm a Cassidy, so my ancestors are from Donegal, which is on the border there, very close to you.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:28 Yeah, it's about a 2-hour drive from here. It's beautiful.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:31 I've never been, but that's where my, my family originate, Donegal.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:36 So you need to get in touch with Big Mountain Productions and say we have a Cassidy-Duffy road trip along the northern coast, looking at Natalie's roots, looking at Natalie's roots, and being shown the Irish way by an Irish girl.

Marc 0:55:53 And not eating a Yorkshire pudding as a dessert, clearly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:56 No, thank you. We're all right, thank you.

Marc 0:55:58 All right.

Rachel Duffy 0:55:58 Yeah, it could be. Yeah, random Irish shite on tour sounds good to me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:05 Girls on tour.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:09 Oh, thank you so much for having me on your podcast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:13 Thank you so much.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:14 Even though, even though you didn't invite me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:16 Well, I didn't, but it's absolutely genius because I thought, you know, you know that I've always wanted to talk to you. Yeah, it's perfect. So thank you.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:24 Ah, you're very welcome. And, uh, we'll keep in touch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:28 We'll keep our message anyway. We'll keep in touch.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:30 And then, yeah, when I do get the Bake Off call, I'll call Eliza for some tips.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:35 Absolutely, definitely.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:36 Yeah, she could do some taste tests for my cake.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:38 100%.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:40 Thank you, thank you so much. You're very welcome. Can I take a sneaky photograph of this little setup?

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:46 Of course you can.

Rachel Duffy 0:56:47 Because you're gonna laugh. I will send it to you only because the setup is hilarious, because I've stolen a lamp and sat it on a shoebox in front of me for the lighting to make sure. Because my little boy came in earlier and he's like, what are you doing? Why is— why have you got my lamp? And I was like, I'll take one from this Right, ready, steady, class. Oh, you have been so good, and I've really enjoyed it, and it's been nice. And do you know what, it's nice having a nice conversation about Mommy and kind of like that whole, how are you and stuff. So I appreciate that. I know you get it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:20 Honestly, I do get it very, very much. And I do, I genuinely— a grief pod would be brilliant for you, but this has been absolutely brilliant. And maybe another time Um, let's see, but we could— I look forward to it. We could go a bit deeper into, yeah, how we feel about all that another time if you fancy it.

Rachel Duffy 0:57:37 Yeah, I would love that. But Mark and Emma, thank you so much. And Natalie, thank you, you've been amazing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:42 Thank you, a pleasure. Thanks, Hannah. Have a nice evening.

Rachel Duffy 0:57:45 All right, I'll have a big one in my Christmas cup. See you later.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:50 See you later. Bye. Thank you so much.

Marc 0:57:53 Bye.

Rachel Duffy 0:57:53 See ya.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:54 Oh, Mark, I love that. Genuinely, thank you so much for getting her on.

Marc 0:57:59 I just had a feeling that the two of you would get on really well.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:02 I know, but it's funny that— do you remember me messaging her then?

Marc 0:58:05 Uh, I'll be absolutely honest, I now have been reminded of it, right? When I spoke to her and said, would you mind coming on, it was more based on the fact that, A, we like to talk about the Traitors, we like the Traitors, and I've always thought since we watched her on the Traitors, I just thought you're quite The other thing I will bring up, yeah, is the fact that you quite fancied her, didn't you? No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:28 Yes, you did.

Marc 0:58:29 No. You asked me that. You asked me that when she was on it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:32 You liked her a lot.

Marc 0:58:34 Did I say that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:35 Oh, he's got in touch with Rachel through Nat's pod. Oh, yeah.

Marc 0:58:41 Hang on. You thought that was the case. I never confirmed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:44 She's a lovely lady. Is it all good?

Marc 0:58:47 This is really— she's gonna be really embarrassed about that comment. No. She will be. That's really embarrassing. That is not true. I didn't say that. You asked me that when we were watching Traitors. I did.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:54 And I definitely know your response and you, you definitely fancied it.

Marc 0:58:57 Right, okay, okay. So you're in your head.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:58 Anyway, genius guest. Well done.

Marc 0:59:01 Thank you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:02 Everybody, wasn't that lovely? 07788 20 19 19. I'm gonna go back now and watch the final of her and Stephen. Brilliant. 'Cause it was absolutely brilliant. Gonna get a glass of wine and watch the final. I hope you all enjoyed it and I'll speak to you very soon. Mark, that was genius. Thank you.