Investigating The Strawbridges Part Five: Straining Dick’s Greens

When they make a TV show they film much more footage than they use in the show, and Scrap Heap Challenge is no different. If you have the contacts you can get access to this “backroom” and “greenroom” footage. I got this access and from the digital cutting room floor from the 2003 Series I found the Rosetta stone; an informal off (but on) camera chat between Lisa “3-2-1” Rodgers and Dick Strawbridge. We have transcribed the pertinent aspects or you can watch the entire footage on YouTube:

Watch Footage on YouTube

LR: So, what will you do if you leave the show?

DS: Ah divvent knaa. Mebeez I’ll get mesel’ some kind o’ show like that gadgie from Eastenders, like. Ye knaa, deein’ gangs or summick, like. With me military trainin an’ that, Ah should be canny good for it, like.

LR: Yeah, not a bad idea. He gets a packet for that show, and all the travel as well.

DS: Aye, pet, travellin’s always a bonus, like. Aah’ve been aall ower, me: Aisa, America, even New Zealand, like.

LR: I saw a show on Five where they filmed recruits for the SAS or something…he looked really hard.

DS: Whey aye, pet. Ye have to be hard and tough, like. Aah didn’t knaa there was already a show like that, mind. Bit of a shitta yes’ve dropped on us.

LR: It’s hard to find new formats, Dick. That’s the game, innit. And even when you have a new format, you’ve got the uphill slog of persuading people to make it.

DS: Aye, yer not wrang there, pet.

LR: I’ll tell you what’s getting a lot of interest at the moment. Shows about the environment, sustainability and stuff.

DS: Aboot what, pet?

LR: Environmental issues.

DS: Aye aye, Aah knaa. Whales and dolphins and aall that shite like?

LR: Well yeah, kind of I guess.

8DS: Champion! Cheers for the tip, bonny lass! Aah’ll be havin’ some o’ that mesell. Belter!

LR: Gotta go Dick, Richard just texted.

DS: Aye, nee sweat. Had on though: is it reet there’s an aald diff forra jeep in the tip, like?

LR: Dicky, if there was one in Pile F you know I wouldn’t tell you….

And there it is: irrefutable evidence of the moment Dick became green, caught forever, without question. It’s not easy being green, but it’s a lot harder befriending the gangs of Sao Paulo and being treated as kin and kindred while the bullets and the screams of the dying fill the air.