Last week Channel 4 added even more fab acts to the T4 On The Beach bill. Joining The Hoosiers, Scouting For Girls, The Feeling and Robyn on the sandy stage will be soul queen Adele, The Pigeon Detectives, Sam Sparro and MKP favourites McFly. AMAZING – what a party!
To celebrate the news, we were granted an audience with all four of the show's presenters - Steve Jones, Alexa Chung, Miquita Oliver and Rick Edwards. Being the polite peeps we are, we accepted, and, in between swooning over Steve and gazing at the oh-so-cool-and-fashionable Alexa, we actually managed to get some juicy goss out of them. Like that Miquita would like to eat Adele, and Alexa has massive palms. Weird, eh?! Read on to find out more in our hilarious beach-themed interview…
MKP: Would you describe yourselves as beach people?
Alexa: I think I’m more beach than pool. I love the sea and I love swimming in it. Rick’s a lifeguard, but a lake lifeguard. So he’s a lake person.
MKP: Is there a difference between a lake lifeguard and a beach lifeguard then?!
Rick: Yeah there is, yeah. I mean I basically know how to rescue everywhere, but it’s a whole different kettle of fish – literally!
Steve: I would describe myself as a beach person. I’m not a big fan of the sea, I like the sand but not the sea… because there really are real creatures in there… I’m scared of sharks and things like that.
MKP: Are you one of those people who’s scared of sharks even in England?
Steve: Um, yeah…I mean when people say ‘there are no sharks out there’ I wonder how they know. I mean have they surveyed that particular area?!
Miquita: But there’s none in Cornwall though is there.
Steve: Yeah, I don’t know… I’ve got to that stage in life now when I’m on a plane and I think ‘do I need to be on this plane?’.
Miquita: He did 99 Things To Do Before You Die and now he’s scared of swimming in Cornwall because of sharks.
MKP: Was that a TV programme?
Steve: Yeah, I had to run around the world doing crazy things. And I had to swim in a tank with sharks.
MKP: That’s mad!
Steve: Yeah, I’d just started in TV, and I would have done anything for a job! And I did do anything! But yeah I’m a beach person – I love the beach, I love the sun, I love sunning myself…
Miquita: I don’t really so much. When I go on holiday with my friends I annoy them because I always get so bored. I think I’m a bit A.D.D., so I have to read a lot of magazines.
Steve: Yeah she LOVES magazines. And she tears out the little pictures of the dresses she likes.
Miquita: Yeah but that’s because I have a stylist and I have to get like 30 outfits in one day!
MKP: Yeah girls have to do that kind of thing! Anyway, so what do the rest of you do on the beach?
Alexa: I read.
Rick: Yeah, I read too.
Alexa: I read under the shade.
Rick: No, you’re going for a bit of a tan this summer.
Alexa: Yeah I am, that’s true. This summer I’m gonna let loose for the first time and get a tan.
Rick: I’m a fan of the tan, and the read.
Steve: I read and listen to my iPod. Or I like to make love on the beach too… if it’s secluded enough I might find a little cave…
MKP: OK..!
Miquita: I’ve never done that!
MKP:Are you sand or pebble people?
Rick: I would kind of merge the two, so kind of half and half. So one of those beaches that are pebbles which gradually change into sand -so the best of both worlds.
Alexa: I would say sand, because there’s less injury.
MKP: Have you had a pebble injury before then?
Alexa: Yeah I think I must have. I must have stubbed my toe or something.
MKP:Are you big sun-worshipers?
Miquita: Yeah I love to tan, but it’s quite easy for me, maybe because I’ve got black in me!
MKP: Do you make sure you use sunscreen?
Rick: Yeah I’d start with a 25 and I’d work down to a 12.
Alexa: Yeah I’d be a 40.
Rick: But this summer you’re gonna have to get the oil out!
Alexa: Oh yeah.
Miquita: I don’t like to use any. So when we went on tour to Australia people were like, ‘ooh watch out’. I’ll go the lowest, like for 10 or something.
Steve: Yeah I could lower, I might go eight. I’ve got pretty dark skin so...
Miquita: Yeah you go dark…We went on tour for quite a long time and he went black!
Steve: Yeah I tan to the point where it’s horrible. It looked like I’d been stuck on the sun-bed for a week. I went orange, it was weird.
MKP: Do you ever play beach sports?
Rick: Oh yeah - anything competitive and count us in, we’re quite competitive generally. So yeah all the games – bat and ball, volleyball, beach football, frisbee…
Alexa: Yeah and I like to fashion my own games too, like ones with lilos.
Rick: Yeah we made a good one once in Australia which was kind of waterpolo with a bean bag as the ball. It was great.
MKP: Would you ever consider making a sandcastle?
Rick: Ooh I haven’t done for years, but yeah I would …
MKP: What would it be like?
Rick: Well, again because of my competitive streak I’d probably have to look at the rest of the beach and then make one that was better.
Alexa: Rinse them!
Rick: Yeah! It would be bigger. I’d be big on the construction side of things. And Alexa would be big on the decoration; she’d do turrets with damsels in distress coming out of them, that sort of thing.
MKP: Do you have a beach body routine?
Alexa: Noooo!
Rick: No…
Alexa: We’re always just about the guns aren’t we, that’s just how we roll. So we don’t do anything extra…
Miquita: I panic! And stop eating potatoes.
Steve: I go to the gym all year round so not really. I always work out! I’m kind of obsessed by the gym, I gave up smoking a few years ago and now I don’t do anything harmful to my body, I drink quite a bit but balance it by going to the gym all the time.
MKP: Do you have any beach fashion tips?
Rick: Hats. Nice, wide-brimmed hats.
MKP: Sombreros?
Rick: Not that wide brimmed! Then you just look like you’re mocking the Spanish!
Alexa: From me it would be to make sure you get a wax. Make sure you’re groomed, it’s offensive if not! Also don’t wear a corset, because that would be mad.
Steve: Never wear thongs. If you’re a man.
Miquita: And girls never wear heels, a lot of girls wear heels and that doesn’t make any sense.
Steve: Yeah heels are a bit whorish. Don’t do it, it doesn’t make sense. Don’t wear speedos either.
Miquita: Men should wear board shorts.
Steve: Yeah men, wear board shorts!
MKP: Are you a speedo-wearer Rick?
Rick: No.
Alexa: You have done!
Rick: I have yes, but not normally. At the last T4 On The Beach they got me what was supposed to be speedos, but the lovely props gentleman actually just got black pants, so I was just there in pants. For some reason they couldn’t find speedos…
Alexa: And I said I’d never wear a bikini on T4 but I did, as a Bond Girl.
MKP: What would you say was the perfect beach outfit for the opposite sex?
Alexa: Naked.
Rick: Astronaut.
MKP: How would that work?!
Rick: Not sure. You can wear anything on the beach though…
MKP: Do you prefer bikinis or one-pieces?
Alexa: Bikinis. But actually Antipodium have done a very nice stripy one-piece. Rick: But I think a one-piece makes you look more like a pro swimmer.
Alexa: Because I’m so competitive I suppose I like those!
Miquita: I say nothing too short. I saw some bloke wearing tight cut-offs in Primrose Hill the other day, he wasn’t even thin. It wasn’t good.
Steve: For me I think a nice sporty bikini is best. None of this just covering the nipples… you’ve gone to the beach it’s not a fashion show, just chill!
Miquita: Yeah, chill!
MKP: Do you have any pulling tips for the beach?
Miquita: No I’ve never pulled on the beach… Ask the one who makes love on the beach!
Steve: No, I would never try and pull a girl on the beach. Weird. Keep away from that!
MKP: Do you have any other beach no-no’s?
Rick: I’m not keen on heavy-petting.
Alexa: Do you know what I genuinely hate? People rubbing oil into other people, because I can imagine all the sweat they must have in their palm region and I just don’t think that’s nice to rub on anyone else. It offends me.
Rick: People who do my back get annoyed coz there’s so much of it.
Alexa: Luckily I’ve got massive palms so I can deal with it.
MKP: Have you ever had anything embarrassing happen to you at the beach?
Rick: I don’t think I have actually.
Alexa: No… Oh yeah you have actually… [laughs uncontrollably]… don’t you remember when we were dressed up as He-Man and She-Ra?! I can’t tell this…
Rick: Oh yeah… well that wasn’t actually a beach one as such. It was actually by a lake…
MKP: What happened?
Rick: We were filming in Scotland and it was quite cold. And I was dressed as He-man and I had a really bad stomach and I had to jog across to the nearest cafe in my He-Man hot pants. Yeah that was embarrassing.
MKP: OK, if you were stuck on a desert island somewhere and you could only listen to one song, eat one thing and talk to one person, what would you choose?
Miquita: I think I’d go with Jeff Buckley and Halleluiah because I just heard it in the loo and I forgot how much I love it.
Steve: Possibly Hot Chip and Over And Over.
Miquita: Because you’d listen to it over and over?!
Steve: Yeah, well I wouldn’t have an option would I?!
MKP: What about food?
Miquita: You know what? I’d have mango. I love mango, I eat a lot of mango.
Steve: She eats a lot of mango. She’s actually put me off it. I can’t look at it anymore. I’d take tomatoes.
Miquita: He makes amazing salads.
Steve: I do make amazing salads.
MKP: Who would you be stuck with?
Miquita: Stephen Fry.
MKP: Ooh good one, he’d teach you a lot.
Miquita: Totally, I love the sound of his voice and he’s so funny. Beat that.
Steve: I can’t trump that… Oh yeah actually I can. I’d have Hugh Laurie, coz he’d tell me about Stephen Fry.
MKP: If you ran out of tomatoes and mangoes, and your only chance of survival was to send out for a fried celebrity, who would you choose to eat?
Miquita: Adele. I’d eat Adele. I love that sentence ‘I’d eat Adele’.
Steve: I like lean so I’m gonna eat Kelly Holmes. I tell you what she may be fast, but I’d catch her! There’s nowhere to hide on this island Kelly!
T4 On The Beach hits Weston-super-Mare on the July 20. Tickets are available now from Ticketmaster (0844 847 1743 and www.ticketmaster.co.uk) priced at £30.
They're on colourpress, which is registration-only, but I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere soon!
