From the moment that Love Island's Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks enter a vacant Kiss FM radio studio, their chemistry is palpable. In fact, Pete and Liv bounce off other so naturally, we’re surprised they’ve never officially worked together before. Unless, of course, you count Liv’s short-lived stint on TOWIE, which Pete doesn’t. Instead, he jokingly calls Liv’s two-season appearance ‘fleeting’ on the reality show he stayed with for seven years.
Building on their decade-long friendship and the quick-witted humour we’ve come to love them both for, Pete, 37, and Liv, 33, are teaming up for a brand-new radio show on Kiss FM called The Sunday Roast. Hoping to help us beat those ‘Sunday scaries’, the duo will tease not only each other but also listeners, as well as play the occasional track, of course. What more could we want?
Let’s go back to the beginning. How did you two originally meet?
Pete: We met on a night out at an awards ceremony.
Olivia: I’m glad you can remember!
P: I think it was the Specsavers Awards.
O: They’ve probably ceased to exist. It was years ago.
P: We were sat together on a table and spent the entire night just chatting and abusing each other really. It was basically a practice run for The Sunday Roast.
What were your first impressions of each other?
O: I didn’t realise how funny Pete was. I only really knew him from TOWIE, where that didn’t come across. We had the same sense of humour, so we hit it off really quickly.
P: We were literally dying laughing within seconds. We spend most of our time together laughing.
We want to know what’s the biggest misconception that people may have of you both – but we want you to answer for each other…
P: This is a hard one, because I’m going to have to be nice here, and that doesn’t happen often. The biggest misconception people have of Liv – and actually she’s changing this on her own now, with her TV empire – is they don’t realise how intelligent she is, or how hard-working and kind, either.
O: This is unbearable!
P: Basically, behind the self-effacing humour, she’s soft as shit, really.
O: I feel like people’s misconceptions of us are quite similar. They might think Pete doesn’t have much depth, but you are soft, and one of the kindest people I know. If he’s your friend, he’s got your back. And he’s also extremely hard-working. I think that’s why I was excited to do this project with him, because even though we take the mick and we both love a party, when it comes to our work, we take it really seriously.
How are you feeling about working together every Sunday?
P: I don’t know if I’ve ever said this to Liv. We’ve worked together on little bits before, but I’ve always wanted to do something with her. She’s one of the only people, genuinely, in this world that I could work with. And this is going to sound wild, but nothing about Liv annoys me.
O: We should time stamp that and see how long that lasts.
P: We might disagree on stuff, but I don’t find her annoying. And I find everyone annoying.
O: He’s the only straight male, besides my husband, that I can tolerate for long periods of time.
P: And I think this is the perfect thing for us to be doing, especially because it’s a new thing for both of us.
You both have your podcasts, but how are you feeling about everything being live?
P: I’m not worried, but I do think that because we are actually so close and such good mates, Liv and I will probably overshare. I think people will find out an awful lot about us that we didn’t intend for them to find out.
O: He’s better at protecting his privacy than me.
P: She just gathered the office round to show them a video of her throwing up after a night out.
O: I don’t have any privacy at this point. I sold my wedding – there’s nothing I won’t sell. If you’re talking about good viewing figures, I’ll tell you whatever you need to know to get people tuning in. That’s my promise to the nation.
Has Brad put any rules in place regarding things you can’t talk about or topics that are strictly off-limits?
P: He gave up putting rules in place for Liv years ago.
O: He stopped consuming my content a long time ago for his own wellbeing. He’s relaxed, though – our relationship wouldn’t work if he wasn’t.
Sam Thompson has a radio show on Hits Radio. Has he given you any tips or is he too jealous of Liv being your new BFF?
P: Who? I’m kidding, Sam’s still my best mate. He supports me in everything, but I do have to remind him that he’s still number one – even though that’s a lie! Also, it’s quite funny because he’s absolutely petrified of Liv.
O: I don’t think I’m scary! With me and Pete, we act like dickheads, but the difference is that – unlike a lot of people in this industry – we’re only pretending to be dickheads. We’re actually alright.
We’ve been seeing a soft side of you, Pete, in For Dogs’ Sake. How much fun is that show to film?
P: It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. Getting the opportunity to work with dogs and then be able to combine that with my career is amazing. I’ve been trying to get that show off the ground for six years, so to finally do it is so great. It’s very hard for me to even call it work.
Are we getting a second series, then?
P: Fingers crossed…
You’re both devoted dog parents, but who spoils their pooches more?
P: I love my dogs, as does Liv, but they’re not spoiled.
O: We’re both dog geeks, so our dogs have the most amazing, loving lives, but spoiling a dog is dangerous.
P: I’m so glad you said that.
O: Overindulging a dog is actually counterintuitive. Although to be fair, Lola – who’s a Carpathian/German Shepherd mix – does think that we work for her.
P: My dog Peggy is a princess, too. Eric just does what he wants – he’s basically a loaf of bread with legs at this point.
Do you go on dog walks together?
P: No. It would be too tricky because her dogs are small horses and, like I said, I’ve got a loaf of bread on legs.
Not only have you been on our screens with For Dogs’ Sake, but you earned new fans with your time on Strictly Come Dancing…
P: Thankfully for everyone, that’s over with now.
How come you didn’t do the live tour?
P: To be honest with you, I thought I would only be on the show a week or two, and you only really get asked to do the tour if you get to a certain point. So, by the time I was asked to do it, I already had loads of work booked in. But would I have done it even then? Probably not. Only because everyone who did the tour was so much better than me. I’m not a very good dancer – I was dragged through by an amazing partner and people, for some reason, voting for me.
How do you think Liv would do on Strictly?
P: I think Liv would be as bad as me.
O: Well, you weren’t that bad.
P: For the same reason, I think Liv would do really well, because people love her. But we were out last week and I saw Liv dancing – it’s all limbs.
O: I haven’t got a lot of coordination. I’d give it a good bash, but I think I’d probably be better on the ice where they can just drag me.
P: Another thing we’ve got in common – no rhythm.
Who’s first to hit the dance floor on a night out, despite your mutual lack of rhythm?
P: Liv – having no rhythm doesn’t stop her.
O: Try to get me off the dance floor after one glass of wine.
P: Liv and I were out last week and I’m not joking, for about 15 minutes, she pulled my arm out of its socket trying to drag me to the dance floor. When I refused, she just went on her own and took over.
O: If I see a dance floor, a stripper’s pole or a microphone for karaoke, then I’m a problem.
What’s the go-to karaoke track?
O: I’ll sing anything.
P: You wouldn’t be able to tell what it was, so it wouldn’t really matter.
O: Anything by Atomic Kitten goes hard, to be fair. 'Whole Again,' 'Eternal Flame'…
P: Just the whole back catalogue. You know we’re doing a music show, and you’re going with Atomic Kitten?
O: What’s wrong with Atomic Kitten? You put some respect on Kerry’s name!
What does a night out with the two of you look like?
P: A&E? No, we’re fun on a night out. Well, we have fun. I don’t know if the people around us do.
O: The only thing is, nowadays, if I’ve had a proper night out, then I am cognitively operating at a very low level for at least two to three days afterwards.
Isn’t the first live recording of your new show immediately after the BRIT Awards?
O: That’s why they’ve done it
P: It’s going to be an absolute blinder.
Do you have any hangover cures?
P: Mine is to drink again. Listen, you don’t get hungover if you’re constantly drunk.
O: I like feeling safe and clean, which means having clean bedding, windows open, fresh air, Friends on the telly, a massive bottle of Lucozade, and just ride it out. And don’t have friends that go, ‘Do you know what you did last night?’ I don’t care. I was a different person, I don’t need to know what she did because she’s not my problem any more.
Listen to The Sunday Roast with Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks on KISS from Sunday 2 March at 2pm