When appearing on an Australian radio show in 2018, Calum Scott joined in a hilarious prank at the expense of one of the show’s presenters. Scott was promoting his album, Only Human, on Fifi, Fev, Byron, a weekday morning show in Melbourne, Victoria.
One of the presenters, Brendan ‘Fev’ Fevola, was known to be a huge fan of Scott’s breakout hit, “Dancing On My Own”. This was the song that Scott wowed the judges with in April 2015 when auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent. The video of this stunning moment has been viewed over 386 million times on YouTube.
The radio show was doing a segment called “X-Factor for Tradies” (a “tradie” being Australian slang for a tradesperson). Meeting in secret before the segment, presenter Fifi Box and Scott came up with the plan for their prank.
They decided to disguise the Yorkshire-born singer as an Australian tradesman who would sing “Dancing On My Own”. They would then see if Fev realized that it was the real Callum Scott before him. In the video below, watch Callum Scott’s audition on Britian’s Got Talent, this time, before anyone knew who he was.
Adding to the humor of the situation, Fev had actually spoken to Scott on the phone a year earlier. During this interview, Scott said he had heard Fev’s version of “Dancing On My Own”, and joked that he had “butchered” the song. So, as apparent bricklayer “Scott from Scoresby” (a suburb in Melbourne) stepped up to the microphone, would Fev realize who was actually standing in front of him?
As Scott stood before the judges, no recognition passed over Fev’s face. In answer to Box’s question, Scott mumbled “yeah” in his best Australian accent, not wanting to say too much in case he gave the game away. Fev burst out laughing at how little the “bricklayer” was saying, but was still completely fooled by him.
The piano intro of “Dancing On My Own” started, and Fev raised his arms on hearing his favorite song being played. When Scott sang the first line, a look of surprise came over Fev’s face. This was certainly not what he was expecting from a Scoresby bricklayer. The three presenters sang along and then applauded uproariously as Scott’s majestic voice rose to the song’s climax. In his excitement at the performance he had seen, Fev slammed his hand on the desk in front of him. He then “dropped the mic” on Scott’s behalf and said that Scott needed to get a record deal, such was the “unbelievable” quality of his voice.
Still, he didn’t realize who the singer really was. He even said the vocal performance had been better than Callum Scott’s. Box then asked him, “What if that was Callum Scott standing in front of you?” In quiet astonishment, Fev asked, “Is it?” When this was confirmed, he refused to believe it initially, but eventually muttered, “Stitch up!” This caused everyone to break out in hysterical laughter. Fev had the final word, saying he should have realized it was a prank. After all, he said, he had noticed that for a tradesperson, “his boots are very clean.”