You're asked to fly out to Madrid to have a chinwag with your favourite footballer and hero, Gareth Bale — what's not to love? Well, if you're aged 37, it's the inescapable condition that you have to go and meet him dressed in full Wales football kit.
That's the situation Welsh writer, broadcaster and comedian Elis James found himself in back in 2017 ahead of the Champions League final being held in Cardiff, before Bale - who announced his retirement earlier this month - featured off the bench to win club football's biggest prize in his home city.
While Elis was appearing on The One Show alongside fellow guests Matt Lucas and Rita Ora, host Alex Jones quizzed her fellow Welsh citizen on how the show had led to one of his most embarrassing moments.
"I think we need to see it," she said, introducing a clip of Elis walking down a Madrid street wearing full Wales football kit, socks and all, while carrying a suitcase. "I can't watch it", Elis said, before explaining: "It was the 2017 Champions League final which was held in Cardiff, and The One Show called me up and said 'we'd love you to interview Gareth Bale'.
"I thought it was a prank. I was like 'yeah, I'd love to, that's my dream'. And they said 'we're going to send you out to Madrid, we've got an hour with him, we'd love you to meet him and you can discuss anything you like. There's one condition: you've got to go dressed in full kit.
"I said 'surely not?' They said that's the one condition you cannot get out of. It was like an anxiety dream. I had to walk around Madrid with this suitcase in full kit.
"When I was introduced to him, he laughed and I just thought 'it wasn't meant to be like this! We're meant to be friends! You're not meant to think I'm a pathetic individual!' I was 37 at the time. It was very, very embarrassing."
Alex then pressed Elis on exactly what he was carrying in the suitcase. "He likes Dairy Milk, and it was hard for him to get it in Madrid", he replied. "So I brought over like 40 bars of chocolate."
Elis, who grew up in Carmarthen, was appearing on the show on Friday night to promote more episodes of Fantasy Football League. Elis and actor Matt Lucas both present the show, 19 years after the original show which was hosted by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. Each week, a pair of celebrity guest managers will join to chat about the week in football and share their fantasy teams from the digital dugout.
The show, which is now back for another eight episodes after eight shows were completed before the World Cup, continues on Sky Max at 10pm on Friday, January 27.
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