The Unbelievable Truth. David Mitchell. Copyright: BBC / Random Entertainment
The Unbelievable Truth

The Unbelievable Truth

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2006 - 2024
  • 177 episodes (29 series)

David Mitchell hosts this Radio 4 panel game built on truth and lies. Contestants must try and smuggle truths into lie-filled speeches.

Episode menu

Series 25, Episode 3

David Mitchell hosts three comedy couples: Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney, Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris, and Lucy Porter and Justin Edwards, as they talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as rabbits, marriage, and crisps.

The Truths

Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke - Marriage

- In 1979, Jeanine Swift of Los Angeles married a 50-pound rock. Found by Sarah and Gary.

- Unmarried people are more likely to fall down stairs than married people. Found by Lucy and Justin.

- Kim Kardashian's second marriage lasted less time than your average 12-year-old's school romance. Her marriage to basketball player Kris Humphries lasted 72 days, while the average length of a relationship of people aged between 12-14 is five months. Successfully smuggled.

- Worldwide, more than one in ten marriages are between first and second cousins. Successfully smuggled.

- In 1928, Evelyn Waugh married a woman named Eyelyn. To avoid confusion their friends referred to them as Heyelyn and Shevelyn. Successfully smuggled.

Lucy Porter and Justin Edwards - Crisps

- There is a crisp-based amusement park in Ireland. Tayto Park, based on the Tayto brand, is a theme park and zoo in County Meath. It was opened in 2010, and is the sixth most popular paid-for tourist attraction in the Republic of Ireland, with 750,000 visitors in 2015. Found by Rachel and Marcus.

- Mackie's of Scotland released whisky and haggis flavoured crisps in 2014. They have since been discontinued. Found by Rachel and Marcus.

- The British Heart Foundation has claimed that if you eat a bag of crisps every day for a year, you consume five litres of cooking oil. Found by Rachel and Marcus.

- Eating a bag of crisps a day can give you 100 times the level of radiation you would get from living next to a nuclear power plant, although obviously it is the fat and salt which is worse or you. Successfully smuggled.

- In Japan, there is a crisp-flavoured fizzy drink. Successfully smuggled.

Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney - Rabbits

- Bugs Bunny is actually a hare, not a rabbit. He was referred to as a hare before he got the name he is now known by, and his characteristics match those of hares more than they do of rabbits. Found by Rachel and Marcus.

- Hugh Hefner had a species of rabbit named after him. After funding conservation research to help protect an endangered subspecies of marsh rabbit, he had this particular rabbit named in his honour - sylvilagus palustris hefneri. Found by Lucy and Justin.

- The Swedes keep their homes warm by burning rabbits. Rabbits are not native to Sweden, but Stockholm in particular is overrun with rabbits, most of which are the offspring of pets released by their owners. Rabbits are thus culled and then shipped to a biofuel plant, where they are burned to heat Swedish homes. Successfully smuggled.

- India has no native wild rabbit species, only hares. The only rabbits are feral domesticated rabbits brought over by the British. Successfully smuggled.

- Sex shop Ann Summers estimates that it has sold more rampant rabbit vibrators than there are actual animal rabbits in the UK. They say since it was released in 1972, they sell on average 800,000 units a year, a total of 38.4 million. The Game and Wildlife Trust estimates the UK rabbit population to be around 37 million. Successfully smuggled.

Scores

- Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke: 3 points
- Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney: -1 point
- Lucy Porter and Justin Edwards: -4 points

Broadcast details

Date
Monday 25th January 2021
Time
6:30pm
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 31st January 2021 12:00pm Radio 4
Monday 1st February 2021 7:30am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 1st February 2021 5:30pm Radio 4 Extra
Monday 1st February 2021 10:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 2nd February 2021 5:30am Radio 4 Extra
Thursday 7th March 2024 9:00am Radio 4 Extra
Thursday 7th March 2024 2:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Thursday 7th March 2024 7:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Friday 8th March 2024 4:00am Radio 4 Extra

Cast & crew

Cast
David Mitchell Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Marcus Brigstocke Guest
Lucy Porter Guest
Sarah Millican Guest
Gary Delaney Guest
Rachel Parris Guest
Justin Edwards Guest
Writing team
Dan Gaster Writer
Colin Swash Writer
Production team
Jon Naismith Producer

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