Unlikely Friends

Well this week, it couldn’t be anything else but a dedication to the great Emma Bunton. Leigh Francis has, of course, made her a card, and the studio is decked out with balloons — including a “50” balloon… which must be a mistake, right?The pineapple does seem to do birthdays, as it spat out crabs and hotels — and needless to say, good conversation still reigns strong.Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

How hard is it to become a new mum? In this episode of Unlikely Friends, Judi Love sparks an honest and hilarious conversation as the group opens up about the realities of parenthood, fame, and life-changing moments.Emma Bunton delivers a refreshingly candid take on motherhood, revealing just how painful breastfeeding can be - and why no one ever warns you. Leigh Francis admits the overwhelming fear he felt the first time he held his newborn, offering a raw and relatable glimpse into new-parent anxiety.Plus Jade Jones, who shares the brilliant story of being signed to his record label at just 15 years old (with champagne in hand), and Jill Francis takes listeners on a nostalgic journey back to the most cherished moment of her life.You can see fabulous Judi Love on tour across the UK in 2026.Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

It’s the first episode back after Christmas and the January blues are in full swing! 🥶Emma Bunton, Leigh Francis, Jade Jones and Jill Francis reunite to swap festive stories — from Emma and Jade’s magical trip to Disneyland Paris to Jill and Leigh’s chilly seaside escape in Whitby.Plus, the Pineapple drops this week’s topic: Extreme Sports 🏂 — including the dramatic reason Emma swore she’d never ski again…Festive chaos, travel tales and post-Christmas reality checks — this episode is packed with laughs, stories and a touch of January madness. 🍍🎙️

TV starlet Stephen Mulhern is putting the topics to the Unlikely Friends in this hilarious episode of the podcast...and it all gets very sexual! The important questions include what TV shows they'd love to host with Leigh Francis wanting to bring back Art Attack, Emma Bunton putting her best Judith Charmers on for Wish You Were Here and Jill wants to go cruising (it's not like it seems).Meanwhile Jade Jones is thinking hard about where he wants to go on holiday and the gang mourn the loss of MTV as it comes off our television screens for good and what it means for the music industry.Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

It’s a very happy New Year from the Unlikely Friends — and absolutely nothing has changed. Plucking straight from your favourite pineapple, the gang dive headfirst into spirited debates about animals, tattoos, and the soundtrack to their own lives.Emma and Jade shock Jill and Leigh by admitting they’re not fans of chihuahuas (brace yourselves), while Leigh reveals he’s basically suspicious of… all animals. From there, things get even weirder as the group swaps tattoo stories — what they’ve got, what they’ve inked on others, and what Leigh might get one day… despite being terrified of needles, skin, and probably commitment.To top it all off, everyone picks their Theme Song for Life, and Jill’s choice is one you won’t see coming.New year. Same friends. Same beautifully unhinged energy. 🍍

This week on Unlikely Friends, we’re celebrating that magical in-between time after Christmas and before New Year with a brilliant festive special — and a very special celebrity guest.The wonderful Simon Rimmer joins us with a handful of questions designed to spark stories, laughter and a little friendly debate. He asks which part of the Christmas dinner you would happily “can” (as in get rid of forever), and invites everyone to share their favourite songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s.What follows is a joyful mix of festive food opinions, musical nostalgia and unexpected memories, as we travel from classic Christmas plates to timeless tracks across three iconic decades.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and Unlikely Friends is getting fully festive 🎄Welcome to the Unlikely Friends Christmas Special, packed with chaos, crackers and Christmas nonsense. There’s a Secret Santa exchange that genuinely does not disappoint, Leigh turns up with some top-tier merch, and Jade and Emma somehow convince Jill to voluntarily have fake poo lobbed at her head (yes, really).The Christmas crackers are stuffed with your festive topics and suggestions, along with some truly awful Christmas cracker jokes — expertly (and painfully) delivered by Emma. As ever, the chat wanders merrily off course, with detours into favourite meats, first Christmas memories, and a little forward planning for Emma’s 50th next year.It’s festive, it’s ridiculous, and it’s exactly the kind of Christmas catch-up you’d expect from four friends who can’t stay on topic for more than 30 seconds. Pop the kettle on, grab a mince pie, and enjoy. 🎁✨

It’s the ultimate festive interruption 🎄On this Christmas week special of Unlikely Friends, the gang sit down to answer questions sent in by the brilliant Judy Love – starting with a big one: what were the standout moments of 2025?But before they can even get through the first answer, everything goes completely off the rails when Santa Claus himself crashes the episode. What follows is pure Christmas chaos, featuring unexpected singing, surprise presents, and some genuinely mind-blowing revelations – including where Leigh and Emma might be landing on the naughty list.A festive special that’s best experienced rather than explained. Just press play and enjoy. 🎅✨

Leigh, Emma, Jill and Jade are back to get well and truly into the festive spirit — with tangents, showbiz stories and a healthy dose of chaos along the way.The gang kick things off with Christmas tree chat, comparing notes on when (and how seriously) everyone decorates. Jade and Emma reveal they made a wholesome trip to a Christmas tree farm to choose the perfect tree — now proudly up and looking sensational, with thanks to Goose Hill Farm.From trees to trimmings, conversation quickly turns to Bunton’s baubles — and Emma’s ever-growing collection of quirky, slightly questionable Christmas decorations, many of which her mum definitely does not approve of.Naturally, things then spiral into a nostalgic detour via the MTV Awards, before Jill shares stories from her time working at Selfridges. Leigh rounds things off with a classic showbiz anecdote involving Dermot O’Leary and Johnny Vaughan.But peace doesn’t last long…The Pineapple is awakened 🍍 — and it demands chaos. The gang are forced into a deeply questionable game that sees them opening their phones and reading out their texts and notes, revealing things that absolutely should have stayed private.Festive, funny, and wildly oversharing — just how we like it. 🎅🍍

Bimini Bon Boulash popped in the pineapple and asked some brilliant questions and as a result we're introduced to the drag personas of the Unlikley Friends. All we'll say is you might want to keep an eye out for Caesar Fairlight at your local disco. Bimini joins us fresh from the Sahara Desert, where they took on a brutal 100km trek for CoppaFeel!, helping raise vital funds and awareness for the breast cancer charity and its life-saving message around early detection.

The Unlikely Friends discuss the phenomenon was Stranger Things with Emma Bunton almost having to lie to Millie Bobby Brown that she had seen it (Awkward!). The pineapple spits out the topic of circuses where the gang reveal their trips to see jugglers and clowns where the conversation moves on to fears and phobias. Leigh Francis and Jill Francis give us their biggest horrors.Plus they recount their childhood holidays and first romantic couples trips aways.AND what really happens on a Spice Girl tour and what's in their ryder? Emma reveals all - including how they get nervous as they walk to stage. Plus Jade reveals the excitement of a Damage tour.Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

Actress Anna Friel is posing the questions to Leigh Francis, Emma Bunton, Jade Jones and Jill Francis in this episode of Unlikely Friends - and there's some shocking revelations!And they're taking a trip to A&E. How has Emma massively let down her husband after keyhole surgery? Why was Leigh hospitalised at the age of 9 because of poo and Jill discusses dealing with Crohn's disease and how important it is that we speak about it. The gang also get confused about the rise of Matcha tea, whilst they reveal their treat drink. Plus there's lots of belly button chat too. Just like Severance find out who is an innie or and outie. Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

This week on Unlikely Friends, we don’t so much ease into the episode as dive head-first into hemorrhoids.Pauline kicks things off with a typically delicate question: “Do you give your dentist a Christmas present or—fuck that?”Naturally, this spirals into Emma suggesting Leigh should be gifting his hemorrhoid doctor, and Jill offering a frankly too-vivid description of the situation. From there, the gang take a scenic tour through arseholes in general (because of course they do).Jade shares the traumatic tale of being stung by a bee — apparently the worst pain he’s ever felt — before the conversation shifts to Christmas, where everyone realises that kids don’t want toys anymore. It’s all iPhones, tablets, and tech… the magic of Action Men and dollhouses is dead. More festive chat follows, including the now-infamous Leigh-Beat-Bunton Christmas ornament.Pauline then drops another cracker of a question: If someone owed you money, which member of the group would you actually ask for it back from? This sparks some eye-opening revelations about everyone’s spending habits — including the fact that Leigh is far more of a tough nut than anyone expected.There’s travel talk, too: how being a celebrity changes the way you move through airports, hotels, and life in general.And finally? A blockbuster discussion: Why don’t we have girl bands and boy bands like the 90s anymore? The friends dive into how music production and financing have changed, and why the era of endless pop groups might truly be over.

Alison Hammond and Joel Dommett are asking today’s big (and not-so-big) questions for the Unlikely Friends - and things get honest, a heartfelt and very, very real.Emma Bunton opens up about dealing with “mind load” and how overthinking can take over, while "shy" Jade Jones reminds us that we’re all a constant work in progress - and that’s actually something to celebrate.Jill Francis is talking about living in the moment… even when that moment is you worrying about your kids and Leigh Francis admits he cries more than people might think - he’s just a bit embarrassed to do it in front of others. Naturally, conversation seamlessly spirals into… HATS. Yep. What’s everyone’s favourite hat? And why is the humble beret threatening to tear the group apart?And of course, we couldn’t wrap up without chatting about Jack Osbourne - and why he seems to be everyone’s favourite I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! campmate.Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com

This week on Unlikely Friends, Leigh Francis, Emma Bunton, Jade Jones, and Jill Francis kick things off by asking: are they posh?Leigh launches into his best posh accent and admits he quite fancies talking like that permanently. This sparks a competitive (and slightly accusatory) debate about whose kids have the poshest accents — only for everyone to eventually admit that all their children sound a bit posh-with-a-London-twist.Emma shares a brilliant mishap from Heart Radio where she ended up with chocolate smeared across her face mid-show, and Jade reveals that whatever Emma eats inevitably ends up on her face too. Leigh joins in with a cinematic confession about finding popcorn buried in his chest hair after trips to the movies.Jade introduces her term “Kwengy” — those tiny white bits that gather in the corners of people’s mouths — which somehow leads them into a chat about the mysterious white stinky mouth-balls. (Unfortunately necessary.)They summon the ancient spirit of the pineapple, triggering a chaotic city-naming game in which Jill… really gives it a go. They follow it up with Andrew Garfield’s family Christmas favourite, the Giddy and Honest game, which sends the whole group into joyful chaos.The pineapple’s topic this week is laundry — prompting memories of laundrettes in Golders Green, childhood wash-days, and confessions about how useless the boys were with laundry when they first met Emma and Jill. Leigh even admits that he once phoned Jill while she was in hospital because he’d run out of pants. Classic romance.They wrap up with a chat about spiders, frogs, foxes, and some excellent anthropomorphising from Leigh, plus a spirited debate on the mysteries of secret socks.A wonderfully weird, cosy, and chaotic episode. See you on Monday.

Which of the Unlikely Friends have had run-ins with the police? We’ll give you a hint… it’s more than one! But what exactly happened?This week, the gang are grilled by none other than TV favourite Vicky McClure, who brings her Line of Duty interrogation skills to the table as she quizzes Emma Bunton, Jade Jones, Jill Francis, and Leigh Francis. Let's home her skills as a BBC detective does the trick!Emma shares memories of acting on EastEnders as a kid, Jade looks back on the day he became “rich” after finding £50, and Jill opens up about the diary she keeps. Meanwhile, Leigh dives into stories from his childhood - including a run-in with the school bully.Plus, who’s the shyest of the group? Being on TV or performing on stage doesn’t make you immune to wanting to disappear sometimes… even if you’re a Spice Girl or a member of Damage.

This week on Unlikely Friends, Leigh Francis has been out DJing in Manchester, while Jade Jones has been performing at Shoreditch House — much to Emma Bunton’s delight (she admits she was full-on fangirling him!).Then, the gang crack open the pineapple to reveal a classic Leigh-style question:🕰️ If you could time travel back to any point in your life — or history — where would you go?Jill’s convinced she knows her husband’s answer, but Leigh surprises everyone by choosing 2015 — the peak of his Celebrity Juice and Through the Keyhole days. The conversation soon turns to whether anyone would revisit the birth of their children, leading to a hilarious and heartfelt dive into childbirth stories — from the magical to the mildly traumatic.The gang wrap things up on a lighter note, chatting about the big shop: Tesco trips, the toy aisle temptations, and whether there’s such a thing as “taking too long” in the supermarket.

It’s a mini Spice Girls reunion on Unlikely Friends this week as Emma Bunton is joined by the incredible Mel C — and Sporty Spice comes prepared with two big questions for the gang.First up: Which Olympic sport would each of the Unlikely Friends compete in?Leigh boldly claims breakdancing (inspired by Ray Gunn, even if it’s not actually in the Olympics anymore) before pivoting to skateboarding. Jill fancies herself a gymnast, Emma’s ready to dazzle in synchronized swimming, and Jade confidently chooses every sport because, well… he’s annoyingly good at all of them.Then Mel C’s second question gets the studio buzzing: Which song gets each of them on the dance floor? Expect nostalgia, bangers, and one choice from Emma Bunton that might NOT surprise Spice Girls fans.Tune in for laughs, stories, and a joyful dose of Mel C and Emma Bunton together again. It’s pure Unlikely Friends chaos — with a little extra Spice.

This week on Unlikely Friends, Emma Bunton and Jade Jones spill all about their big Traitors Experience adventure - joined by 14 mates (but not Leigh Francis and Jill Francis!). Meanwhile, Jade’s gearing up for a Damage gig, though Leigh’s skipping that one as he’s off to see Terence Trent D’Arby instead. There’s chat about Leigh nearly nodding off on the motorway, everyone’s morning routines (warning: Leigh’s involves a lot of toilet talk), and some strong opinions on the new film Bugonia Starring Emma Stone You’ll also hear the gang debate when it’s acceptable to start Christmas celebrations, before diving into the big question: What would your death row dinner be? Emma and Jade prove themselves to be the true foodies, while Jill and Leigh’s answers couldn’t be more different.🎧 Quick note: we’re trying out some new podcast microphones this week — you might hear a bit of rustle here and there. Thanks for bearing with us while we find the perfect setup!

Olympic diver Tom Daley joins Emma Bunton, Leigh Francis, Jill Francis and Jade Jones for another celeb questions edition of unlikely Friends.Emma reveals her secret love of hand knitting and roller skating, while the group swap stories about boxing, career fears, and the scariest things they’ve ever done. Jade remembers performing at a very famous wedding in Lake Como as well as performing in front of Michael Jackson.And of course, Leigh can’t resist asking the big one: Will the Spice Girls ever play Glastonbury?Subscribe and follow Unlikely Friends wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen on Global Player, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.💌 Got a question or topic for the pineapple? Email unlikelyfriends@global.com