Tuxford radio DJ secretly records ‘weirdly funny’ boyfriend for two years

Jo Russell began taping other half Matt Hastilow’’s ‘outbursts’ on everything from Coronation Street to which ocean his fish dinner had come from after sharing anecdotes about him with friends.

Now the comedy recordings attract 1.4 million listeners worldwide and are followed by the likes of Good Morning Britain’s Ben Shepherd and Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine.

After meeting model railway enthusiast Matt on dating website Plenty of Fish in 2015 Jo was struck by his sense of humour and ‘unique outlook’ on life - adding “one night I thought ‘I’ve got to start recording him’.”

Jo said: “He’s one of those people who has such low self-esteem and I just thought ‘we’ll get it as big as we can and I can tell him how amazing he is’.”

This month, marking the second anniversary of the show - named I Secretly Recorded My Boyfriend - and ‘armed with messages from listeners to show him he is universally loved’ Jo sat Matt down and revealed his worldwide fame.

She said: “He was a bit quiet at first - it was bonkers that he’d been a star for two years without knowing.

“But now he knows he’s a podcast convert he’s been binge-listening all the episodes back.”

Jo told how Matt was loved by so many because ‘he just has a very weird way of looking at the world’.

She said: “He doesn’t know anything about celebrities - any time a celebrity comes on the TV he will say to me ‘are they a millionaire?’

“We were watching the World Cup and when Mick Jagger was filmed in the crowd and he asked me if Mick Jagger could afford a ticket.”

Smitten Jo told how deadpan Matt ‘just isn’t interested’ - adding ‘he does model trains at the weekend - that’s his world’.

“He knows a lot about Pete Waterman because he does trains as well.”

During one funny recording while eating a fish supper and asking where his marine meal had come from Matt, 40, tells Jo ‘I like my fish from the pacific’.

She said: “I record him while he’s doing the most mundane things sometimes but they’re usually the times when he comes up with his weird and wonderful turns of phrase.

“Donkey walloper has pretty much become the podcast’s catchphrase now.

“He watches TV like no other person I’ve ever met - he will watch Coronation Street and notice how clean the garage is or something like that.”

Surprisingly Jo says keeping Matt’s stardom a secret from him for two years was easier than she had thought it would be.

She said: “The first six months was hard but he's not into podcasts or social media so there’s just no reason for him to ever find out and I became a bit blase.”

However Jo admitted family members came close to ‘blurting out’ the long-kept secret on more than one occasion.

Now the secret is out Jo is taking a break from recording Matt - however she hopes to have a new series out before Christmas.

For more about the podcast click HERE.

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