Two Scottish best pals say they are overwhelmed to get their dream gig appearing on a new travel show.
East Lothian Locals Suzie Mwanza and Shirley McPherson star in BBC Scotland’s new show Scotland’s Greatest escape this week.
The pair hail from Musselburgh, after both moving there from Lesotho and Zambia when they were kids and have been best friends for 20 years and counting. Suzie and Shirley have had a busy few year with the opportunities getting better and better.
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The duo started Black Scot pod back in 2019, a hit podcast featured on Spotify’s “best black podcasting duos” and their “Who run the world” section alongside no other than Michelle Obama’s Podcast.
They started the podcast due to the lack of black Scottish voices in the mainstream media. Black Scot pod have had some notable guests including Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls, The cast of the Dream Girls musical and Simba in the lion King UK tour. The two have also performed a live show at last Year’s Connect Festival.
Suzie and Shirley were approached over the summer by researchers at Red Sky productions for a brand-new show for BBC Scotland, presented by Strictly Come dancing’s JJ Chalmers and Two Doors Down/Scot Squad alumni Grado.
Over the course of seven episodes, the show aims to highlight some of the most breath-taking getaways that Scotland has to offer in the hopes that one of them will be crowned “Scotland’s greatest escape”. Each week a different set of contributors visit three stunning locations, with the final contender in each category going through to the final.
Last night the pair visited three locations for the waterfront category, the lighthouse on Davaar Island, Inverlonnan bothies in Oban, and The Boathouse on Arran.
Shirley said of the whole experience, “To be honest it was a bit of a whirlwind, we kept having real pinch me moments. Especially after we finished the casting process and they let us know that we were in!”
“The locations we visited were absolutely breath-taking! It is true what they say, Scotland has truly got some of the best scenery in the world.”
Suzie added “After a hectic summer which included being on the front cover of The List magazine, performing at connect festival and judging at the British Podcast Awards down in London, it was a bit of a relief to be told we were going to be working on a holiday show!”.
Sounds like the pair definitely needed a break, the pair will have you laughing as they try out lighting fires, cooking in the rain and a Lochside sauna.
Suzie continues “Filming with the production team at red sky was a breeze and it really felt like I was just on holiday with my best friend. The only thing I hadn’t banked on was being was coming face to face with my fear of mermaids... but you’ll have to watch to find out if I overcame this.”
Catch Episode 3: waterfront airs on BBC iPlayer now. each episode is aired Wednesdays with the finale airing on 5th April 2023.
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