Ever wondered what happens when you take an Olympic athlete and stick them behind a reception desk? Pure chaos, that’s what.
Back in 2015, BBC Radio 1’s breakfast host Nick Grimshaw had a brilliant (or cruel, depending on how you look at it) idea: challenge Tom Daley – already a household name in Britain thanks to his diving prowess and boyish charm – to handle the chaos of the BBC’s front desk.
The then-21-year-old squeezed into a white button-down, donned the official BBC blue tie, and pinned on a trainee badge before attempting to manage reception with just five minutes of training.
Spoiler alert: It did not go well.
Look, Daley might have been able to execute perfect twists and turns from a 10-meter platform, but apparently answering phones was a whole different kind of dive.
As if dealing with confused visitors wasn’t enough, Grimshaw made sure to send a series of increasingly difficult challenges his way, including planted “angry” callers and problematic visitors.
The highlight? Watching this sporting star completely lose his cool over hold music. Yes, really. Between accidentally hanging up on callers and pushing random buttons in desperation, Daley’s famous composure crumbles faster than a rookie diver’s belly flop –
But… yes, he’s remained as adorable as ever.
“I can’t handle the pressure,” he admits at one point, and honestly? Coming from someone who competed in the Olympics as a teenager, that’s saying something.
Watch here:
Of course, this charming disaster happened years before Daley would become the global LGBTQ icon we know today.
Since then, he’s added Olympic gold to his collection (finally nabbing that elusive top spot in Tokyo 2020), become half of one of Britain’s most beloved power couples with husband Dustin Lance Black, and welcomed two adorable sons – Robbie and Phoenix.
Just months ago, after snagging silver at the Paris Olympics, Daley announced his retirement from professional diving.
But this video remains a perfect snapshot of the endearing personality that helped make him such a beloved figure – the kind of star who’s just as entertaining failing magnificently at office work as he is performing world-class dives.
And let’s be honest – we’ve all had days where we felt like Tom at that reception desk, desperately pushing buttons and hoping for the best.