Dan & Phil Part 83: Where in the World is Daniel Howell

Our two favourite full time internet nerds who never go outside!
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intoapuddle
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I'm actually pleasantly surprised this was the "long requested video" he decided to do! I've wanted to hear his take on it before.

It's nothing amazing really, but I do enjoy hearing some "behind the scenes" stuff and Phil giggling at his past self. I really like how nice he is to himself. He can be self deprecating too, but not to the extent that a lot of the popular people online go to. It's pretty refreshing to see.
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I never actually watched Phil's appearance on The Weakest Link back when IDB found it, because oh god the cringe. I don't deal with second had embarrassment very well at all. And now here we are in 2019, Phil dragging me by the hair to sit me down and force me to watch it after all. Okay King, your wish is my command. :stan:

(It did still take me an hour to get through it.)

But it was a wonderful video! I'm so happy that this is what ended up being the much requested video. He wasn't wrong, people have definitely wanted him to talk about The Weakest Link for years. It has just been so long that nobody thought it would happen anymore, which is probably why nobody guessed it. If I have to give some criticism, I'd say it'd be nice if he had talked about why and how he ended up on the show. Make it a bit more In Depth. But aside from that, it was great and quite funny. Just having on my screen for 18 minutes was a very welcome end of my week.

Also Dan promoting Phil's video is the sweetest thing. :garbage: :garbage: :garbage:
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colickygoat
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Eighteen minutes of Phil! I feel well fed ^-^
@Catallena I vaguely remember Phil mentioning his reason for going on the weakest link. I think it had something to do with a friend of his passing away and realizing that life was short . He promised himself he'd be more outgoing and try more things to challenge and scare himself. I guess it was probably a bit too heavy subject matter for a otherwise lighthearted video.
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This was a nice video. It’s the most I’ve ever seen of Phil’s appearance on The Weakest Link, so that was fun. :thumb: Here are my highlights:
  • [1:19] While viewing a shot from the show of the contestants talking to each other with a voiceover, Phil explains that they were instructed to just pretend to talk to each other. Phil says that everyone else had normal conversations, but he decided to talk to the guy next to him about alligators. The expression on the guy’s face is priceless. :lol:
  • [3:32] Phil says that the contestants were instructed to pretend to write on the boards while the makers of the show filmed it. He does not say if it was explained why they couldn’t be filmed while they were actually writing on their boards.
  • [7:57] Anne asks, “In fashion, what ‘D’ is the four-syllable first name of the Versace sibling who, in 1997, took over the running of the family design house?” Phil (in the show and the current video) responds, “Donatella” (the correct answer). He then explains that he actually originally responded, “Donatello,” as in the teenage mutant ninja turtle. Phil explains that, after the round was over, they had to go back and film Phil giving the correct answer. :lol:
  • [10:10] Anne asks, “In organic chemistry, a simple compound such as methane or ethylene is known as a hydro-what?” Phil (again in the show and the current video) responds, “gas.” The correct answer is “carbon.” Phil then explains that he had three chemistry students in his house at university, and they “ripped” him up so much over his “hydro-gas” answer.
  • [15:01] Anne asks, “In wildlife, the name of which South American mammal bred for its meat, milk, and wool is unusual in that the first two letters are the same?” Phil (in the show) responds, “gnu.” The correct answer is “llama.” Phil says that Dan will never let him live this answer down. He says that he misheard the question, and he thought that the answer was the name of an animal where “no two letters are the same.”
  • [15:54] Anne asks, “The violin known as ‘Solomon, ex-Lambert’ that sold at auction in 2007 for more than $2.5 million was made in Cremona by which craftsman?” Phil passes. The correct answer was “Stradivarius.” Phil says that his grandmother thought he should have known the answer to this question because he played the violin at one point.
  • Phil remains consistent in listing links to the three versions of the AmazingPhil Shop at the top of the video description and listing a link to the Dan and Phil Shop with his social media links. The video description also indicates that the video contained advertising for Honey (which it did not), so I think it’s safe to assume that it was just copied over from the last video.
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I loved Phil's new video!! It was just lovely and wholesome :love1: I've wanted him to talk about it for years. Unfortunately, never commented to request as rarely comment on videos :shrug: I'm a big fan of Phil talking about his interest in film and television and his experiences with it. I did wish he talked about being an extra in the viking film too. Very happy about the car insurance advert clip as I loved that era of Phil (as I love all eras of Phil). It gives me proper nostalgia to being an emo tween :D
I'm quite used to a lot of Phil content as when I began watching in 2010/2011, there was more Phil content than Dan/joint content. But I really do want Dan to post/make a video. I'm genuinely curious about what's next for him. I do feel like change is coming but I don't know what. I just want to know he's ok :happytears:
Last edited by Mia on Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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colickygoat wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:46 pm Eighteen minutes of Phil! I feel well fed ^-^
@Catallena I vaguely remember Phil mentioning his reason for going on the weakest link. I think it had something to do with a friend of his passing away and realizing that life was short . He promised himself he'd be more outgoing and try more things to challenge and scare himself. I guess it was probably a bit too heavy subject matter for a otherwise lighthearted video.
Yeah I just remembered that as well. Something about how it inspired him to take more opportunities like TWL and I think auditioning for Big Brother as well (lmao can you imagine??). That probably was the reason he didn't really go into why and how.
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I loved the video, I’d just finished some work (hand rsi still crap sadly) and my mind had been all over the place most of the day, lovely just to see that he’d uploaded especially something so out of the blue (lol, pun, he’s wearing blue both now and then and the show’s set is blue too, I know that’s not really a pun at all, whatevs). I remember watching the episode when bluebox found it and someone put it on YouTube, but it had been that long I didn’t remember anything except Anne commenting on Phil’s hair and “bottom of the pile?” And the woolly animal question cos that came up in an interview for Tab/Tatinof promo. Phil’s always looked a bit swamped in that pug jumper, btw.

Lovely to see his older, wiser self especially laughing and reacting, explaining it all and answering the questions again. Lately I’ve been fairly stressed and having bouts of sieve-brain so watching Mastermind has been fun, it’s reassuring if you find you still know the answers to questions you’d have known before/while more relaxed, stress-memory is no fun.
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*imagines Phil in big brother house*
*shudders*
*cries in corner*
(i can't imagine his personality would do well in such a situation , luckily the universe stepped in )
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sapienveneficus
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It looked like Phil had fun taking that stroll down memory lane. I'm glad he's taking this time during the hiatus to create videos that make him happy.

It may not have been the video I would have wanted him to make (sigh), but I suppose some content is better than no content at all.

That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
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alittledizzy
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I love Dan promoting the video. It proves to me how little it takes for me to feel nicely fed. (I'm not saying that as a positive or a negative about myself, just as fact.)
sapienveneficus wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:41 am That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
That's a pretty popular topic around here so you're definitely not going to be the only one feeling it. :) I do think Dan making a semi-regular return to social media - as well as Phil's anvil like moving hint - means we're leading up to something soon, so that makes it a lot easier for me personally to look forward with anticipation. But I miss joint content a whole lot.

Unrelated to anything else: Creepy Mind of Phil Lester is only 8k away from a million and I am literally watching it once a day now just watching the view count crawl up. I do wish there was some fandom wide way to organize things so that we could use our boredom time to push some of these videos that are so close to a million views over the edge. It's not like it would make much of a difference to Dan and Phil, it's just that fandom projects that are geared toward fans doing something they can see instant gratification results for are fun.

But this fandom isn't nearly organized enough for that, tbh. Not unless Dan or Phil themselves asked for it to be done.
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alittledizzy wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:11 am I love Dan promoting the video. It proves to me how little it takes for me to feel nicely fed. (I'm not saying that as a positive or a negative about myself, just as fact.)
sapienveneficus wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:41 am That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
That's a pretty popular topic around here so you're definitely not going to be the only one feeling it. :) I do think Dan making a semi-regular return to social media - as well as Phil's anvil like moving hint - means we're leading up to something soon, so that makes it a lot easier for me personally to look forward with anticipation. But I miss joint content a whole lot.

Unrelated to anything else: Creepy Mind of Phil Lester is only 8k away from a million and I am literally watching it once a day now just watching the view count crawl up. I do wish there was some fandom wide way to organize things so that we could use our boredom time to push some of these videos that are so close to a million views over the edge. It's not like it would make much of a difference to Dan and Phil, it's just that fandom projects that are geared toward fans doing something they can see instant gratification results for are fun.

But this fandom isn't nearly organized enough for that, tbh. Not unless Dan or Phil themselves asked for it to be done.
I completely agree! Some of the kpop fandoms I'm in organize streaming of particular videos - it's done so well. I hadn't thought about adding any DnP videos to my streaming playlist (it plays on a muted tab while I'm on the computer doing other things) but I will now!
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alittledizzy
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scientia wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 4:52 am
alittledizzy wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:11 am I love Dan promoting the video. It proves to me how little it takes for me to feel nicely fed. (I'm not saying that as a positive or a negative about myself, just as fact.)
sapienveneficus wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:41 am That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
That's a pretty popular topic around here so you're definitely not going to be the only one feeling it. :) I do think Dan making a semi-regular return to social media - as well as Phil's anvil like moving hint - means we're leading up to something soon, so that makes it a lot easier for me personally to look forward with anticipation. But I miss joint content a whole lot.

Unrelated to anything else: Creepy Mind of Phil Lester is only 8k away from a million and I am literally watching it once a day now just watching the view count crawl up. I do wish there was some fandom wide way to organize things so that we could use our boredom time to push some of these videos that are so close to a million views over the edge. It's not like it would make much of a difference to Dan and Phil, it's just that fandom projects that are geared toward fans doing something they can see instant gratification results for are fun.

But this fandom isn't nearly organized enough for that, tbh. Not unless Dan or Phil themselves asked for it to be done.
I completely agree! Some of the kpop fandoms I'm in organize streaming of particular videos - it's done so well. I hadn't thought about adding any DnP videos to my streaming playlist (it plays on a muted tab while I'm on the computer doing other things) but I will now!
I saw someone on tumblr mention making a playlist - I'm not sure if this is the same one I saw in that post but I did a search and here is one that is definitely being regularly updated!
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I actually thought the video was really boring.
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I’m coming to the conclusion that reaction videos just don’t do much for me. Phil pretending to think the answer to the question was hydro-gas in 2019 only to immediately tell us how his college friends made fun of him for that answer >10 years ago, and all the exaggerated ‘this is brand new information’ faces Phil pulls are, as Dan would say, ruining my immersion. My suspension of disbelief has failed me.

Setting all that aside, I really prefer videos where we get to hear a little more about Phil and what he thinks and what he’s been up to. This felt... a lot like watching The Weakest Link. I was expecting some reflection or chat at the end.

Also I don’t think his hair was that bad.

(They have to pretend to write on the cards so that the camera has time to record each person individually writing, I think. I went to the recording of a reality/contest show once and the participants had to sit there making expressions of shock, disgust, joy, etc, when nothing was actually happening, just so they could be edited in in the appropriate places later.)
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Reaction videos aren't my fave either but I enjoyed hearing him talk for almost 20 minutes. It felt a bit abrupt at the end, I expected more of a reflection or message there, but he seemed well and I like his face. Its always fun to learn more about young Phil!
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alittledizzy wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:11 am Unrelated to anything else: Creepy Mind of Phil Lester is only 8k away from a million and I am literally watching it once a day now just watching the view count crawl up. I do wish there was some fandom wide way to organize things so that we could use our boredom time to push some of these videos that are so close to a million views over the edge. It's not like it would make much of a difference to Dan and Phil, it's just that fandom projects that are geared toward fans doing something they can see instant gratification results for are fun.

But this fandom isn't nearly organized enough for that, tbh. Not unless Dan or Phil themselves asked for it to be done.
That's what we created the Phandom Watch project for, but unfortunately, it's really difficult in this fandom. Unless a project gains a lot of interest from all the 'big' fan accounts, it's going to barely make a dent in the views. Of course even 20 people viewing a particular video is nice, but it's not the kind of help we need to push some of these videos past a million.

I haven't fully given up on the idea though, so maybe we can make it happen.
(speaking of the watch fests - we're doing a long 48 hr stream of gaming vids this weekend! hope some of you will join us :))
sapienveneficus wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:41 am That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
I miss joint content a lot too. I think a lot of people feel like you. I'm not sure what kind of content Phil should be putting out for us all to stay engaged. I think it's just that over the past few years, we've grown to see them as two halves of a whole (which was their aim). It's always going to feel a bit off until they're both back and filming together, which I think is happening soon.
knq wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:05 am I’m coming to the conclusion that reaction videos just don’t do much for me.
Same. I'd prefer a sit down video where he talks about his experiences in a genuine way without any kind of hyping up and overreacting for the camera. But it's Phil, I'll take 18 minutes of his voice and face any day.
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sapienveneficus wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:41 am That said, when will joint content come back from the war? I'm finding it hard to stay engaged with only a solo Phil video every 10 days to tide me over. Can anyone else relate?
I like Phil videos of course, but I'm mostly all about the bants, so I do miss joint content for that reason :platonic:
I hope Phil's enjoying himself making videos on his channel at the moment though :)

But what else are they up tooooo? Such suspense :lol:
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knq wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:05 am I’m coming to the conclusion that reaction videos just don’t do much for me. Phil pretending to think the answer to the question was hydro-gas in 2019 only to immediately tell us how his college friends made fun of him for that answer >10 years ago, and all the exaggerated ‘this is brand new information’ faces Phil pulls are, as Dan would say, ruining my immersion. My suspension of disbelief has failed me.

Setting all that aside, I really prefer videos where we get to hear a little more about Phil and what he thinks and what he’s been up to. This felt... a lot like watching The Weakest Link. I was expecting some reflection or chat at the end.

Also I don’t think his hair was that bad.

(They have to pretend to write on the cards so that the camera has time to record each person individually writing, I think. I went to the recording of a reality/contest show once and the participants had to sit there making expressions of shock, disgust, joy, etc, when nothing was actually happening, just so they could be edited in in the appropriate places later.)
See I think it’s plausible that Phil would quickly guess the same wrong answer, but still remember being teased for getting it wrong while not remembering what the correct answer was. I found it amusing when young Phil knew more answers than he did. Also the little teehees at himself were delightful. I think it was nice he did this reaction video, but I agree they aren’t my fave content. Him “mimicking” of his northern accent always makes me roll my eyes, it’s so off.

But what I actually wanted to post about is the ad I got before the video. Let me know what you hear, my son and I were so confused at first. You don’t have to watch the whole thing as the lyrics are pretty repetitive.



Anyone catch what the danandphilshop tweet was before it was deleted?
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autumnhearth wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:02 pm Anyone catch what the danandphilshop tweet was before it was deleted?
They mistakenly tweeted their usual 'email us and we will look into it' thing as opposed to just replying to someone.
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alittledizzy
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Ablissa wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:22 am
alittledizzy wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 3:11 am Unrelated to anything else: Creepy Mind of Phil Lester is only 8k away from a million and I am literally watching it once a day now just watching the view count crawl up. I do wish there was some fandom wide way to organize things so that we could use our boredom time to push some of these videos that are so close to a million views over the edge. It's not like it would make much of a difference to Dan and Phil, it's just that fandom projects that are geared toward fans doing something they can see instant gratification results for are fun.

But this fandom isn't nearly organized enough for that, tbh. Not unless Dan or Phil themselves asked for it to be done.
That's what we created the Phandom Watch project for, but unfortunately, it's really difficult in this fandom. Unless a project gains a lot of interest from all the 'big' fan accounts, it's going to barely make a dent in the views. Of course even 20 people viewing a particular video is nice, but it's not the kind of help we need to push some of these videos past a million.

I haven't fully given up on the idea though, so maybe we can make it happen.
(speaking of the watch fests - we're doing a long 48 hr stream of gaming vids this weekend! hope some of you will join us :))
I kinda forgot that's how that started! PhandomWatch is great but definitely more geared toward fun for the people watching and not like the 'get this video the max views possible' goal - with Rabbit each video will only ever be gaining one view per watch.

Something like that @scientia said would probably involve zero discussion and just the common 'watch this video at some point today for the specific purpose of the view' message with it. So way less fun in terms of bonding with other people (which PW is amazing for, it's genuinely so fun to watch and chat) but more about like general overall fandom morale.

The 48 hour stream will be awesome!
autumnhearth wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:02 pm
knq wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:05 am I’m coming to the conclusion that reaction videos just don’t do much for me. Phil pretending to think the answer to the question was hydro-gas in 2019 only to immediately tell us how his college friends made fun of him for that answer >10 years ago, and all the exaggerated ‘this is brand new information’ faces Phil pulls are, as Dan would say, ruining my immersion. My suspension of disbelief has failed me.
See I think it’s plausible that Phil would quickly guess the same wrong answer, but still remember being teased for getting it wrong while not remembering what the correct answer was. I found it amusing when young Phil knew more answers than he did. Also the little teehees at himself were delightful. I think it was nice he did this reaction video, but I agree they aren’t my fave content. Him “mimicking” of his northern accent always makes me roll my eyes, it’s so off.
I also found it plausible that Phil was reacting honestly. To me it was pleasantly understated compared to most react videos, but I'll also be a third voice chiming in to agree that react videos probably just aren't ever gonna be my favorites. I think Phil made this as genuinely enjoyable to me as a react video can possibly be.
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I never post but I just came here to say I LOVED this video so much. I had to take breaks during watching because I was dying of laughter. Him sassing the guide dog, omg. It's weird to think that I probably watched this in 2007 and had no idea it was the Amazing Phil.
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I really liked the video! I also found the editing quite nice. Maybe I am just so used to dan being by his side with always a moral conclusion or anything, because the ending (not only in this but also in his last videos) also feels so abrupt to me as someone already said.

But overall I am really happy, and also the fact that it indeed was a requested video at some point was nice.

I still miss joint content and liveshows. A lot.
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autumnhearth wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:02 pm But what I actually wanted to post about is the ad I got before the video. Let me know what you hear, my son and I were so confused at first. You don’t have to watch the whole thing as the lyrics are pretty repetitive.

i've been wasting my time
but damn it feels right

I'll be gone, gone, gone, yeah, for good
It was just one try, now we're hooked
I'll be gone, gone, gone, yeah, for good
Oh, I need it, need it, need it
'Cause I won't be tied(?)
Oh, and I'll be going all night 'til the daylight
(i found this bit in the comments)
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knq wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:05 am I’m coming to the conclusion that reaction videos just don’t do much for me. Phil pretending to think the answer to the question was hydro-gas in 2019 only to immediately tell us how his college friends made fun of him for that answer >10 years ago, and all the exaggerated ‘this is brand new information’ faces Phil pulls are, as Dan would say, ruining my immersion. My suspension of disbelief has failed me.

Setting all that aside, I really prefer videos where we get to hear a little more about Phil and what he thinks and what he’s been up to. This felt... a lot like watching The Weakest Link. I was expecting some reflection or chat at the end.

Also I don’t think his hair was that bad.

(They have to pretend to write on the cards so that the camera has time to record each person individually writing, I think. I went to the recording of a reality/contest show once and the participants had to sit there making expressions of shock, disgust, joy, etc, when nothing was actually happening, just so they could be edited in in the appropriate places later.)
I've bolded the section I want to respond to. I've been mulling over my reaction to Phil's video for a bit, and I think I've figured out what isn't working. Basically, going forward, I think he needs to be making two kinds of videos on his main channel.

Light-Hearted Collabs

Phil has done a few silly solo vids in the past (shout out to eBay mystery boxes, a personal favorite) but his brand of zany works better when he has someone to play off of. It should be Dan, but in this interim where the Lord of Darkness seems to have devoted himself fully to video games and jogging, Phil needs to find stand ins. I'm sure we all have a list of YouTubers we've been dying to see Phil work with (Safiya Nygaard's at the top of my list; who's on yours?). This hiatus is the perfect opportunity for Phil to start checking those creators off his list.

Will the real Phil Lester please step forward

When he's not filming silly collabs, I want to see Phil use his platform to get real. I want him to tell personal stories about his high school days, his college days, his post-college days, whatever. I want to know more about Phil, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Both he and Dan have built this passionate fanbase over the past decade, and that fanbase is tuning in/hanging around for them, Dan Howell and Phil Lester. Fans want to know more about them. Heck, you know we'd all watch a 20 minute in-depth discussion about Phil's sock collection if he genuinely told us why he loves fun socks and the stories behind some of the pairs he's purchased over the years. Why? Because we care about Phil Lester and we want to know more about him. This is Phil's opportunity to share with his audience a little more about himself, and I think he's wasting it.

The Weakest Link video didn't work for me because it wasn't personal. His act of pretending to guess his old answers was inauthentic. Phil can't coast on that sort of content anymore because his audience is too savvy. They're older, they've been around for a long time, and they want more. I think this video could have worked if he'd told us the story of trying out for the Weakest Link, what it was actually like being on the show, and what his friends and family actually thought afterwards. He could have shown a clip or two, but the focus of the video should have been Phil's thoughts and experiences, not the game show.
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