BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James mocked Steven Bartlett on social media over a viral clip of him stumbling through a cognitive test. The clip, pulled from a recent episode of The Diary Of A CEO, showed Bartlett attempting to read colors off a screen to experience brain fatigue, muttering, "Okay. Green, red, yellow, green, blue, black, orange, red, blue-" as he tried to keep pace. While the internet laughed at the awkward display, the episode itself took a much wider path through the science of physical and mental decline.
Bartlett's interview with Dr. Darren Candow wasn't all lighthearted self-experimentation. The tone shifted dramatically when Bartlett pressed the researcher on his personal motivations and his fear of mortality, telling him, "I, I have to say, you know, you've done so m- so much research on the subject-" before asking how his work shapes his view of death. It's a classic Bartlett pivot, balancing meme-worthy content with heavy, existential questions.
Despite the viral ribbing, Bartlett's focus on building his media empire hasn't wavered. He kicked off the episode with his usual direct appeal to his audience, pleading, "Guys, I've got a favor to ask before this episode begins. The algorithm, if you follow a show, will deliver you the best episodes from that show very prominently in your feed. So when we have our best episodes on this show, the most shared episodes, the most rated episodes, I would love you to know. And the simple way for you to know that is to hit that follow button. But also, it's the simple, easy, free thing that you can do to help us make this show better, and I would be hugely grateful if you could take a minute on the app you're listening to this on right now and hit that follow button. " Whether the BBC mockery hurts his pride or helps his numbers, Bartlett is clearly betting that any engagement is good engagement for the algorithm.