The Hairy Bikers’ talk nostalgic chocolate, best TV ads and their famous locks

Well, here’s a treat. If I get nothing else out of this Hairy Bikers interview, at least I’ve persuaded Dave Myers to give me a song.

“The Milky Bar Kid is strong and tough!” he’s started singing, after I’ve asked if he remembers the old ad for the legendary white chocolate bar. “And only the best is good enough…”

Go on, Dave, don’t leave us hanging. Finish it off.

“The creamiest milk, the whitest bar,” he continues, “the goodness that’s in Milky Bar!”

Ah, fantastic. Word-perfect. What a star.

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“Are we sure that’s Nestlé, though, Mike?” Dave adds.

“Oh, absolutely,” I assure him, a childhood spent slumped in front of trash telly having given me a reassuringly encyclopaedic knowledge of such stuff.

The Nestlé link is actually quite important because this new series we’re here to talk about, The Hairy Bikers’ Chocolate Challenge, starting tonight on Channel 5, is made in conjunction with the famous confectionery brand.

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After four weeks of fiendishly intricate, choc-themed challenges, the winner will get to produce their own take on a Kit-Kat, to be rolled out to stores across the UK.

This is a show, then, that marks something of a departure for Dave and fellow biker Si King. Not only do we usually find these two on the Beeb, but they rarely hang around in one location for very long, the way they are doing here.

Usually we see them whizzing down yet another highway or byway, in search of more ideas for great grub.

Also, in this one there’s pretty much no biking, which is a bit unnerving. Still, at least they’re as hairy as ever, so that’s a comfort.

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I wonder, though, if that branding of theirs can occasionally feel a burden. Aren’t there times when they’d love to shave it all off?

“Oh, no!” insists Si. “I’ve been like this since I was about three!

“Besides, I’m lucky I’ve still got my follicles. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, baby.”

One of the key factors behind the Hairy Bikers’ success is they’re genuinely best mates. “We’ve been through a lot together, in our private lives as well as professionally,” Dave explains.

“It helps that we both have different strengths. Si’s not the sort to do Strictly, for example.”

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“Oh, no,” Si agrees, chuckling at the memory of Dave competing in the 2013 series. “Dave’s way braver than I am!”

So in all these years as best pals, have they never had a serious bust-up?

“We’ve only ever fallen out once,” says Dave. “We nearly had a fight in a Woolworths in Namibia. It was over what kind of oil to use in mayonnaise.

“I was yelling, ‘Don’t you tell me how to make mayonnaise!’ And Si was yelling, ‘Well, don’t YOU tell ME!’”

“It was really quite pathetic.”

●The Hairy Bikers’ Chocolate Challenge starts tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm.

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