The truth is out there... or is it?

Reality TV star Scarlett Moffatt wants to get to the bottom of it all

‘Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean that they’re not out to get you”. Perhaps a phrase that could be adopted as a slogan for the podcast series ‘Scarlett Moffatt Wants to Believe’.

After all, the 32-yearold presenter and reality star is, shall we say, “cautious”. She refuses to have an Alexa or Google speaker in her home, lest it be operating as a tool of the government to keep tabs on us.

Fair enough – these ‘helper’ devices are perfectly capable of listening in on our chat when we don’t want them to. Although it’s perhaps more likely that it’s tech companies keen to sell us even more tat we can’t afford rather than MI5 checking in on TV stars and their belief that governmentcontrolled robot pigeons may also be following our every move.

Not all pigeons of course, that would be crazy talk. “I don’t think they eradicated all of them,” she adds in a chat with an expert in counter-terrorism and surveillance. No, sorry, with Eastenders actor Joe Swash.

“If you think about World War Two, they had carrier pigeons to carry messages back and forth,” she adds in the episode, one of 100 which take in all sorts of conspiracy theorising – from the Bermuda Triangle to mermaids and the moon landing. Did a UFO crashland in Roswell? What’s lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness? Are celebrity clones walking among us? And is Prince Charles actually a vampire?

Fortunately, Moffatt’s obsession with the unsolved and the unexplained is tempered by her boyfriend Scott Dobinson (right), who is more sceptical, preferring facts and evidence to conspiracy theories. The resultant discussion, where Moffat attempts to persuade her partner to keep an open mind – or even come around to her way of thinking – makes for a laugha-minute listen.

Crowned ‘Queen of the Jungle’ in series 16 of ‘I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!’, Moffat has become a familiar face and voice to many, going back to her appearance on Gogglebox nine years ago.

Moffatt gets some backup from her friends (or, as Dobinson puts it, gang up on him). She chats to This Country star Daisy May Cooper about whether the pyramids were built by time travellers, seeks illumination about the Illuminati with actor and DJ Dev, and quizzes social media superstar Arron Crascall about The Mandela Effect, the phenomenon that gives the world false memories, as well as uncovering the secrets behind beloved films and children’s TV with stand-up comedian Helen Bauer.

The opening quote about paranoia, by the way, was penned by Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22. And not by Kurt Cobain. No matter what you might read on the internet.

‘Scarlett Moffatt wants to Believe’ is available now on BBC Sounds. Conspiracy clique - pyramid sceptic Daisy May Cooper, pigeon detective Joe Swash, and voice of reason, partner Scott Dobinson.