If the recipients of the packaged largesse genuinely need the assistance, that’s great. Good on them. Still, the obvious contrivance, the evident benefits for the hosts and the sponsors, together with the broadcast company’s underlying concern with ratings, mean that I tend to approach such shows with skepticism. Then there are moments such as this:

This is a (sadly) standard incident where a person writes to sympathetic radio show hosts for advice regarding a goal that is both urgent and elusive. In this instance, a young Sydney couple, Kya and Matt Debono, were concerned about the costs of the wedding they had been planning for years. To top it all, the untimely tragic death of Kya’s mother had added to the couple’s financial troubles and left Kya in a perpetual depressive funk. The couple feared they couldn’t afford even a small wedding.

With Matt unemployed & desperate to help Kya, he wrote to Kyle & Jackie O of KIIS 1065 radio to air his frustrations & seek guidance. A month later, the couple were invited on the show under the pretext that they were appearing on a new segment. On Air, the couple was promised a bells and whistles wedding and a honeymoon. Well and good. What makes it special is that the couple wanted Thinking Out Loud as their 1st dance, and Ed Sheeran turned up in person to serenade the newly married couple.

The above is another great feel-good surprise performance by Ed Sheeran (the context is self-explanatory in the video).

What elevates the videos of these surprise appearances is Ed Sheeran’s evident good cheer and unpretentious warm nature. As Sydney, Australia, radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O ask in the explanatory blurb under their YouTube video on Kya and Matt Debono’s wedding, “Is there a nicer guy than Ed Sheeran?”