IN a bid to inject some romance into the airwaves, Heart presenters Jez and Roo open up their hearts on Valentine’s Day.

ROO: I’ve worked with my co-host Jez for four years and each year he deludes himself that grabbing any old bunch of flowers while doing the grocery shop is romantic.

He sees flowers as something that ‘girls like’ and doesn’t take his thinking any further than that.

I devised a love quiz to assess just how romantic he was, and he scraped a measly 40 per cent. In addition it was clear from the response of our listeners that there were plenty of ladies in Wiltshire who were living with men who either couldn’t be bothered with Valentine’s Day or made very little effort.

It was then the idea for Roo’s Romance Boot Camp was born.

Why not set up a series of tasks for unromantic partners in a bid to change their ways?

I didn’t set out to make the event exclusively male, but it was interesting that everyone who registered their partner was a woman hoping to have a better Valentine’s experience with their husband or boyfriend.

We selected a group from our entries and invited them all to the radio station to go through the challenges. First off was a quick- fire round where we held up items and asked the men to identify if the presents were a good or bad idea for Valentine’s Day.

When one of the group thought an iron was a great gift, it was clear that it was going to be a tough crowd, but I ploughed on regardless.

We then ran a quiz and an observation task. I created a mock-up of a woman’s room and placed visual clues all over it, in a bid to show the men that the women in their lives are often leaving them a hint as to the kind of thing they might want as a gift.

We finished up with a poetry writing session with the boys writing something for their loved ones. Fabulously, some of them were quite touching.

In typical ‘blokes together’ style there were those who were still adamant they wouldn’t be embracing Valentine’s Day, but some of the things they did and said during the evening means I have hope that some of the group might just surprise their other halves – and themselves.

JEZ: I drove to the boot camp with a feeling of dread I usually get when I’m on the way to the dentist to have fillings.

As soon as I arrived it was immediately obvious just how seriously Roo was taking things. She was dressed up as a school mistress and was peering over some spectacles and ordering me to take my seat.

Once proceedings were underway it actually became quite a fun and entertaining way to spend the evening. There were some genuine laugh out loud moments.

I loved hearing one of the students bragging that he’d purchased his wife a new ironing board for her birthday and then claiming she thought it was one of the best presents she’d ever received. On chatting to Roo afterwards it appears his wife was one of the first to volunteer him for the boot camp.

One of the other students revealed that to date he’d never purchased a Valentine’s card for his other half. I took comfort from those stories as I’m not in the same league when it comes to being unromantic. I did wonder if I needed the boot camp at all… But the thing is, and I don’t really want to admit this to Roo, I did actually learn things from the evening. She demonstrated it’s not all about spending money on presents (this was music to my ears) but it’s more about being thoughtful and picking up the signs that indicate what your wife is interested in.

This will come in useful when my other half doesn’t ask for anything specific Also Roo suggested present ideas I’d never considered before like a magazine subscription. As she pointed out, it’s the gift that keeps on giving as a magazine turns up every month – I like the idea that my efforts will be in the spotlight for more than just Valentine’s Day.

All in all it was a fun way to spend an evening – hanging out with a bunch of equally clueless lads when it comes to romance.

I also think Roo may have a future career as a school teacher; thankfully she didn’t put me in detention as I scraped a pass!