A Bargain Hunt team somehow managed to claim a famous victory on the BBC show today (May 14) – despite having the embarrassment of seeing one of their items sell for just £1. The episode presented by Charlie Ross saw the Red and Blue teams venture to the Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge to search for antiques.
The Reds consisted of husband and wife duo Shaun and Rachael, who faced off with partners Jane and Marc on the Blue team. The couples were teamed up with antiques experts Thomas Forrester and Tim Weeks respectively before they wandered around the stalls on the show.
But as they ventured off, Charlie handed the teams their challenge buy for the day. For the Blues, they had to get an item with a connection to the sea and the Reds had to find something linked to photography, which pleased Rachael as she works as a wedding photographer.
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The Blues managed to bag themselves a lobster bottle opener for £7 with their first purchase. Meanwhile, the Reds opted to grab a small projector which they managed to haggle down from £5 to £3.
The team were sure it was a bargain that would bring them big rewards under the hammer. This included expert Thomas, who confidently said: “You’ve got to get a profit for that, haven’t you?”
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When quizzed later by Charlie about whether it really would make a profit, Thomas added he would be “disappointed if it didn’t” given the cheap price they got it for. But they ended up being left with egg on their face when it went under the hammer in Plymouth.
Before it went up for sale, Charlie spoke to auctioneer Anthony Eldred from Eldreds in Roborough, and asked for his thoughts on the projector. Rather bluntly, Anthony said they “might struggle” to sell it, adding it only had an estimate of £2 to £5 on it.
Moving over into the auction room, Anthony’s prophecy proved correct as the buyers fell silent as the projector went in front of them, even when he started the bidding at £2. Anthony kept urging the buyers to dip into their pockets and see what spare change they had in an attempt to take the projector made by the Gnome company.
He eventually ended up describing it as a “big desk paper weight” and begged the room to take it off his hands. This did spark a bid of £1, but went no further.
The team tried to look on the bright side. Charlie summed it all up with the quip: “Well the good news is you only lost £2.”
The Reds were left staring defeat in the face and ended on a loss of £6 after the other three items they and Thomas picked were sold. In the end, just one of their items sold for a profit, with a Danish necklace going for £120, pocketing them a £20 boost.
But just when it looked like all was lost for the Reds, they remarkably were able to triumph as their Blue opponents ended up with a £62 loss overall. Although Jane and Marc saw their first two items go for profits, a massive £70 loss on a filing cabinet following by another £7 loss for some Poole Pottery led to a defeat.
After Charlie announced the final scores, Shaun and Rachael gave each other and Thomas high fives as they were delighted with the result. Charlie added they probably needed to thank Thomas for bagging them the win thanks to the necklace, which he had spotted.
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