Golden Balls star shares wish for rival who 'stole' from him as he lives in debt
Failed game show contestant Stephen Bushnall has reflected on the crushing blow he received when he lost out on a big money prize on ITV’s Golden Balls in 2008.
The no1 50-year-old former contestant has since become a meme as his crushing loss on the ITV show has been used by internet users as a visual reference to express woe and loss. Stephen got within a whisker of winning £100,000 on the TV show - only for a fellow contestant to win the money from underneath him.
Now, 15 years on from the incident, Stephen has admitted he is living in debt and wishes his chances had been more fortunate at the time. However, he says he holds no animosity to the fellow contestant who took the money and he wishes her well.
Stephen is now, however, facing hardship due to the cost of living crisis and is also struggling with debts. But Stephen says if he had the chance to appear on Golden Balls again, he would chose to share the cash prize rather than steal it all for himself.
While Stephen voted to split the prize fund, his opponent chose to steal (YouTube)Reflecting on his time on the show, Stephen told MailOnline: “£50,000 at the time would have changed my life. I was in a lot of debt then and I still am now. Like a lot of people, I am struggling. Life is tough. I was absolutely devastated when it happened. I was in a state of pure shock and broke down in tears.
Corrie's Sue Cleaver says I'm A Celebrity stint helped her to push boundaries
“It would have been amazing. It would have sorted out a lot of problems and I played the game fairly. And right now I am £20,000 in debt through owed money and credit card bills. The cost of living crisis has been very tough. But, if I had my chance again, I would still pick to share the money. That is the sort of person I am and always will be.” He went on to slam the decision of other players for choosing to steal the prize instead of split it, arguing it was a cruel rule and not something he would do himself.
Stephen pictured since the ITV show aired 15 years ago (sbushnall73uk/Instagram)Golden Balls aired between 2007 and 2009 and was presented by comedian Jasper Carrott - and produced six seasons and 323 episodes over that reasonably short period of time. Game play showed contestants being handed a selection of balls that contain cash prizes ranging from £10 to £75,000.
The first round of the game would see four contestants face off - and some of the balls handed out would contain ‘killer’ messages which would knock them out of the contest if they opened a ball to find this inside. The players would look inside their ball and then choose to tell the truth about them or lie - and the other contestants had to figure out who was lying and try to avoid any ‘killer’ balls that were win the mix.
Once one contestant is knocked out, the game advanced to a second round where the same game of wits and deception continues, but with more balls. Once the second player is knocked out, the remaining two then combine the value of their money balls which is then up for grabs.
In a final round, the two players can chose to split the prize or steal it. The show was criticised at the time of airing with psychologists claiming it encouraged people to be deceptive. There series struggled to find an audience, however, pulling in between one and two million viewers and it was ultimately axed after two and a half years.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
