Bargain Hunt star reveals TV legend Terry Wogan’s harsh swipe at long-running antiques show

Bargain Hunt star Thomas Forrester has revealed that not everyone has been a fan of the long-running BBC daytime antiques show.

The series will celebrate its 25th anniversary next week with a special episode on Thursday 13 March, and Thomas has been remembering that legendary TV star Terry Wogan was not shy in sharing his opinion on the series when it first aired.

In a documentary about the show, Thomas, who is now 50, said he was only a “very young boy” when he joined the series. In one early episode, he and fellow antiques dealer Philip Serrell, now 70, spent more than £300 on two objects thinking they were items which would rake in the cash at auction. However, they both ended up making a huge loss when the items went under the hammer.

Thomas said: “I was a very young boy when I joined as an expert. I’d say my most memorable object was when Philip and I were at Shepton Mallet in the early 2000s. It was a prime-time show back then and on in the evening. I bought a pedal car and Philip had bought a cut-out wooden turkey fairground ride”.

“Now we spent over £300 on this and, the next day, Terry Wogan on the radio said ‘ I have just watched two supposed BBC experts burn through over £300 in under 20 minutes’. Sir Terry witnessed my downfall”.

On the show, viewers watch as two rival dealers guide two teams of contestants as they buy items at antique shops and fairs. They then sell their items at auction, with the winning team being the one that has made the most profit.

There has been some controversy over the upcoming Bargain Hunt documentary, as Tim Wonnacott, who hosted the show for 12 years, gets less than a minute of screen time in the anniversary special. &nbsp,

Tim, aged 73, hosted the antiques game show from 2003 until 2015 but quit the show for “personal reasons”. At the time, the BBC said in a statement: “We would like to thank Tim Wonnacott for his dedication to Bargain Hunt over the last twelve-years and for the great expertise that he has brought to the show in that time. Bargain Hunt will be moving in a new direction next year utilising a team of experts who present a number of shows each. Tim continues to work with the BBC on Antiques Road Trip”.

25 Years Of Bargain Hunt features famous faces from over the years including Anita Manning, Philip Serrell, Kate Bliss, Danny Sebastian and Thomas Forrester recalling their best buys and favourite moments from the past.

But one TV insider said Tim “barely gets a look-in” despite his 12 years with the show. Instead he gets just 20 seconds of airtime in clips which are flashed up on screen during the 45 minute tribute.

The anniversary show’s presenter Charlie Ross does salute Tim for being the man who introduced the famous Bargain Hunt “high kick” which the contestants and experts all do at the end of every show. Clips are shown of Tim being the first to kick his leg in the air and then later footage of everyone doing it as a gimmick to end each episode. Charlie tells viewers: “It started with Tim Wonnacott”!

25 Years of Bargain Hunt is on BBC1 on Thursday March 13

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Source: Mirror