ROAD TO RUIN
I caused Antiques Roadshow’s most awkward moment ever … my priceless item was NOT what I thought and left crowd gagging
ANTIQUES Roadshow is full of surprises - we've all been left gobsmacked by some of the valuations on the show.
But the wholesome BBC daytime telly favourite has also provided some awkward blunders and shocking gaffes in its 44 years on our screens.
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From show experts accidentally consuming bodily fluids to unusual criticism of guests' items, it can get a little too cringeworthy.
Here, we take a look at some of Antique Roadshow's biggest toe-curling moments that had our jaws on the floor.
Taking the pee
In 2016, expert Andy McConnell experienced an embarrassing moment when he accidentally downed urine that dates back 180 years.
The glass expert initially thought he was tasting a bottle of 1840s port or red wine but got a nasty shock when it was actually revealed to be pee.
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Injecting a syringe to extract a bit of the "very brown" liquid inside the bottle, he remarked after giving it a taste: "I think it’s port – port or red wine... or it’s full of rusty old nails and that’s rust."
The true content of the bottle was revealed to Andy by Fiona Bruce in a later episode. She said: "Inside were these brass pins, all of these dating from the late 1840s, and the liquid – urine, a tiny bit of alcohol, and one human hair,” explained Bruce.
“And a mysterious little creature called an ostracod, which is like a little cockle. So [this] was not a bottle of port or wine, but a witches bottle."
"So buried in the threshold of the house as a talisman against witchcraft, against curses, against misfortune coming into the home. So you glad you tried it?"
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Andy, keen to make light of the moment joked: "Yummy. Such good news."
He added it was "too much of a good opportunity to miss."
'Crude' joke
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In a 2021 episode, Countdown host Rachel Riley left expert David Harper red-faced and viewers in stitches when she accidentally made a "crude" joke.
The awkward moment came when David picked up an unusual item and asked Rachel to guess what it was.
When Rachel, who was pregnant at the time, looked at it, she appeared to hold back a giggle and said: "I don't want to be crude but it's something with boobies isn't it?"
As David lifted the item up and spun it around, she went further to add: "It's got the booby shape with the little screw nipples."
After he revealed it was a bra stand, Rachel couldn't believe it and held the item up to her chest to say: "Compared to me - and I know I am pregnant and everything - but how small was this woman?"
A blushing David then replied: "Well, people come in all shapes and sizes," before quickly changing the subject to discuss how much it could be worth.
School art project
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Sometimes the experts on Antiques Roadshow can get it VERY wrong - as they did on the US version of the show in 2016.
A guest brought in a glazed redware jug, decorated with six faces, that they'd bought for $300 (£235).
An antiques expert dated the piece of pottery to the "late 19th century," and compared the piece to famous artist Pablo Picasso's work.
He then said the guest could get anything between an eye-watering $30,000 and $50,000.
But, soon after the show aired, it came to light that the pottery wasn't antique at all, and was actually made by a high school art student in 1973.
A viewer watching the episode recognised the art immediately and said it had been made by her friend Soule.
Following the mistake, the antiques expert confessed they'd valued it at 10 times what it's actually worth.
They told The Guardian: "Obviously, I was mistaken as to its age by 60 to 80 years.
"I feel the value at auction, based on its quality and artistic merit, is in the $3,000-$5,000 range. Still not bad for a high schooler in Oregon."
Faking it
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Most guests that appear on Antique Roadshow pray they will return home with thousands of pounds in their bank accounts.
You can then imagine one guest's heartbreak when she brought in a painting to be valued in 2021 only to discover it was actually a copy and not the original.
The painting, called Sulky, as it portrays a man with a frown, was bought at a car boot sale, according to the owner.
She said: "My parents bought him from Cirencester car-boot sale in the late 80s, because my dad thought that Sulky looked like his dad, it's been in our house ever since."
But expert Alexandra Gill had the unfortunate job of breaking it to her that it wasn't the real deal by artist Gerald W Tooby.
"One of the reasons you can tell that it is a copy is because it's got very sharp edges," explained Alexandra.
"And if you look very, very closely, you can see it's pixelated, so you can see very, very small dots as the image is made up, which is another indication that it's a copy."
But ever the gracious host, Alexandra attempted to console her by saying at least the artwork featured the signature of the painter.
Valued down
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Going on the show as a guest can go two ways - you either go home laughing to the bank or return heartbroken.
The latter happened to a guest who had high hopes after being told his item could fetch a whopping £250,000.
Expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan could not hide his excitement when the statue, said to come from the Kota tribe from Gabon, was brought in.
He said: "When you unwrapped this, my heart really skipped a beat because it's one of my favourite tribal African figures."
The guest revealed he had bought the item from an Antiques Roadshow event in Cambridge 10 years prior and that it only cost him £1.50.
After Ronnie explained the significance of the piece, he added that one sold for £250,000, raising the expectations of the guest.
He then said: "But unfortunately, this one is a very fine copy. It's slightly the wrong size.
"This was probably made in about 1980 and one like this is probably worth about £150. It is 100 times more than you paid for it."
Don't muck about
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Show expert Andy just can't catch a break - in an episode earlier this year, he almost gave a guest a panic attack when she thought he was about to drop her priced possession.
It all began when Andy showed the guest's multicolored case to the audience as she looked on nervously.
At one point, he pretended he was about to drop the item. The woman was not too amused about this joke, however, and pleaded with him not to drop it.
Later explaining why it was so important to her, she said: "I inherited this vase from my granny, who I really, really adored."
Fortunately for Andy, he did not drop the vase, which was designed by Dino Martens in 1951.
He also gave her the good news that it could sell for £6,000 to £8,000.
'Horrible' quip
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The experts on Antiques Roadshow have developed a reputation for being extremely nice to their guests, no matter how ridiculous an item may seem.
It came as a surprise then, when Clive Farahar appeared to criticise an item for being in bad condition, in an episode filmed in Powis Castle, Wales.
As he examined the botany book from the 1800s, he said: "You’ve brought in the most horrible copy, I think I’ve ever seen, of a late 19th-century flora.”
But on closer inspection, he appeared to eat his words when he realised it was written by the famed British botanist George Bentham.
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Softening his stance, he told her: "It’s a perfectly ordinary flora, one that you would carry around in your pocket, but the great thing about it is these incredible floral gems inside it.”
After the owner explained how she got the book, Clive exclaimed: "That’s extraordinary, I mean this is just incredible", before putting a £1,500 price tag on it.
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