Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BARGAIN BINS BEZ
‘Cheating’ Happy Mondays ace is disqualified from TV’S Hunt
BEZ of the Happy Mondays was caught cheating on Bargain Hunt, but claims it was all an “honest error”.
Bez, 54, was disqualified after his girlfriend Firouzeh Razavi was uncovered as the successful bidder for some of his red team’s auction items.
But Bez claimed he had simply asked her to bid for a 100-piece tea set that had nothing to do with the show.
He said: “I said, ‘I want this, this is ours’. And she thought I meant. ‘Go get a ticket and bid on our things’.
She completely misunderstood.”
Firouzeh bought the red team’s horseshoe mirror and a record player. He said: “I couldn’t believe it. I was sat there thinking, ‘Oh my God, she’s bought me mirror’.
“But it was an honest error – we never meant to cheat.”
It left Bez and his Happy Mondays team-mate Rowetta, 52, with an £8 profit, beating Pulp team rivals Jarvis Cocker, 55, and Candida Doyle, 55.
When producers rumbled the scam, Bez and Rowetta were hauled back to reshoot the end of the Music Day special, broadcast yesterday.
Bez said: “It was embarrassing having to hand over our title. I’ve ended up with all the old junk we bought.”
But producers forgot to take back the £8 profit. He said: “I went home with it in my pocket.”