{"id":220853,"date":"2025-06-28T08:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T08:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220853\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T08:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T08:25:09","slug":"i-went-on-bargain-hunt-heres-the-one-major-thing-they-fake-tv-radio-showbiz-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220853\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I went on Bargain Hunt \u2013 here\u2019s the one major thing they fake’ | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC\u2019s long-running antiques show Bargain Hunt<\/a> has been accused of pre-arranging deals with stallholders before the cameras roll \u2014 leaving contestants to act out fake negotiations on-screen. Multiple insiders have shared claims that producers often negotiate prices in advance, sometimes even steering contestants towards specific items and sellers. One former participant revealed: \u201cWe were steered to a stall at the antiques fair and pretty much handed the stuff they were to buy.<\/p>\n

“And it was obvious that negotiations had gone on beforehand as the seller was way too quick to take an offer.\u201d Another recalled being at a boot sale when their friend was approached by the BBC<\/a> team. \u201cMy friend and I were doing a boot sale, a runner or producer came up to us and said they were filming for the BBC<\/a> and they negotiated a price beforehand, and that involved my mate ringing his landlord to ask what he’d let it go for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said the expert and contestant will come over and can he pretend to bargain, and then they’ll agree on the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some added that if a real stallholder didn\u2019t want to appear on camera, producers would ask someone else to pose as the seller. One vendor was even asked to call the actual owner of an item mid-filming to confirm a pre-arranged price.<\/p>\n

Another source revealed how a decorative bronze figure was supposedly up for grabs at a boot sale \u2013 but instead of letting the contestant negotiate naturally, the price was sorted before filming began.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey negotiated a price beforehand,\u201d they said. \u201cThen they said the expert and contestant will come over and he can pretend to bargain, and then they’ll agree on the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words \u2013 the deal was already done. What viewers at home saw was a staged bit of theatre designed for the cameras.<\/p>\n

And now, hearing all this? I\u2019ll be honest \u2013 it\u2019s changed how I see the show completely.<\/p>\n

As a long-time viewer, I always assumed Bargain Hunt was pretty harmless daytime fun \u2013 two teams, a bit of friendly haggling at an antiques fair, some nail-biting moments at auction, and the occasional oddball expert in a colourful tie.<\/p>\n

But after hearing from people who\u2019ve been there on the ground, I\u2019m starting to see the show in a whole new light. Let\u2019s just say, not everything is quite as it appears on screen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth saying the auction part does seem to be above board \u2013 the BBC<\/a> can\u2019t mess with that. What happens in the salesroom, happens.<\/p>\n

And to be fair, most contestants don\u2019t seem to mind the bit of showbiz smoothing. They get a good lunch, a bit of telly time, and best of all \u2013 the iconic Bargain Hunt fleece.<\/p>\n

Still, if you\u2019ve spent years watching, admiring all those cheeky little deals and thinking, \u201cOoh, they\u2019re good at haggling,\u201d you might be a little gutted.<\/p>\n

As one contestant put it: \u201cIt\u2019s telly, innit? You don\u2019t go on Come Dine With Me expecting anyone to actually like the food.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC\u2019s long-running antiques show Bargain Hunt has been accused of pre-arranging deals with stallholders before the cameras…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[631,87215,19221,87217,87218,192,87216,77,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-220853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-antiques-roadshow","9":"tag-bargain-huhnt-presenters","10":"tag-bargain-hunt","11":"tag-bargain-hunt-experts","12":"tag-bargain-hunt-star-jailed","13":"tag-bbc","14":"tag-bbc-bargain-hunt","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-tv","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114760038798697673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}