made history in one episode which saw the programme's very rules called into question. For the first time ever, the red team failed to choose a third item to put up for auction, with one of the guests explaining he was "lost for words".

He said: "Because there are so many things here but it's just finding that item that meets the criteria!" The narrator explained that the team "ran out of time" and therefore only two of their items could be sold - but thankfully they didn't make too big a loss.

Standing outside the auction room, Charles Hanson apologised to the contestants, telling them: "I like to play to the wire but it went badly, badly wrong. We failed on the challenge, we failed with our big spend. I'm sorry, team. It really happened."

But while the audience at home was fuming with the blunder and arguing the team should instead have been disqualified, they didn't have the rulebook thrown at them - unlike two of the celebrity competitors on the show.

When Happy Mondays stars Bez and Rowetta Idah competed against Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Candida Doyle on a special episode, the host cut in to announce a "misdemeanour" - and pulled out a literal hefty book of regulations.

The rule read: "Tis completely forbidden for friends or family members to bid on a team's item." It turns out Bez's girlfriend bid on one of their items in an attempt to help him out - something he branded a "genuine error".

He insisted: "My girlfriend thought she was helping out." But he was told by their resident expert: "I'm speechless!" before being completely disqualified from the contest.

Pulp, meanwhile, lost £95 on their items, with Jarvis Cocker confessing he was "scarred for life" by previous auctions. "I attempted to be in the antiques trade for about a fortnight. It didn't really work," he admitted.