It’s the X Factor final tonight, and we can’t wait. Stacey Solomon, Olly Murs and Joe McElderry – which of them will snatch glory and be crowned as the new Leon Jackson?

Whoever it is, at least we know that all of the X Factor finalists have big futures ahead of them. Stacey’s set to go down in history as the prettiest Frank Spencer impersonator in history, Joe will be shot and sold by mercenary ivory traders and Olly?

Well, Olly’s already established himself as something of a gameshow maestro. And by ‘maestro’ we mean ‘failure’. Video evidence after the jump. Get used to that crushing feeling of disappointment, Olly. Something tells us it won’t be the last time you experience it…

We're glued to game shows.

From The Weakest Link to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, we’ve sat and watched them all. The last game show to cause the elderly to almost faint in excitement was Deal Or No Deal. A 45-minute programme where people open boxes and nothing else. Genius. The only interesting things about Deal Or No Deal were laughing at the oddball contestants and Noel Edmonds. But that’s changed!

Well, for one episode.

Most gameshows rely on questions, which help bring a somewhat interactive manner to the programme because viewers at home can bellow the answers at nothing in particular or throw half-eaten pies at your TV in frustration because Mary from Hull didn't know what the study of water is called. The thick cow. Her £10,000 loss could have been your gateway to more pastry based enjoyment. 

But someone in TV land must have thought that people answering questions for cash was a bit dated. Consequently some bright spark thought that people didn’t need to answer questions to win. So now we have Deal Or No Deal, where 22 people have to pick a box each and hope that there's a high-valued amount of money in theirs and not a low one. Prizes range from 1p to £250,000.  And that’s it.

Someone is picked at random to spend 45 minutes making crap jokes with Noel Edmonds. All they do is pick random numbers, hoping that box 15 will be enough to pay off their mortgage or at least a post-show pint. No skill is involved and the show could be over in five minutes. But no, the bearded twat drags the process out, causing the overweight contestants to sweat in anticipation about what the banker will offer them. Pretty boring stuff.

But hold on to your hats! It’s about to get crazy. So much so that we had to actually take several trips to the toilet before we could type the following words. ONE OF THE BOXES THAT WAS OPENED DIDN’T HAVE AN AMOUNT INSIDE IT! If that’s not worthy of going mental we don’t know what is. The Guardian reports: 

“A vicar taking part in Deal or No Deal opened one of the show's sealed boxes, which are supposed to contain a card with an amount of money on it, to find that it contained only sticky black tape.”  

Sending the show into chaos, Noel Edmonds and his production staff quickly exited the set to discuss what to do. Whilst the camera rolled! Reassuringly, Tim Hincks who works on the show decided he wouldn’t lie to the public and broadcast the arse-up in full: 

“Five or 10 years ago we would have re-edited [it] and covered up," added Hincks, speaking at the MediaGuardian.co.uk Changing Media Summit today. "Now we have a sophisticated audience we must show our workings." 

This makes us wonder. How many other mistakes have been covered up? A full-blown military storm of the Richard & Judy show? A pantomime horse wandering around the set of the Channel 4 News? We want answers and demand to see the Channel 4 vault where all the forgotten programmes are stored. 

If you want to experience the craziness of the Deal Or No Deal cock-up for yourself, it will be broadcast in full on March 26 on Channel 4. We plan to record it on TV, save it on our computer and aim to have 36 copies of it made on DVD. Just in case we lose them. This treasured memory looks set to be bigger then the birth of a child or a wedding.

Read more:

Channel 4 to air Deal Or No Deal Gaffe - Guardian