Deal Or No Deal fans were left in tears during a recent episode of the revived ITV gameshow as player Brad explained he didn’t have long to live. It came as host Stephen Mulhern asked the contestant what he would do if he won the money he was after.
“Well, last year things changed quite a lot for me, really – I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease,” he replied.
As he got choked up, he admitted: “I never cry when I talk about it and I’m crying now.”
Brad continued: “So the prognosis isn’t really that great. So I made a bucket list, so go and see different places and stuff around the world.”
Brad explained: “And [I want to] give my family, my partner, some money.”
“So when you say ‘bucket list’, are you saying you’re given a certain timeframe?” Stephen asked.
“Yeah, inevitably that’s how it goes really,” Brad explained, adding: “Don’t get me wrong, Stephen Hawking lived 55 years.
“But the average is like a few years, you know, so.”
“When you get told that… I cannot imagine it,” Stephen confessed.
Brad responded: “For a few months after I was like severely down, I kind of gave up on the world really.
“And then you kind of – I woke up and I thought no s*d this, I need to just change the way I feel and think about things.”
During their conversation, Brad’s co-stars wiped away tears as they listened.
However, fans watching from home were also overcome with emotion at Brad’s story. Taking to X, @OMalleyMcfly_ wrote: “#DealOrNoDeal poor Brad what a horrible disease to have so young.”
@IriaLouise penned: “Felt so sorry for Brad such a wonderful man made me cry when he said all he’s had is bad luck though his life #DealOrNoDeal.”
@DanTheStripe added: “Just caught up on today’s #DealOrNoDeal, f***ing hell that was a rough show. Poor bloke.”
@GlitteryHayls shared: “So gutted for Brad on #DealOrNoDeal, I wish he’d dealt on the £12k offer.”
@AlexPaterson0 commented: “If you haven’t watched Brad’s episode from today, when you do, get the tissues ready, as it is an emotional and sad episode.”
@Paul_Vine1 posted: “For the news he’s has already had and and for what he may go through in the future, I have never wanted somebody to walk away with huge money more than I did in the game aired today.”
Deal Or No Deal airs weekdays from 4pm on ITV.