Spoilers for Monday 11th August 2025 - Oldest ever contestant

[Philip A]

Donald Elsom, an RAF veteran who left school at 14 and has since been recognised by the King for his charitable work, has today made headlines before the episode has even been broadcast at 2:10 pm. He is the oldest contestant ever in over 8,500 episodes recorded, at the grand age of 96.

Many congratulations, Donald!

[Philip A]

R11 alt. MIKVEHS

[Gavin Chipper]

There's a BBC article on the challenger.

[Gavin Chipper]

This also makes me wonder which contestant had the earliest ever date of birth. Probably quite hard to find out, but I did a bit of research for DC guest and got Brian Johnston, born in 1912.

[Philip A]

Also wondered if he’s the oldest game show contestant. Almost – a 97-year-old was on Deal Or No Deal.

By the way, and this has been annoying me more than it probably should during the Colin Murray era, but do they not award goodie bags any more? These days it always looks like non-winners unceremoniously go away empty handed.

[Tom Page]

By the way, and this has been annoying me more than it probably should during the Colin Murray era, but do they not award goodie bags any more? These days it always looks like non-winners unceremoniously go away empty handed.

It’s shrunk a bit since the days of board games and dictionaries, but they do still give them out, at least they did when I filmed mine back in March.

[Philip A]

By the way, and this has been annoying me more than it probably should during the Colin Murray era, but do they not award goodie bags any more? These days it always looks like non-winners unceremoniously go away empty handed.

It’s shrunk a bit since the days of board games and dictionaries, but they do still give them out, at least they did when I filmed mine back in March.

Ah good. I know they did away with the paper dictionary which frankly was too heavy and well out of date due to online dictionaries (also like the new blue finalist’s trophy).

But in my opinion, Colin should better dismiss the contestants with, “You win a goodie bag.” That would be a politer way to say goodbye, rather than just talking to them for 5 seconds and looking like they win nothing.

[Steve Hyde]

This also makes me wonder which contestant had the earliest ever date of birth. Probably quite hard to find out, but I did a bit of research for DC guest and got Brian Johnston, born in 1912.

Bertha Bourne looks like a strong contender: https://wiki.apterous.org/Bertha_Bourne

[Gavin Chipper]

This also makes me wonder which contestant had the earliest ever date of birth. Probably quite hard to find out, but I did a bit of research for DC guest and got Brian Johnston, born in 1912.

Bertha Bourne looks like a strong contender: https://wiki.apterous.org/Bertha_Bourne

That's good with a probable year of birth of 1906. But being on in 1994, there would have been plenty of potential for earlier dates of birth.