After two years, 192 contestants and four seasons, Maria Dolores Abela, a mother of three from Mgarr, has become the first record €25,000 winner on the TV game show Deal or No Deal winning the cash on the episode aired yesterday.

“It has always been a dream of mine to take part in Deal or No Deal. I have watched it religiously on both TVM and Italian stations. I still can’t believe I won e25,000 but I feel that the photos of my children and my lucky horseshoe had something to do with it,” the winner said.

The episode began with 22 contestants dressed up as pirates. After many refusals of hefty offers from the banker, risk after risk and a nail biting hour, Mrs Abela arrived at the point of selecting between two remaining boxes containing e15,000 and e25,000. Calm and focused, the contestant selected her own box throughout the game.

Up to e125,000 up for grabs weekly, Deal or No Deal continues to be Malta’s biggest game show, and most demanded world-wide. Produced locally by one of Malta’s leading television production houses, Where’s Everybody, Deal or No Deal is a format distributed by Endemol international: the people who brought us popular reality show, Big Brother.

Deal or No Deal is aired Monday through to Friday at 18.45 on TVM.