A Tipping Point guest has been left disappointed (Picture: ITV)
A contestant on Tipping Point who won a once-in-a-lifetime holiday was left gutted after finding out they couldn’t go.
Maxine Longmuir, 69, who appeared on the ITV daytime game show last year, was lucky enough to win a luxury trip away to the Algarve in Portugal.
Tipping Point, which started in 2012, sees contestants attempting to correctly answer general knowledge questions in order to use a coin pusher arcade-style machine and build up cash in their bank.
However, only the person with the most cash in their bank gets to take it home at the end of the game, while others either leave with nothing or a mystery non-cash prize.
Despite not winning any cash on the quiz series – which is hosted by Ben Shephard – Maxine did get the holiday after managing to secure the opportunity to win a mystery prize.
But soon after winning the special trip, Maxine was told by doctors that she had a heart condition that needed surgery, meaning she wouldn’t be able to fly to Portugal.
Maxine was told she couldn’t fly after being diagnosed with a heart condition
Maxine won a mystery prize on Tipping Point in April last year
Tipping Point is a twist on old coin-pusher arcade games (Picture: ITV)
She’d been expected to fly to the sunny region in April 2023 with her husband Graham – the Algarve is a popular getaway destination for British holidaymakers.
But she was diagnosed by doctors with atrial fibrillation – also known as ‘afib’ or ‘AF’ – and deemed it unsafe for her to capitalise on her Tipping Point winnings.
She told The Mail: ‘I’m so disappointed. It’s maddening because [Tipping Point] had the PR from it but I haven’t got anything [to replace my holiday]. I went back and told them some other dates I could do but the holiday company said no.’
‘It’s our wedding anniversary and I turn 70 this year so it was supposed to be the perfect celebration.
She continued: ‘We haven’t been able to take a holiday for five years and I’d booked coach tickets to the airport, arranged for a friend to come and look after our dogs.’
Atrial fibrillation is characterised by a fast or erratic heartbeat which can cause problems associated with dizziness, shortness of breath, and tiredness.
It affects around 1.4 million people in the UK according to the NHS and can be treated either with medication or something called a cardioversion, where the heart is given a controlled electric shock to restore its regular rhythm.
Maxine will hopefully be jetting off to the Algarve soon (Picture: Buddy Mays/Getty)
Reports from the Mail suggested later that the company responsible for organising the holiday, Destinology, has now contacted Maxine about rearranging the Algarve trip for the future.
This means that Maxine will be able to reorganise her trip, allowing her to finally see a return on the prize she won on TV over a year ago.
Metro.co.uk contacted Destinology, who said: ‘We can confirm that we have been in talks with Mrs Longmuir since last week around new dates so that we can rearrange her holiday.’
The statement continued: ‘Our team contacted the hotel to try and move her dates, but unfortunately this was outside of the terms and conditions of the hotel prize offered by the hotel.
‘After explaining Mrs Longmuir’s circumstances, the hotel has now agreed to move her stay to a date in the future, and Destinology will be rearranging her flights.’
Recently, Tipping Point was celebrated for making the necessary accommodations for its very first deaf contestant, Martine – an interpreter was stood next to host Ben and translated his questions for her.
Maxine and her husband Graham had already made their plans to leave for Portugal
While Martine was the first contestant to be eliminated, mostly because she was unlucky with the coin-pusher machine, fans on social media were impressed with ITV’s featuring of her.
On Twitter, one person said: ‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen a deaf contestant and a signer on the show. As someone who wears hearing aids, well done and hopefully we shall do more of this.’
Watch Tipping Point on ITV and ITVX.
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