Hello! Today I bring news of a little episode of fortuitous archaeology… the two Lost Episodes of my 2005 run on Temptation have finally, finally, finally been UNEARTHED.

No, they weren’t in this trunk.

For some reason, I never got recordings of these two episodes at the time. I have vague memories of my Mum not recording them because she thought my Mother-In-Law was recording them, and my Mother-In-Law not recording them because she thought my Mum was recording them… but I could be mistaken about all that. But, hey – why I didn’t diligently record all seven episodes, I’ll never know. Or maybe I did, but never labelled them properly, and the tapes got lost…

Aaanyhoo, after all seven shows had gone to air and the dust had settled, I found that I only had copies of Episode 1 (which aired on Tuesday 16/08/05), Episode 2 (Wednesday 17/08/05), Episode 3 (Thursday 18/08/05), an incomplete version of Episode 4 (Friday 19/08/05, missing the last minute or so), and Episode 7 (Wednesday 24/08/05).

For fifteen years – FIFTEEN YEARS, do you hear me? – I’ve been missing Episode 5 (Monday 22/08/05) and Episode 6 (Tuesday 23/08/05). I’ve not seen them since they went to air back then, and all the subsequent efforts I’ve made to track them down over the years – including enquiring in at Channel 9’s archives – have proved 100% totally and utterly fruitless. As a Collector and a Completist, not possessing those two episodes has ever-so-slightly niggled at me for all this time…Until now.

A few weeks ago, during a chat with my very dear friend Gavin (who also happens to be a former Temptation contestant), he mentioned that he’d recorded those episodes back then… and that he still had them! I could scarcely believe it. I’d well and truly given up hope that I’d ever find them again. I asked him if I could borrow the VHS tapes, he instantly said ‘yes’ – because he’s a very nice bloke – and I got them digitised. Then I edited out the ads, uploaded them to the HowToWinGameShows.com Facebook page… and here we are, the set is complete! Thanks to Gavin, I’ve also been able to put together a new, complete version of Episode 4, with that pesky missing final minute now restored. 

Okay

So

Yes. It turns out that there actually wasn’t an enormous amount of Dogged Diligent Investigation and Bold Intrepid Adventuring from me, after all.

… Despite that, I still do like dressing up as Indiana Jones. Don’t judge me.

You can watch the episodes via their links above. The shows may be old, but I think they still pack a punch. As Dr Jones might say…

Enjoy!

As always, I claim no copyright in, or ownership of, the clips referenced in this post, and no copyright infringement is intended by linking to them. If you have reason to believe any material has been used in an unauthorized manner, please do let me know.