I was playing a game on the Deal or No Deal website, when I saw a link to become a contestant on the actual TV show. I filled in the questionnaire and was invited to go to Manchester for an audition with 150 other people. We filled in more forms and had a one-to-one chat with the production team - they asked whether I could take three or four weeks off work to take part. Luckily, I could because my partner and I run our own business.

Apparently, 45,000 had applied and they were auditioning 4,000 people all over the UK, so I never thought I'd get in. Three weeks later, when I'd given up hope, they called. Total excitement took over. It all happened so quickly after that. A week later I was down in Bristol, doing three shows a day!

There are 22 contestants at any one time and everyone gets a turn in 'the chair', choosing the boxes. The aim is to try and choose, and therefore get rid of the boxes with the lowest amounts of money in them first. To stop you from ending up winning a box with a lot of money in it, the banker will try and make a deal with you - offer you money to stop playing.

Once you've had your turn, you go home - but you could be called up after five or 50 shows before the light stops on you.

I won £5, whereas the highest offer I got from the banker was £17,000. I had in my head the figure of £22,000, which would have made a real difference to our lives. I was tempted to accept the £17,000, but the board in front of me looked good so I went for one more deal - but then the whole game collapsed.

That's just the way it works, it's all about luck on the day. If you take out the 'power five' (the boxes with the highest amounts of money in them) too soon then you do blow your chance of getting a good deal from the banker.

I was quite upset on the train home the following day because I knew I'd have to explain to my partner that I'd turned down £17,000 - we weren't desperate for money, but I had gone down there to win and came back with nothing. But then I remembered what the mother of one of the other players had said to her when didn't won much either.

"If Channel 4 had rung you up last week and said you can stay in a nice hotel, meet 20 fantastic friends and be on national TV for a month, but no money, would you still do it?" The answer was yes, of course, and that's the point. She hadn't lost because she'd never had the money in the first place. And I felt better - I hadn't lost, I'd gained so much and had an amazing experience.

It's so different from other game shows. You're not competing against your fellow contestants and because you have breakfast, lunch and dinner with them on the set and in the hotel, you become really close and want everyone else to do well. We became a little community and everyone genuinely wanted everyone else to beat the banker - he's a really nasty character!

I did get to speak to the banker - he is real! At one point Noel took my place and the phone rang, so he asked me to pick it up. Noel wears an ear piece so the production team can talk to him, and he always puts the phone over that ear so I didn't think there was anyone there, but when someone talked to me I nearly fell off my chair! It was a man's voice, very posh but distorted, a bit like the voice in the film Scream.

Noel Edmonds was great. When you arrive on the first day, all the cameras, lights and audience are really nerve-wracking. Then he comes walking out onto set and the first thing he does is go straight up to the new player, shake hands, and have a five minute chat with them. This puts them and everyone else at ease. But he still wouldn't tell me what the symbols on his fingers mean - I'd ask him everyday but he only said 'all will be revealed very soon'!

I've kept in touch with at least 20 of the other contestants and I recently arranged a trip to go to the Price is Right game show. The wife of one of my fellow contestants actually won the whole thing - holiday, car, everything! It was amazing, I was so pleased for them and they wouldn't have had the chance if we hadn't met up on Deal or No Deal. So if you get the chance to be in a game show, go for it - it doesn't matter that I didn't win, I've gained so much more than money.

Scott Gardner