Peter strikes gold on Golden Balls

Stafford Town Crier Peter Taunton really has got something to shout about after scooping more than £19,000 on Jasper Carrott's Golden Balls competition.

But Peter admits that he mellowed at the death and backed down from his original decision to steal – a move that would have netted him the whole pot of £38,170.

"All the way I had vowed I was going to steal, even to the point my wife Maureen would not come down to London with me for the recording," he revealed today.

"But at the very last second, with just myself and the girl contestant left, I looked into her eyes and saw my mother looking back at me.

"I was still intent on stealing, but my mother was shaking her head and realised I had to go with the share," continued the town crier.

"I know if my mum had still been alive and I had stolen she would have killed me," added Peter.

But the contestants' truthfulness had host Carrott tearing his hair out.

After the first round everyone gave honest answers, leaving Carrott to make comments like: "I'm really disappointed.

"This is supposed to be Golden Balls but people will think it's the honesty channel," Peter said.

He added: "I'll be out of a job."

Peter, aged 63, went down to London six weeks ago to record the programme, which finally went out on ITV 1 last night.

His adversary in that last round was Julie from Manchester who said whilst nervous she was confident Peter was going to stay honest and she admitted: "I did think about going for the steal, but only for a split second.

"I couldn't do it," she added.

Peter said he was happy to come away with the £19,085, which he used to buy himself a new Toyota Yaris.

The pre-recorded programme was originally due to be screened last week but Euro 2008 matches set the popular series back by a week.

Peter said the hardest part was keeping his win a secret. "I didn't even tell Maureen how I got on," he said.