'We were clueless': How a game of rock, paper, scissors led to a Big Deal for fast-learning art duo

Spoiler warning: This article contains details of the final episode of The Big Deal with Steph McGovern

Two west Belfast pals who had never before set foot in a gallery have been crowned champions of a new BBC art competition series.

Gavin Burns and Liam Martin, who said they were clueless about art, scooped £50,000 in art during Wednesday night's grand final of The Big Deal with Steph McGovern.

The BBC One series forces amateur dealers to cut commission splits and hawk masterpieces to prove they can survive the elite art world.

"I'd never been in an art gallery ever and neither had Liam," said Gavin, adding that it "just shows you can do anything".

Having come into the competition as dark horses, the winning pair said no-one expected them to even make it to the second round.

"After episode one I remember saying that... it was pointless us coming back to episode two. It was a shambles," said Gavin

"We were the worst. We were doing rock, paper, scissors to try and work out what artists we would work with and you can't do that because they put their heart and soul into their art.

"That's how we worked it all out," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I pulled him (Liam) over in the corridor and was like, what one (artist) do you like and he said the top one and I said the bottom, so we said just go rock, paper, scissors. And we done it."

Despite the artist "taking offence" at their method of choosing her piece, they got past the first round and began to take on board all the lessons they could.

Gavin added: "A lot of people on the show, I think they came in with an ego like they already knew how to sell art.

"Me and him came in openly admitting we know nothing, but we want to learn."

One of the key phrases they came to learn, from their series mentor Cordelia de Freitas, was to tell people the piece is "open to interpretation".

"If you don't know the answer to something, don't say you don't know the answer, just say: 'It's open to interpretation,'" said Liam.

"It's an open question, you giving that person time to think about it and give their own interpretation.

"It's a good way of deflecting something if you don't want to look like an idiot or sound stupid - which, in many of the cases, we did at the start."

The final episode saw them pitch a six-figure piece of art at the Frieze Sculpture outdoor exhibition in London's Regent's Park to a group of industry experts.

In true TV style, the contestants were gathered with nothing but a dramatic pause standing between Liam and Gavin, and the big win.

"I started to feel sick, and then I started sweating," Gavin said.

"I thought I was going to faint. And then she said, 'Gavin and Liam.'

"I just couldn't believe it. I grabbed Liam and started hugging him. I've never won anything in my life."

Liam said the £50,000 prize was "life-changing money, a life-changing opportunity".

With the win still fresh in their minds, the pair said they have not made any plans about what to spend their winnings on, but the show has spawned a new appreciation for art and owning a new gallery could be on the cards.

Cordelia de Freitas said "there was something in Gavin and Liam that was naïve" when she first met them.

"They were so clearly out of their comfort zone. I thought then and there, 'I can turn them into art dealers'," she said.

"And I didn't even know at that point that they'd never stepped inside an art gallery before."

Presenter Steph McGovern said "week after week" the pair continued to show up and take on "all the advice they were given".

"And it paid off. I'm so proud of them. I can't wait to see what they do next."