A builder became so fed up with his wife's nagging that he put her up for sale in a trade magazine.
It situation came to a head when Garry Bates' wife Donna snapped at him as she watched Dancing on Ice.
The 38-year-old, from Ebley, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, placed the unusual advert in Trade-It, describing his spouse as: "Nagging Wife. No Tax, Not MOT. Very high maintenance - some rust."
Mrs Bates, 40, was put in the Free to Collect section of the magazine where he also advertised his fishing tackle.
Despite the less-than-flattering pitch, Mr Bates was inundated with calls from men offering to take her off his hands.
"I didn't think anyone would ring up but I've had at least nine or ten people calling about her. It's gone mad. There was no one I knew - just people asking, 'Is she still available?'," he said.
"She was nagging me for doing something small, while she was watching some rubbish on TV. So I just thought I'd put an ad in to get rid of her. She's seen the funny side of it now though!"
The self-employed builder said his wife laughed at the anonymous advert before realising she was the one on special offer.
She gave him "a bit of an ear-bashing" after the prank was revealed, he admitted.
But the pair, who married last June, were soon laughing together about it.
Mr Bates is now on his guard as his wife, who works for a plumbing firm in Gloucester, is out for revenge.
She said: "I don't think I do nag him - we're newlyweds. He just doesn't do what I want him to, that's all.
"If you get offended by something like that you shouldn't really be married, should you? I accepted it as the joke it was.
"I'd been watching Dancing on Ice and he was on his computer because he doesn't like it and gets bored. The next week I was looking through the magazine because my son's Playstation was in there.
"I said to him, 'Someone's put their wife in there! That wasn't you, was it?' He just smiled because he's a dark horse. I couldn't believe it.
"Revenge will be sweet though, and I've got something planned for him soon."
The couple married last year but have been together for six years. They have two children each, from previous marriages.
© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.
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