'Original' Mr Blobby costume goes on sale on eBay – and someone is willing to pay more than £23,000 for it

Mr Blobby is like a pink, spotted Marmite – you either love or hate the chaotic comedy character who dominated television in the 90s. And now, if you’ve got well over £23,000 to spare, you can buy one of the ‘original’ costumes.

The item, currently on sale on eBay until next Thursday, is being sold by an individual from Hertfordshire, who claims it was “made by the BBC’s costume supplier for an overseas version of Noel’s House Party” – the show presented by Noel Edmonds where the character made his first appearance.

The product description continues: “Unfortunately before it could be delivered the overseas show was cancelled and neither the broadcaster or the BBC’s production team wanted it, so it sat in my office until a move meant it came home with me some years ago.

“He’s been with me all this time, but now a house move means I need to find him a new home.”

With the 90s being a few decades ago now (yes, we feel old too), the seller – with the rather appropriate username of ‘blobby01’ – says there has been some “inevitable ageing” to the design, including the foam and rubber coating.

“This means it is less suitable to be worn as the unit is not very supple as it was in 1996. In addition the two arms require re-attaching to the body, one of the plastic eyes is cracked and the bow tie will need securing.

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“Overall it's not too bad for its age - but there is visible creasing and dust to the covering and some areas require a drop of glue to make good,” its description reads.

As well as all of the repair work required, the costume doesn’t come with a vocal speaker which gives Mr Blobby his unique – and arguably, somewhat grating – voice.

The item has attracted plenty of bids alreadyeBay

There’s also the fact that Mr Blobby is trademarked and copyrighted and still makes the occasional appearance on TV - meaning whoever purchases it can only use it for “personal home display” purposes.

So no “hiring out, lending, public exhibition or any performances” allowed, and the buyer would have to sign an agreement confirming this.

Essentially, with all the ageing and limitations on its use, it becomes more of a decorative item – but that hasn’t stopped one individual out there from placing a bid of more than £23,000 to own the costume at the time of writing.

So in demand is the costume that we've already had to update this piece once - because it had jumped from £17,000 to £23,000 so quickly.

According to eBay’s bidding history, there’s been 128 bids on the Mr Blobby (with 59 bidders and four retracted bids), and the starting price on Monday was a far more affordable £39.

The first bid came in three days later at £840, before hitting the £1,000 mark just 40 minutes after that.

In more incredible scenes, the price surged from £4,000 on Friday morning to £16,825 at the end of the day.

The next bidder needs to chip in another £100 on top of the existing £23,312 to be in with the chance of taking it home – which we suspect could leave some people green (or rather, pink) with envy…

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