Byline: Ben Marshall

Gamblers Anonymous will tell you that there are three characteristics all gamblers share. The first is an "inability and unwillingness to accept reality". Meaning that most gamblers don't like losing. If you have ever wondered what a real loser looks like then poke your head around the door of the local turf accountants and take a look at the chaps who've just blown their hard-earned cash on the 3.15 at Doncaster. No one looks hangdog. Rather they bear expressions of wonder and bafflement, like a child who has just experienced his first slap. Take it from me, losing can take 20 years off even the most wizened, nicotine-stained face.

The second trait of the compulsive gambler is "emotional insecurity". Gamblers will, according to GA, eschew the virtues of steady personal relationships in favour of roller-coaster highs and lows. They are therefore probably not the best people in the world with which to pick out curtains at the Debenhams spring sale.

Finally there is "immaturity". Gamblers have a vastly-inflated idea of their own importance. Even the most impoverished and inept of them sees himself as a big shot and high roller, someone whose buccaneering spirit will eventually win out and win big. Thus they want all the good things in life - the yacht, fancy friends, a huge house in Godalming, the staggering-looking blonde - without actually trying very hard to get them. Gamblers will shed blood, sweat and tears trying hard not to try very hard.

All these things apply to Ashley Revell. To be fair, Ashley is also charming, good-looking, bright and immaculately dressed. When we meet he is wearing a bespoke suit and has a large but tasteful Rolex dangling from his wrist. The 32-year-old is soon to become the subject and star of Sky TV's Double Or Nothing, which must surely rank as one of the most brilliantly watchable, if utterly tasteless reality TV shows ever to be screened. Ashley has agreed to sell everything he owns, "including the suit and watch," he says brightly, and stake the proceeds, around $200,000, on the single...