The Fortune Hotel crowns first-ever champions as winners take home 210k
Jo-Anne and Will were crowned the first-ever winners of 'The Fortune Hotel' on Thursday night (23.05.24), taking home £210,000.
The mother, 55, and son, 20, duo beat off competition from best pals Jae and Cherish and married couple Aysha and Samm to end up with £200,000 in their briefcase, which was added to the £10,000 they won earlier in the series.
Jae and Cherish took home £30,000 between them after banking the cash earlier in the series, but Aysha and Samm were set to leave with nothing - until an incredible gesture from Jo-Anne and Will.
Will told the pair: "We want to give you five grand out of ours, so you can do what you want to do with your kids.
"You deserve it just as much as the rest of us."
Samm told the pair: "Thank you so much."
Aysha replied: "God bless you."
Samm later admitted it was "amazing" to see Jo-Anne and Will scoop the money, while Jae praised Jo-Anne, who was diagnosed with skin cancer nine years ago.
She said: "I'm very, very happy for Will and Jo-Anne, because they don't build people like Jo-Anne anymore. They don't. That woman is a fighter. She is supposed to be here."
Cherish added: "She's an inspiring person, and she loves her son. We can see the love and the light in them."
Hosted by Stephen Mangan, the series - which was filmed at a hotel in the Caribbean - began with 10 pairings each given a briefcase.
In one of the cases there was £250,000, in another there was the dreaded Early Checkout card - with the holders at the end of each night going home - and the other eight cases were empty.
Throughout the series, some pairings managed to bank £10,000 for being the Fortune Holders - the ones with the money in their case - at the end of an episode, but the main aim of the game was to end it with the cash in their case, which Jo-Anne and Will did.
Earlier this week, it was reported ITV are already planning to bring the show back for a second run.
An insider told The Sun newspaper's TV Biz column: "Launching new formats is a gamble these days and an uncommonly large number have fallen by the wayside despite them showing some promise.
"Channel 4 poured huge budgets into reality shows 'Scared Of The Dark' and 'Rise And Fall', for example, but couldn’t justify taking them to a second series.
"That won’t be the case for 'The Fortune Hotel', though. Despite a considerable spend, ITV is working on plans for round two."
