‘The Fortune Hotel fast-tracked our relationship – now we’re in the final’

The final of The Fortune Hotel series 2 is finally here – and what a journey it’s been.

Tonight, one duo will discover that they’ve won the £250,000 jackpot on the ITV competition, which has been hosted by Stephen Mangan for a second year in a row.

However, there are three pairings left, all hoping that they’ll be the ones to bag the coveted grand prize.

Metro caught up with all of them ahead of the grand finale to find out how they’re feeling as their whirlwind journey comes to an end.

The three final teams are: couple Nella and Tope (31 and 34), life partners Fred and Min (60 and 59 at the time of filming), and mother and daughter Martina and Briony (68 and 32).

According to Briony, she ‘manifested’ that she and her mum would make it to the end.

Briony and Martina

‘I kept saying the whole way, I’ve manifested us in the final, and then it worked,’ says Briony, who works as a declutterer in Brighton. Although her mum, Martina, an office manager, admits her determined mindset sometimes slipped during tough points of the competition.

‘Some days she wasn’t like that. Some days, I had to give her a pep talk. It was so hard,’ Martina reveals, acknowledging the times they thought that they were going to be sent home.

Fortunately, their perseverance paid off after weeks of swapping briefcases with the other contestants, with some briefcases containing nothing of value, one containing the £250,000 fortune hat they all sought, and one containing the dreaded early checkout card.

The mother and daughter are no strangers to working together as a team, a fact that surely worked to their advantage when figuring out their game plan.

‘We used to have a cafe together a couple of years ago. We lost it after lockdown. So we were used to working together. Even if we have a disagreement, it lasts five seconds,’ Briony explains.

Martina was the oldest participant in this year’s series, and she’s hopeful that her success can inspire other people over the age of 60 to apply to go on The Fortune Hotel, if it returns for a third season. ‘If I’ve done it, they can,’ she stresses.

While Briony and Martina have a lifetime bond as mother and daughter to bolster their teamwork skills, Nella and Tope came into the competition with a far fresher relationship, having only been dating for two and a half years at the time of filming.

Nella and Tope

‘Our relationship was the newest in all the pairs. It was a bit crazy to put yourself in that position, in such a new relationship, but also very challenging to see if your relationship can go all the way,’ says Nella, who works as a senior financial accountant in London.

‘It made me trust in Tope’s opinion, his way of thinking, and I actually feel like it made our relationship so much stronger.’

‘We’re quite cohesive,’ agrees finance business partner Tope. ‘It’s basically fast-tracked our relationship. It put us under pressure. We had tests thrown towards us, and I guess we made it out the right side.’

That cohesion between Nella and Tope has been clear to see while watching The Fortune Hotel series two, even though the couple have different approaches when it comes to interacting with other people.

‘I’m an open book. I’ll tell people where the money is and things like that, because I like to be open and honest and nice, but I can clearly see that doing that, not everyone’s going to take that and be nice back,’ Tope reveals.

‘Some people will use it to their advantage and step on you in order to climb. So I think it’s definitely taught me to be selective of who you’re nice to, and don’t paint everyone with the same brush. Everyone has their reasons to ascend or to do what they want to do.’

Nella, who wants to partly use the money to take Tope to Malawi to meet her mum for the first time, chimes in: ‘I’ve always been quite a cautious person when it comes to people, and I think what [the show has] done is confirmed that listening to my instincts is quite good.

‘[The series has taught me to] continue trusting in my instincts, because it gets me far.’

Fred and Min

Even though Nella and Tope’s friends are undoubtedly proud of how much they’ve achieved, they’ve admitted that they’re actually rooting for another pair in the competition – the hilarious Fred and Min.

‘Everyone keeps saying we’re funny, but we don’t see it. That is just us. I still don’t see it, but we are who we are, aren’t we? We can’t be any different,’ says Min, who hails from Blackpool with Fred, where they’re both retired.

The life partners started out as underdogs on the show, but have gone from strength to strength since the beginning. ‘We just saw the adventure, and if we won anything, then that would be an absolute bonus,’ Min adds.

Fred grins mischievously as he outlines their plans to ‘grow old disgracefully’ if they win the money, while also using the potential winnings to help their family.

Looking ahead to the final, Min reveals that it’ll be ‘quite emotional’ to watch. ‘I’ll have a tissue in my hand no doubt,’ she shares. We’ll be right there with you Min!

The Fortune Hotel final airs tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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