It’s not easy to be ruthless and to throw other people under the bus.
At least, that’s what one might assume… until there’s a £250,000 prize up for grabs.
That’s the aim of the game in ITV’s The Fortune Hotel, which is back for its second series tonight, as 11 pairs – a mixture of friends, colleagues, relatives and partners – battle it out in a game of treachery while basking in the Caribbean sunshine.
‘It’s a really difficult game, because they really get to know and like each other over the course of the time we’re there,’ host Stephen Mangan tells Metro.
‘It’s really difficult to brutally pull the plug on another pair and send them home, but you have to do it.’
Stephen, an actor, presenter and comedian, imagined how he’d fare if he took part in the competition – and he had a frank admission to make.
‘I’d like to sit here and say, “Oh, I’d be too nice to be good at it.” I probably wouldn’t. I’d probably be just as ruthless as everybody else,’ he admits.
‘I don’t know. I mean, it’s hard to know. I think the great thing is, until you’re in that situation… there’s some twists this year that put people under enormous pressure. It’s amazing to watch. I wouldn’t want to be in that position myself.’
In real life, Stephen is widely regarded as a TV nice guy, years after playing the arrogant Guy Secretan in Green Wing and going toe to toe with Steve Coogan in I’m Alan Partridge. For several years, I’ve enjoyed watching him host one of my favourite shows, the ever-wholesome Portrait Artist of the Year.
He has a positive outlook on the world, explaining that he ‘fundamentally’ believes that ‘most people are trustworthy’. Nonetheless, a show like The Fortune Hotel proves that sometimes, you need to listen to your gut when it’s telling you to take a closer look.
‘I think why the show is so interesting is because we all spend our lives trying to work out if people are being straight with us, if people are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, if they’re trying to pull a fast one,’ Stephen says.
‘That’s one of the challenges of being an adult these days – trying to work out who’s on your side, who wishes you well, and who is trying to get one over on you.
‘So it’s fascinating. We all hope that we can tell if people are lying to us, but some people are really, really good at it.’
The launch of The Fortune Hotel series two comes after the series made its debut on ITV last year, with mother-and-son duo Jo-Anne and Will taking home the £210,000 cash prize.
This time around, the contestants had the benefit of being able to watch the previous season to try and suss out the game. But, they might not be as prepared as they think.
How does The Fortune Hotel work?
This year, there are 11 pairs of competitors at the start of The Fortune Hotel.
Those who make it into the luxurious hotel in the Caribbean are each given a briefcase – one of which contains the coveted £250,000 cash prize.
Another briefcase contains an ‘early checkout card’, which could result in a pair being sent home. All of the others contain blank sheets of paper.
At the end of each day, the contestants come together in the hotel bar and have the chance to swap their cases. Their decisions are crucial, as they could cause another pair to suspect that they have the winning or losing case.
Whoever ends up with the ‘early checkout card’ by the end of the night is sent home.
They also take part in challenges to try and figure out who has which case as the show progresses. It’s a game of logic combined with luck.
‘It was exciting the first time around because it was a show that had never been done before. Sometimes these shows are formats that they’ve tried in other countries and have been a hit, so they know how they work. But we were inventing a brand new game, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time,’ the host recalls.
‘The first series was exciting to see if it worked. And it did. It worked really well, so much so that we got our second series. Then the interesting thing is, how do you make it better?’
So how do you make it better? ‘More surprises, more challenges, more epic things happening,’ Stephen promises.
He adds that some of the competitors coming to the series with a plan based on the previous season ‘made it more exciting’, as they were more willing to take risks.
‘They just went for it. It made those evenings in Lady Luck’s Bar so tense, so dramatic, so exciting.’
At this point, it’s unknown whether The Fortune Hotel will come back for a third series. But Stephen hopes that by the time audiences finish the second, they’ll feel ‘bereft’ – so much more that they’ll demand its return.
‘Every episode gets more exciting. Every episode, it’s harder to predict what’s going to happen,’ he states. ‘There are surprises from the beginning, first minute till the last. So hopefully they’ll just be chomping at the bit for season three.’
The Fortune Hotel returns tonight at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
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