The Fortune Hotel's Stephen Mangan reveals filming secrets
Stephen Mangan has taken Yahoo behind the doors of The Fortune Hotel, his returning ITV game show, which is filmed at the luxury Silversands Grenada resort in the Caribbean.
The first series, which aired in May 2024, was a hit with viewers and critics, drawing comparisons with The Traitors, Deal or No Deal and The White Lotus, due to its high-stakes concept and sun-kissed setting. The series sees 22 contestants essentially playing pass the parcel with a briefcase containing £250,000. The pairs of players must find the money and keep hold of it until the end.
Speaking to Yahoo UK, Mangan shares all the juicy details from behind the scenes of the second series, including where the contestants sleep, how the casting process works, and how the reality series is filmed.
The Fortune Hotel is a real hotel
It's not like The Traitors, where the cast secretly stay at an airport hotel instead of the beautiful Scottish castle. The Fortune Hotel guests really do stay at the hotel where it is filmed, including the host too.
Mangan said: "We stay there because the hotel is completely taken over, the bar isn't running [as usual], because there are camera crews and cables and cameras and lighting equipment and everything. But yeah, we're staying in a hotel.
"I've got a view of the sea from my balcony and [I'm] watching a Caribbean sunset in the evening. You think, well, this, this is a pretty cushy job."
There are 11 couples, but only one of them walks away with the £250,000 prize money. "But all of them say it's just one of the most amazing experiences they've ever had," Mangan said.
"Because not only do they get to come to the Caribbean and stay in an incredible hotel, but they get to play this great game, where they're on speedboats and doing treasure hunts on beaches and snorkelling and canoeing and going down rapids... So it's like the best holiday ever."
How is The Fortune Hotel filmed?
Filming happens 24/7 for The Fortune Hotel as the contestants scheme to try and bag the case containing the £250,000 prize money.
"There are cameras all around the hotel," Mangan explained. "So everywhere you go, there are cameras. They know that they are being filmed wherever they go."
Mangan added: "They've got microphones on because what you don't want is all the action to happen off-camera. You don't want them hiding in a linen cupboard.
"So it's very strictly controlled so that they only see each other when they're on camera. They're being watched the whole time."
"Hopefully, they're not filming me the whole time."
The money is real
The prize fund is £250,000, which is being passed around in a case that the contestants are trying to get their hands on.
Mangan insisted that the money in the cases is real. He said: "It's not hypothetical; the money's in there. There is money in those cases. It's quite shocking when you open a case up and you see a quarter of a million pounds in cash. It's insane. It's a lot of money."
The £250,000 secret
Host Mangan appears to have complete knowledge of the game. In reality, the presenter has no idea which contestants have the £250,000.
He said: "I deliberately don't want to know because I'm quizzing them in the evening and I'm asking questions, and if they say something, I'm picking them up: Why did you say that?
"And I don't want to know who's really got it because I don't want to subconsciously either give them away or help them or anything. Sometimes you have a good idea. On the whole, I don't know."
How do you get on The Fortune Hotel?
Mangan may be the face of The Fortune Hotel but he doesn't have any "influence" over who is cast in the ITV series.
"It's [the casting process is] a massive undertaking. It takes weeks and weeks," he said.
"You have to get all the applications in, and you have to meet everyone that you think is interesting. You want to make sure that everybody who's coming on the show is psychologically able to take it because you don't want to put anyone in a position that they're not going to be able to handle.
"So that's all taken incredibly seriously. It's a big old process. It takes a long, long time, and you want to get it right and you want to get the blend right. It's a real skill. It's not a skill that I have. There's a whole team of people dedicated to getting that right."
How do you win The Fortune Hotel?
Mangan said contestants hoping to win the £250,000 prize money need a "whole set of skills".
"I think it helps if you're likeable," he said. "You have to appear like you're not going to be too good at the game. In the first series, we had Dan and Claire, and Dan was a barrister; they're both very smart and quite posh, and very confident, and immediately, people thought, 'Oh, they're gonna win, they're gonna be great, ' and you become a target.
"So I think it's like being people liking you, people trusting you, but at the same time slipping a bit under the radar. And being a bit cunning, it's fascinating, and it's luck as well. It needs to go your way in those tricky moments."
Changes from The Fortune Hotel series one
Without too many spoilers, Mangan promised that The Fortune Hotel series two is exciting.
He said: "The challenges are bigger, the twists are bigger. The reason these shows work is because of the people who are involved. You want to be watching people who are entertaining, that you can root for or root against.
"You have your favourites, you want to have people you love, you want to have people you hoping don't win. What's so great about the second series is that they've got the mix of people is so great."
The Fortune Hotel returns to ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Wednesday, 6 August, and airs weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
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