The Fortune Hotel's Fred and Min blindsided cast over £250k prize money
The Fortune Hotel's John and Atholl say fellow contestants Fred and Min surprised the other players when it turned out they secretly had the £250,000 after appearing to struggle with the game.
The retired couple, 60 and 59, from Blackpool, were the last in the race to The Fortune Hotel after they were stumped by the easy "reception desk" crossword. Naturally, they couldn't believe their luck when Jake and Mike handed them the £250,000 briefcase.
Asked directly who they thought had the money, Fred and Min didn't try to throw suspicion off themselves. Instead, they said they hadn't a clue who had the money and were just grateful to be filming in the Caribbean.
Retired police officer John, 58 – who starred on The Fortune Hotel alongside his waiter son Atholl, 30 – said Fred and Min's clueless appearance meant they went undetected by the other members of the cast.
The father and son were the first pair to receive the early checkout card in the Lady Luck bar (but the second pair to leave the show). Initially, they felt it was Fred and Min's time to go, but admitted the couple had played a "blinder", surprising them after they had been playing the game so badly.
Retired police officer John told Yahoo: "[I would be] gutted for anyone going out, but ultimately I thought Fred and Min [had] done so bad. They were terrible. If anyone deserves to go, it was Fred and Min, but they played a blinder. They played a blinder, not through anything skill-wise."
The retired police officer said he was "surprised" they got away with it. "How did they play so bad and get the money?" He said. "I hope they win it, actually, they're quite funny."
He went on: "We were trying to tell Nella and Tope if you pick us, we're going home. You've got the checkout card because Fred and Min gave it to you, swap it with Fred and Min and if they'd swapped it with Fred and Min, they would have had the money!"
The Fortune Hotel filming in chaos
Behind the scenes, the filming in the Lady Luck bar — where the case swaps happen — had to be stopped because of the weather in the Caribbean. When the cameras stopped rolling, Atholl confessed the nerves were getting to him.
"The funny thing was that we literally went up to pick our case and a thunderstorm happened," Atholl said. "Filming was stopped for 15 minutes, and we had to wait to see whether we were going to get put out or not. I'm sat there going, I can't do this."
His dad, John, added, "I mean, the rain didn't last long."
However, Atholl confessed it impacted his nerves. "Long enough for me!"
Overnight fame on The Fortune Hotel
Before The Fortune Hotel had a chance to air on ITV, Atholl admitted he was being recognised already and people can't resist asking did they won the £250,000 fortune.
"I already have been [stopped]," he said. "I've been stopped a couple of times, like in Asda or the chippy."
"We went for a chippy fish and chips last night [Sunday], and the woman was like, 'Did you win the money?'
"You see it in two ways... It's really exciting that people are excited to see it. My mantra is just I can't say anything."
John said: "You've got to watch the show to find out."
Atholl added: "Because they're even saying like, 'Well, how long were you out there?' And I say, 'I can't tell because I'll give away how long we last' and they're like, 'Ooooh', and then they go away. And then the flip side of it is, for instance, some of my friends didn't even realise that I had even left the country. So when this all came out, they were like, 'When on earth did you leave the UK?'"
John said: "And the woman in the fish and chip shop said, 'Oh, I've got a friend that stays near you, and I asked him to go around and see if you got any upgrades done in your house, and then we would know you won it.' I was like, really?"
Atholl said: "And then you kind of see it from the flip side that [John has] got a lot of friends, I've got a lot of friends that are like excited for it and they're really excited to see it and you just in the back of your head saying, 'Oooh, how disappointing that we got put out second.'"
The Fortune Hotel airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
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