ITV1 has entered the post-Traitors fray with The Fortune Hotel, a high-stakes game show that blends elements of The Traitors, The White Lotus and Deal or No Deal. Twenty contestants, in pairs, are flown to a Caribbean resort to compete for £250,000 by passing around a briefcase full of cash.
The premise is simple: one silver briefcase contains the jackpot, eight are empty, and one holds an 'Early Checkout' card, which eliminates the holder at the end of each episode. The pairs must decide whether to keep or swap their case during nightly 'Lady Luck Bar' sessions, leading to tense, sunburnt skulduggery.
Host Stephen Mangan plays the hotel manager with a camp, mischievous edge, sporting Hawaiian shirts and suits. The show's glossy setting and slow-motion arrivals evoke Love Island, while the gold graphics and baroque pop soundtrack nod to The Traitors.
Contestants include a skinfluencer, a budding actor, a criminal investigator and a barrister. The first episode sees the skinfluencer eliminated, much to the relief of the casting team. The holiday atmosphere contributes to the drama, with an inflatable flamingo and a shirtless contestant causing suspicion.
Early reviews have been positive, with critics calling it 'fiendishly addictive' and 'the closest yet' among the wave of Traitors-inspired shows. ITV is airing nightly episodes in hopes it becomes a national obsession, and the show seems poised to deliver on that ambition.
