Tempting Fortune

Tempting Fortune
Genre	Reality
Presented by	Paddy McGuinness
Theme music composer	Ian Livingstone
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	14
Production
Executive producers	Jon Crisp Sanjay Singhal Melanie Darlaston
Production locations	Eastern Cape, South Africa (2023) Langkawi, Malaysia (2025)
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Voltage TV and GroupM Motion Entertainment
Original release
Network	Channel 4 (UK) The Roku Channel (2023)
Release	26 March 2023 (2023-03-26) – present

Tempting Fortune is a British reality competition television series where a group of people try to win the biggest cash prize they can by avoiding temptations to spend money from the prize fund.

The show is hosted by Paddy McGuinness. The first series was filmed in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa during 2022, and premiered on Channel 4 on 26 March 2023. It was commissioned, as a co-production, in partnership with streaming platform Roku and was released by its programming brand Roku Originals. The show was renewed by Channel 4 in April 2024 but Roku was no longer a partner. The second series, set in Langkawi, Malaysia, began airing on 16 March 2025.

Format

Tempting Fortune is a show where 12 strangers hope to win a share of a prize pot of £300,000. They are left in a remote location where they embark on a gruelling trek to reach their destination. All the participants are provided with only the basic survival gear and they have to spend many days without any creature comfort. Along the way they are tested with temptations, such as good food, luxurious accommodation, various home comfort or opportunity to skip a difficult part of the trek to see if they have the willpower to resist spending their money on these luxuries. Every temptation chosen by the participants will be subtracted from the final prize pool. The more they spend and the less money they will win at the end.

Series overview

Series	Episodes	Premiere	Finale
1	6	30 March 2023	10 April 2023
2	8	16 March 2025	7 April 2025

Series 1 (2023)

Contestants

Name	Age	Occupation	Temptation spending	Winnings
Ashton	28	Event singer	£600	£22,008
Carolynn	65	Retired Trauma Nurse	£4,283.33	£20,608
Charlie	25	Fish and Chip Shop Worker	£1,600	£21,008
Dan	31	Social Worker	£7,083.33	£19,608
Dee	44	Event Caterer	£7,983.33	£19,608
Jack	22	Content Creator	£5,516.66	£20,475
James	50	Ex-professional Basketball Player	£3,000	£22,608
Lani	33	Graphic Designer	£7,016.66	£20,475
Luke	39	Meditation Coach	£0	£22,608
Michelle	37	Works in Sales	£6,183.33	£20,508
Tahira	39	Field Organiser	£0	£22,608
Trelwey-Precious	22	Social Media Influencer	£2,433.33	£20,175

Temptations

Temptation	Cost	Tempted contestants	Total spent	Notes
Easy route to next camp	£3,000 per person	None	£0
Winnebago for the night	£8,000 per person	None	£0	This is available every night and was never used
Coffee	£200 per drink	None	£0
Diner serving fast food	Various prices	Lani	£500	One milkshake
Luxury Safari Lodge Getaway	£4,000 for 2 people	None	£0
Shortcut to next camp	£4,000 per person	None	£0
Canoes instead of rafts	£4,000 for the whole group	None	£0
Hot Chocolate	£400 per drink	Lani	£400	This was a temptation done in private. Lani only drinks half the drink.
Luxury Spa	£1,000 or £1,500 per person depending on package	Dan, Jack, Lani, and Michelle.	£4,500	Lani opted for the 'indulgence' package costing £1,500.
Vending machine	Various prices	Dan and Jack	£400	This was a temptation done in private as a pair and not given to any other contestants. They bought a bar of chocolate and shared it with everyone else.
Equipment	Various prices	Dee	£2,000	Dee needed new walking boots as she had misshapen them after leaving them too close to the fire. This wasn't a temptation per se.
Home Comforts package	£1,500 per person	None	£0	It included food and drinks, a mock living room with a chance to watch TV for the evening.
The teams are now split in two, those that have spent in one team, those that haven't in another
Alcohol	Various prices	Carolyn, Dan, Dee, Jack, and Michelle	£800	Carolynn, Dan, Jack, and Michelle shared a bottle of wine (£400 in total) and Dee had 2 beers (£400)
Phone call home	£100 per minute	Dan (7 minutes) and Dee (3 minutes)	£1,000	This temptation was done in private
Coffee and pastry	£200 for a coffee with a pastry	Carolynn and Lani	£200	Carolynn had the coffee and Lani had the pastry
A party	£3,500 per group	Carolynn, Dan, Dee, Jack, Lani, and Michelle	£3,500	Included food, drink, and a silent disco
Glamping Hotel	£3,000 per double bed	Carolynn, Dan, Dee, Jack, James, Lani, and Michelle	£12,000	Included food and drinks and breakfast the next morning. James stole some teabags despite not taking the full temptation but was charged as if he had.
Two groups are reunited as one team again
Donuts	£200 per donut	None	£0
Bag taken directly to next camp	£500 per person	Michelle	£500
Cocktail Bar	£300 for a cocktail, £200 for any other drink	Dee, Lani, Michelle	£900	Dee had wine, Lani had a cocktail and Michelle had 2 wines
Spending is now taken from your own personal funds left rather than the whole group
Safari	£1,500 per person	Carolynn, Dan, and Dee	£4,500
Cocktail Bar	£300 for a cocktail, £200 for any other drink	Ashton, Charlie, Jack, Lani, Michelle, Trelwey-Precious	£3,900
Bubble Bath and a car ride halfway through trek	£100 per bath	Jack, Lani and Trelwey-Precious	£100	Shared the bath
Last supper	£1,000 per person	Charlie, Dan, Dee, Jack, Lani, Michelle, Trelwey-Precious	£7,000	A slap up meal and unlimited drinks
Shortcut to the finish line	£500 per person	Carolynn, Dan, Dee, Jack, Lani, Michelle, Trelwey-Precious	£3,500	A car taking them directly to the finish line instead of trekking

Together the contestants spent £26,700 on temptations shown. However, the show jumps the amount between temptations and has the total spent as £28,700.

Series 2 (2025)

Contestants

Name	Age	Occupation	Temptations and spendings	Winnings
David	38	Vicar	£3,975 and £14,000 banked	£28,835
Henry	23	Amateur Footballer	£1,750 and £4,000 banked	£18,835
Hugo	20	University Student	£1,500*	£14,835
Imani	32	Fashion Blogger	£9,250 and £1,750 banked	£14,835
Martha	24	Yacht Stewardess	£4,050 and £4,000 banked	£18,835
Nathaniel	29	Personal trainer	£12,925 and £10,000 banked	£24,838
Sam	40	Ex restaurant owner	£3,075 and £4,000 banked	£18,835
Ted	58	Retired Prison Officer	£25,000 cost to fly home	£0
Thom	33	Hospitality Sales Manager	£2,850 and £4,000 banked	£18,835
Tomasz	39	Firefighter	£7,300	£14,835
Trish	59	Paramedic	£4,425	£14,835
Vicky	38	Greeting Cards Business owner	£4,425 and £30,000 to fly home	£0

• Hugo technically never chose to spend any money, this was a temptation where if enough people chose to do it (6 out of 10) it was offered to everyone. Hugo did not take the offer of the temptation despite it being paid for.

Temptations

Temptation	Cost	Tempted contestants	Total spent	Notes
Glamping beds	£1,200 per double bed	Imani	£1,200	Only started using it at 2am
Air conditioning cubicle	£200 per minute	Imani	£1,000
Taxi to next campsite	£1,500 per person	Trish and Vicky	£3,000
Pool Club	£2,000 per person	Imani and Tomasz	£4,000
Flight home	£25,000	Ted	£25,000	Ted left on medical grounds so didn't have the additional £5,000 taken from the prize fund.
Glamping	£750 per person	Vicky	£750	The team was split into small groups for this task and offered it in smaller groups
Taxi to next camp	£1,000 per person	Imani and Vicky	£2,000
The Nag's Head Pub	Various prices	Imani, Tomasz, and Vicky	£1,400	Imani had a Fanta, Tomasz had a pint of Guinness, Vicky had a portion of cheesey chips.
Home comforts	£300	David, Imani and Tomasz	£900	David had a packet of Haribo, Imani had a haircare kit and Tomasz had a donut. The temptation was done in secret without other teams members knowing of it was taken or not.
Hotel	£2,000 per double bed	Martha and Tomasz	£2,000	They shared a bed
Flight home	£25,000 + £5,000	Vicky	£30,000
Coffee Shop	£250 for a coffee and pastry for two people	David, Nathaniel, Sam and Trish	£500	Sam gave her pastry to Trish
Chinese Buffet	£4,500 per group	Imani, Martha, Nathaniel, Thom and Trish	£4,500	3 or more members had to say yes to have it. They are split in two groups at this point.
The Retreat	Blind auction bid	Nathaniel	£10,000	The next highest bid was only £3,698. There was an option to take a second person which wasn't used.
Pick n Mix	Various prices	None	£0	Only temptation the group turned down
ATM	Various prices + £250 transaction fee	David, Henry, Imani, Martha, Sam and Thom	£23,000	Of those tempted everyone chose to take £4,000 except Imani who opted for £1,500.
Disco	£400 per person	David, Imani, Martha, Nathaniel, Tomasz and Trish	£2,400
Video call home	£100 per minute	David, Imani, Sam, Thom and Tomasz	£3,000
The Spa	Various prices	David and Tomasz	£2,000	Both spent £1,000 each.
Super Yacht	£10,000 for 5 people or £15,000 for 10 people	All	£15,000	Trish, Tomasz, Imani, Martha, David, Nathaniel all wanted to do it, unlocking the temptation for everyone. Hugo and Henry decide not to take temptation even though they technically paid for it.
£20,000 cash in a rucksack	£20,000	David and Nathaniel	£20,000	In pairs, couples went and could open the bag and take £20,000 between them or reject it. If everyone rejects the bag the funds stayed with the group as a whole. No other pair even looked in the bag.

Together the contestants spent £60,150 on temptations shown. The contestants took £41,500 from the prize fund and banked it for themselves.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2024	Venice TV Awards	Reality TV	Won
2023	TBI Content Innovation Awards	Reality Show of the Year	Won
	Rose d’Or Awards	Competition Reality	Nominated
	C21 International Format Awards	Best Competition Reality Format	Nominated

International versions

Color key

•   Currently airing
•   Upcoming version or season
•   Unknown
•   No longer airing/Cancelled

Country	Local name	Network	Presenter	Winners	Originally aired
Greece	Tempting Fortune Greece	Skai TV	Yannis Tsimitselis	Series 1 (2024): Roula	17 September 2024
Italy	Money Road – Ogni tentazione ha un prezzo	Sky Uno	Fabio Caressa	Series 1 (2025): Upcoming series	29 May 2025
Mexico	TBA	TV Azteca	TBA
Romania	Tempting Fortune România	Kanal D	Zoli Tóth	Series 1 (2025): Upcoming series	11 May 2025
United Kingdom (original format)	Tempting Fortune	Channel 4	Paddy McGuinness	Series 1 (2023): James Series 2 (2025): David	26 March 2023

See also

• Stranded with a Million Dollars

External links

• Tempting Fortune on Channel 4
• Tempting Fortune at IMDb
• Tempting Fortune at UKGameshows.com