Be my GUESTS

STEPHEN MANGAN on reopening the doors to his hotel filled with deception

- VICTORIA WILSON

The opportunity to return to the sun-soaked Caribbean to helm a second series of hit reality show The Fortune Hotel was a no-brainer for Stephen Mangan.

‘Spending another month in Grenada, I did not need to be asked twice!’ smiles the actor, comedian and presenter, 57, when TV Times catches up with him ahead of the much-anticipated new run’s launch on ITV1 this week. The eight-parter invites more teams of two to enter a game of strategy, suspicion and briefcase-swapping in a quest to bag the jackpot of £250,000 – but there are fresh challenges and unprecedented twists afoot! Here, Stephen tells us why we should check back in...

How have you raised the stakes for this series?

We kick off with much more high drama. After seeing the first series, the new hotel guests will have come up with a plan, and our job is to do things they're not expecting, so they don't think they know how the game is going to play out. It keeps them guessing, surprised and shocked. It also makes it more interesting for the people watching at home.