The Fortune Hotel future 'revealed' after first series

'The Fortune Hotel' is reportedly already set to return for a second series.

The strategic gameshow - which is presented by Stephen Mangan sees 10 pairs given a briefcase, with one containing a huge £250,000 prize - has proven to be a hit with fans as the first eight episodes have aired, and ITV is looking into plans for another run.

An insider told The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column: "Launching new formats is a gamble these days and an uncommonly large number have fallen by the wayside despite them showing some promise.

“Channel 4 poured huge budgets into reality shows 'Scared Of The Dark' and 'Rise And Fall', for example, but couldn’t justify taking them to a second series.

"That won’t be the case for The Fortune Hotel, though. Despite a considerable spend, ITV is working on plans for round two.”

On the show, the contestants have to decided whether to keep or swap their cases, with another one containing an early checkout card, and the remaining eight being empty.

Earlier this week, the show pulled in its biggest audience to date with a peak of over 2.6 million viewers.

There have been plenty of comparisons to 'The Traitors' - which hit 3.5 million for its first episode, including online viewing figures - but ITV remains undeterred.

The source added: "'The Fortune Hotel' hasn’t been able to shake the comparisons to 'The Traitors', but people seem to have forgotten that it was only towards the end of the first series that the BBC One show gained a real following.

“ITV has clearly seen enough in the stats, including a solid start with the crucial 16-34 audience, to plough on for series two.”

Like BBC's game of bluff, 'The Fortune Hotel' has seen plenty of scheming and drama as the contestants figured out the best path to victory.

The insider said: "It took even the players a few days to work out how to really play the game, but now the in-fighting and suspicions are bubbling over.”