Tempting Fortune (Ch4)
Fashion blogger Imani is determined to become the most loathed woman in Britain. Two days into her unpopularity campaign, she looks unstoppable.
Imani, 32, is one of a dozen contestants trekking through the Malaysian rainforest on the reality show Tempting Fortune, presented by Paddy McGuinness. The rules are simple: everyone who survives 18 gruelling days wins an equal share of the whopping £300,000 prize pot.
But players can make life easier for themselves by purchasing ‘temptations’ — a taxi ride to the next checkpoint, a comfy bed, a plate of pub grub with a cold drink. And if one person grabs a cheat treat, the whole team pays.
Imani isn’t merely giving in to temptation. She’s grabbing luxuries left and right out of sheer spite. The more the others plead with her not to waste their money, the louder she gloats.
On the first night, she blew £1,200 on a night in a four-poster with a mosquito net, while the rest of the players toughed it out on bare planks. When they remonstrated, she swaggered off to spend another grand on five minutes in an air-conditioned booth.
That means every contestant has lost nearly 200 quid so that Imani can have what Imani wants. ‘I’m honestly not bothered,’ she bragged. ‘I’m here to do what I want to do.’
She’s mocking, manipulative and sly. It’s no good yelling at her, or even giving her the silent treatment — unless the others grit their teeth and smile politely at her selfish excesses, she’ll empty the coffers to spoil herself.
A swimming pool was waiting at the second campsite, for a cool £2,000 per dip. Imani declared it a bargain: ‘I didn’t even need to know about the price. It had my name written all over it.’ Since larking around in a pool isn’t much fun on your own, she sweet-talked firefighter Tomasz, 39, into joining her. Splash — that cost everyone more than £330 each.
Tempting Fortune is trash TV, with no pretensions. Unlike other Ch4 offerings, such as The Island With Bear Grylls, this show doesn’t claim to be a genuine psychological experiment or test of endurance. It’s fake, of course it is — the producers have stuck a pub in the middle of the jungle, for goodness sake.
But it does have a social relevance that eludes most reality series. This programme would have made no sense in an earlier era, when people in general still had some sense of shame, even if they lacked a conscience.
Utter self-indulgence was regarded as obnoxious, before Instagram and TikTok made it aspirational. Imani’s contemptible behavour would have seemed beyond understanding. Now, it’s just a reflection of how common it is (in every sense) to think yourself entitled to everything you fancy, at everyone else’s expense.
There’s a simple solution, though. Tell Imani that, from now on, all her spending comes directly out of her own share of the prize. Then we’ll see how eager she is to waste money.
