Heart listener Samantha Hayes is this year’s lucky winner of Heart’s Make Me A Millionaire, the biggest on-air game on British radio! Walking away with a whopping £1,000,000, the 38-year-old from Colchester was crowned the competition’s fifth winner after a tense and emotional final this morning (Friday 10th May) live on air on Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden.
The nation was gripped as 10 finalists took part in the Million Pound Final live on Heart Breakfast this morning, before listener Samantha Hayes – who recently got married – was crowned the winner of the biggest prize on British radio. The dramatic final was broadcast live on Heart and Global Player, the official Heart app.
Over the past 14 weeks, hundreds of contestants have taken home cash prizes ranging from £1,000 to £30,000, with contestants opting to turn down Heart’s daily cash prize for the chance to be in the Million Pound Final, and to win a life-changing sum of money.
Culminating in this morning’s emotional finale, the 10 finalists travelled far and wide from across the UK – including Sunderland, Bolton and Somerset – to Heart’s studio in Leicester Square in central London with the hope that they would be the lucky individual leaving a million pounds richer.
Throughout this morning’s rollercoaster final, broadcast live on Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, the finalists took turns to enter ‘the vault’ where they then chose a safety deposit box – only one of which contained the cash prize of £1,000,000. All safety deposit boxes were securely sealed, checked, and kept under strict lock and key, with only the independent adjudicator aware of their contents.
And it was Samantha who chose box number four – because she felt four was ‘her year’ as she confessed to Amanda Holden that she “wants to make her family of three a family of four” – making her Heart’s Make Me A Millionaire’s fifth champion.
Speaking about her win, Samantha commented: “I just feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience right now! Sadly I’ve lost my dad, and he was with me – I just felt like his hand was on my shoulder being like, ‘yeah, go for it, Sam. That’s the one!’ I haven’t actually told my mum that I’m on the radio, and I’m not quite sure how she’s going to react. She had our son Albert last night; it was his first night away from home, and I just told her I’d won a competition to stay in a lovely hotel in London and we were going to go and have a date night. She said, ‘yeah, that’s great.’ I was planning to tell her today, just because I didn’t want to get too nervous – well, I was nervous anyway – but now I actually need to go home and tell her that I’ve just won £1,000,000!”
Samantha bravely turned down £4,000 in February to go through to the Million Pound Final, and today became Britain’s newest millionaire as a result. Samantha was the second person to enter the vault and choose a box, and was clearly delighted to see that they had won the grand prize of £1,000,000!
Samantha added: “In all honesty, I just can’t process it. I just can’t believe that this is actually a real thing. You know, money isn’t real, is it? Until you see it. It’s very surreal. My heart is just thumping so hard, my brain feels like mush! I want to try for another baby – we were going to do that anyway but this just makes it so much easier!”
Heart Breakfast’s Jamie Theakston said: “Wow! How about that for another incredible final of Heart’s Make Me Millionaire?! To see someone experience such a profound, life-changing moment – and all the emotion that goes with it – on live radio is really, really special. Amanda and I are so pleased to once again be part of the most intense, gripping, and epic game on British radio.”
Heart Breakfast’s Amanda Holden said: “My goodness, what an incredible Heart Make Me A Millionaire it’s been this year. The winning moment never fails to surprise me, and I am absolutely thrilled for Samantha, who walks away with a whopping £1,000,000! Being part of this journey over the last 14 weeks has been a real joy; we really do share the emotions of our lucky Heart listeners. Hearing the difference the Daily Cash prize straight into our listeners bank accounts makes to their lives is very emotional for everyone. Congratulations to our winners who have all turned up the feel good in their lives!”
