Married at First Sight cop probe

Worker accused of siphoning off £40k from hotel

POLICE are investigating an alleged fraud at a hotel used for weddings in TV show, Married at First Sight.

Bosses at five-star Eastwell Manor suspected a worker had slowly siphoned off £40,000 in cash and called in officers.

They believe the staff member, who is understood to have quit during the hotel’s two-month internal investigation, was able to manipulate Eastwell’s systems over a long period of time.

The 16th-century property – where rooms cost more than £200 a night – will be familiar to millions of fans of the show about strangers getting hitched. It is currently in its eighth series.

Eastwell, where a 50-guest weekend wedding costs £16,915, is also popular with celebrities. Reality star Gemma Collins, 42, boxer Frank Bruno, 61, and comic Vic Reeves, 64, have all previously enjoyed breaks at the 500-acre estate.

Eastwell was bought by luxury chain Champneys in 2016 and is steeped in royal history. It was once home to Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Alfred, and was where Richard Plantagenet – who claimed to be the illegitimate son of Richard III – lived out his days.

The hotel, in Ashford, Kent, has been described as “the most famous” venue on the Channel 4 and E4 series. It was also billed as “the real star of the show”.

Among the reality TV stars to marry at the hotel are Shareen and David, who split 48 hours later, and Ant and Nikita, who wed in 2021, pictured left.

Eastwell’s general manager James Mccomas said: “We were very disappointed to find one of our long-standing and trusted team colleagues allegedly manipulated our management systems for their own financial gain.

“We are a family-run business and therefore a theft feels personal to all who work within the Champneys family.”

A police spokesman said it is probing reports of alleged fraudulent activity at a business premises. No arrests have so far been made.