Paradise Hotel is an American reality television program. In the show, a group of singles live in a luxurious hotel resort, competing to see who can stay in the hotel the longest. Each week, the contestants pair off into couples, and must share a hotel room together. One person is left over, and he or she must either pair up in the following episode, or leave the hotel to be replaced by a new contestant. The format was created by Mentorn, a British production company, which has produced various versions of the show around the world.[1]
The show premiered on Fox in 2003, and was hosted by Amanda Byram. A second season, also hosted by Byram, was broadcast on MyNetworkTV and Fox Reality Channel in 2008. Fox revived Paradise Hotel in 2019, with new host Kristin Cavallari,[2][3] but Fox cancelled the series again in August 2019.[4]
The first season of Paradise Hotel, hosted by Amanda Byram, aired on Fox from June 18 to October 1, 2003, and consists of thirty episodes.[5][6] The winners of the first season were Charla Pihlstrom and Keith Cuda, with Dave Kerpen and Tara Gerard finishing as runners-up. Charla and Keith had to decide whether to split their $250,000 prize with their respective partners – Keith decided to share his winnings with Tara, while Charla chose to keep the money for herself and give Dave nothing.[7]
A second season, titled Paradise Hotel 2, began airing on February 4, 2008, on the Fox-owned networks MyNetworkTV and Fox Reality Channel. It consists of sixteen episodes[8] and a reunion special.[9] Amanda Byram returned as host, and Mark Thompson returned as announcer.
New episodes aired on MyNetworkTV Monday nights at 9 p.m., and repeated Saturday nights at 9 p.m. Fox Reality Channel aired more explicit, TV-MA versions of the episodes, at 1 a.m. on the same night that they premiered on MyNetworkTV, and repeated these episodes throughout the following week.[10]
Stephanie and Zack were the winners, but the runners-up, Tidisha and Ryan, were given the responsibility of choosing only one member of the winning couple to claim the "ultimate prize". They chose Zack, who was awarded $200,000. He chose to share $20,000 with Tidisha and $90,000 with Stephanie, keeping the remaining $90,000 for himself.[11]
In 2019, Fox ordered a revival of the series. Casting began in January, and Kristin Cavallari was chosen as the new host.[12] The third season[a] premiered on May 9, 2019. The revival's season was truncated,[15] with its season finale airing on June 6, 2019.[16] The winners as chosen by a jury of the other former contestants were Bobby Ray and Tatum, beating Carlos and Kaitlin, but in the final twist Bobby Ray chose to keep $200,000 of the prize for himself, leaving Tatum with nothing.[17][18] The revival was officially canceled by Fox in August 2019.[4]
Despite being only a modest success in the United States, the Paradise Hotel franchise has been described as "an international hit",[26] spawning versions in eighteen countries.[1]
