The Inheritance: The Final - interview with Emma

Cam was named the winner of Channel 4’s The Inheritance. The Yorkshire scaffolder, 28, won the vote amongst his fellow finalists to be the ultimate Prime Beneficiary, receiving a £100,000 fortune from The Deceased’s estate. Faced with the cash, Cam had the option to keep all the winnings for himself but instead, he chose to share the inheritance with Emma, Hafsah, Hannah and Jesse, gifting them £20,000 each to add to their money already banked. Paramedic Emma took home £23,800.

Interview with Emma: 

What were your first impressions of the house when you saw it, of Rob Rinder when you met him and most importantly all your other players? 
Seeing all the other players was interesting. I knew that there was going to be a real variety of people between us all, but I didn't really know how diverse it was going to be. It was exciting to see such a wide range of ages and people. I was very excited about getting to know everyone. The house is just incredible; it's like something out of a film. The decor inside is like nothing I've ever seen before. And Rinder - oh, my gosh, he’s just like a doll. He's just so just so perfect and prim and proper. He’s lovely, but he doesn't talk very much. He's very posh and well-spoken and honestly it just made me feel like there was a massive difference between the way Rob speaks and the way that I speak. Even just him being in the room, you can tell he's there even if he's walking in from behind us. He has that presence.

Did you have a strategy for the game, and did you stick to it? 
No, I didn't have a strategy for the game. My goal was to work hard and hopefully people would acknowledge that. I'd love to be able to say that I came with a strategy, but I'm glad I didn't, because I just didn't have the brain power. It’s so tiring and it's so exciting as well, I think I would just trip myself up. I just turned up and gave it my best shot.

What about the requests, did you have any favourites? Did you enjoy them? 
I enjoyed every single one. My favourite was probably the digging; the secret one where we had to dig holes to find boxes, that was good fun. The one I didn't do so well at but was just funny, was where we were all trying to chase a pig to get it into the back of the truck. You wouldn't know that we only met each other a few days before. I don’t think I caught a chicken, but I picked one up, and that was amazing. 

Well congratulations on getting all the way to the end!
It is mad thinking about it, to think I was scraping by and now I’m walking away with so much money. It's just so unbelievable. I don’t think it's properly set in yet. Even now I’m like, ‘Was that real or did I dream it?’ 

Is it what you expected? 
No, it’s nothing like I expected. Much more fun and a lot more enjoyable. A lot funnier and more entertaining than I thought it would be.

Who did you get closest to?
Me and Hannah were really close from day one. We've both got the same mindset, and we've just always stuck by each other. I fought Hannah's corner, and she fought mine. I was so lucky to have her in the final with me as well. In every division ceremony, we always matched in some way by accident. I would wear purple and then she would wear something with purple in. If I wore bows, she was wearing something with bows. 

How did it feel when you found out that Cam had decided to equally split the money?
It was so overwhelming, I cried. I was so happy, I didn’t want to be seen crying, but it just means so much to me. Especially me and Hannah, it has just changed our lives and Jesse as well. I think he just wanted to run laps around the place. You could see it; he was like a toy that had been wound up! All we wanted to do was just run out and give each other a massive hug. Me and Hannah treated ourselves to a little drink in the car on the way home. It was silly, we cheers-ed it to each other. To think that Cam did that. I owe him a pint. 

Did you ever have any doubt that he'd go that way? 
Yeah! I think it was more because the money is so life changing to me and Hannah. We both just wanted to prepare ourselves for it to not happen. So, it wouldn’t be such a big disappointment.

Would you have done the same? 
Out the three options, yeah. I don't think I could have walked away, knowing that one or two people weren’t going to get anything. Absolutely not. I would have done the same.

Do you have a standout highlight of the entire experience?
One of them was seeing the boys come back covered in honey. It felt like after every request, Ferg was just drenched in something. I was so glad that I was not covered in honey, I would have thrown a fit about my hair. I would not have walked into a division ceremony with honey in my hair. 

Do you think you've learned anything about yourself throughout this process? 
Yeah, I would say I was a bit of a pushover before the show, I wouldn't really speak up for anything. So, coming into this, one of the things I wanted to do was stand up for what I think is right and if I don't agree with something then I wanted to say so. So, from now on if there's something big that I don't agree with, then I'll speak about it. 

Which three words would you choose to sum up the entire experience for you? 
I’ve got to put hilarious in there because I've not stopped laughing since the day that I got here, everything has been brilliant. Educational, for us probably more than anyone else, but I’ve learnt how to make sausages, I’ve learnt how to churn butter. Probably emotional as well, not always in a negative way, just feeling such strong feelings for people that three weeks ago I didn’t know existed. Feeling so strongly about wanting them to have what they deserve.