Cheltenham House competition winner handed 83k pounds

In the 'Win the Cheltenham House' competition, players were invited buy a £25 ticket and play 'Spot the Frisbee' for a chance of winning the top prize, the Underground House featured in Channel 4's Grand Designs, valued at £745,000. The house competition had to be restructured a few months after being launched, after a similar competition in Devon was halted due to concerns about its legality by the Gambling Commission.

Despite this setback, last week British couple Tim and Zoe Bawtree closed their competition, successfully selling a total of 5,706 tickets overall. Although this was below the target of 49,000 they had set out to achieve to give away their home, this allowed them to hand the winner a cash prize of £83,000, on top of £14,500 for charity Teenage Cancer Trust.

While the winner of the competition, 38-year old Londoner Christine Evelene did not win the underground house, this will no doubt represent a life-changing amount of money for her.

The Bawtrees intend to re-mortgage their Regency House on a buy-to-let basis to finance the loan they initially took out for the development of the property. Their second underground house, which was the property that was featured in the TV show, will be put back on the market.