Simon Williams Almost Ignored an Omaze Call as Spam, Won a £2 Million Devon Cottage, and Sold It Six Months Later
Simon Williams almost did not pick up. The aircraft engineer from Kent, then 41 and living in a three-bedroom house in West Sussex, had spent the day batting away sales calls. When his work phone rang from a number he did not know, he was, in his own words, « at my wits’ end. » He answered anyway. The voice on the line was not selling a warranty. It was Omaze, telling him he had won the Million Pound House Draw in Devon: a renovated five-bedroom cottage worth more than £2 million, plus £100,000 in cash, stamp duty and legal fees already handled, no mortgage attached.
The entry that did it cost about £25. He had been paying that as a monthly subscription, the same habit his sister shared. After earlier houses went to other people, the two of them would ring each other, jealous, and say they wished it had been one of them. On a Friday in October 2023, it was him. He cancelled dinner. « I was actually meant to go out to dinner with my friends that evening, but I had to cancel so I could meet the Omaze team and find out exactly what I’d won, » he said on the company’s winner page. « It was well worth cancelling a Wagamamas to win a £2,000,000 house. »
A cottage built for a life he did not live in Devon
Standing in the house, he told Omaze he had « a very big grin » on his face. « It’s one thing seeing it in the films, but being here in person is something else. » The prize was a remodelled cottage in woodland on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, with a landscaped garden, a modern kitchen, and a separate two-bedroom guest house with its own living space and shower room. Omaze estimated a long-term let could bring in roughly £3,000 a month. As with every house the company gives away, the winner could move in, rent it, or sell it. Williams had a reason to want the first option. His late father used to take him to Devon on family holidays. « Having my own place in Devon and being able to bring my family here, like my father did with me, is incredibly special — he’d have loved his place, » he said.
The charity attached to that particular draw was not an accident of branding. Williams entered because of Macmillan Cancer Support. His father died of cancer when Simon was in his early twenties, and the charity had supported the family then. « I know firsthand just how amazing the work they do is, » he said. The Devon draw raised £1,700,000, which Macmillan’s chief executive, Gemma Peters, said was enough to fund 27 cancer support nurses for a year. « We are beyond thrilled, » Peters said, noting that the charity depends almost entirely on public donations. James Oakes of Omaze called the model « a win-win for both charities and entrants » and said the UK community had by then raised more than £20 million. The company’s own figure has kept climbing since. Its public bio now talks about more than £100 million and dozens of grand-prize winners. Simon’s house was an early chapter of that machine, not the last.
Six months, two holidays, then a sale
Il n'est pas devenu résident de Devon. Il est devenu un homme qui a emprunté un comté pour Noël et Pâques. La maison de trois chambres à coucher à Sussex ne pouvait pas tenir les rassemblements qu'il voulait. Le chalet pourrait. Il a amené ses deux filles, puis rapportée comme 12 et 14, et le reste de la famille, et il a traité les six mois comme un sort fini plutôt qu'une nouvelle adresse. En octobre 2024, un an après l'appel qu'il a presque ignoré, il a dit aux journalistes qu'il avait vendus. Métro and the Manchester Evening News both quoted him banking about £2 million and buying a house in Sussex, close to where his daughters went to school. « I love Devon, and thanks to the money I also got, keeping the house was an option, but I’ve built a life in Sussex, so I decided to sell up and bank the cash, » he said. « The house sold very quickly and the money from it has been truly transformational for all of us — it’s secured my family’s future. »
The line that stuck was not about the school run. It was about a mower. « Believe it or not, one of my highlights of the house was the ride-on lawnmower that came with it. I’d happily spend hours on that thing. I ended up selling it to a friend at work when we moved, but he does let me see it on weekends. » A £2 million prize, reduced in the retelling to a machine he can visit on Saturdays, is a very British way of describing a windfall. It is also a useful correction to the fantasy Omaze sells. The dream house is often a liquid asset with a nice garden, not a personality transplant. Williams said winning it was one of the most incredible experiences of his life, second only to the births of his children, and still « the best £25 I’ve ever spent. » He also went home.
Devon Live returned to the sale on June 16, 2026, dans un article sur les gagnants qui liquident en quelques mois. Williams était l'exemple, pas une nouvelle transaction. Le journal répète son récit : six mois dans le chalet, une vente rapide, une maison Sussex, un futur qu'il décrit comme sécurisé. La même semaine, le site a noté d'autres gagnants qui avaient fait le même choix, y compris un prix en bord de mer de Cornwall tenu pour un seul été et une maison Rock qui est allé sur le marché dans les semaines. L'argument en ligne est toujours le même. Certains lecteurs pensent que la vente est une trahison du film. Les règles n'ont jamais exigé le film.
The rules moved after he cashed out
What has changed is the cash that sits beside the house. Williams’s £100,000 was paid under the 2023 draw. On September 28, 2026, Omaze UK told a follower that a £250,000 cash prize on a later house is now paid in instalments while the winner owns the property, « to help winners with the costs of owning and enjoying their new home. » Any instalments already received stay with the winner. Winners « remain free to live in, rent out or sell the house. » That last sentence is the one that mattered in Devon. A man who sells after six months still did what the contract allowed. The new schedule just makes the cash follow ownership for a while, instead of arriving as a lump that can leave with the seller on day one.
Les tirages eux-mêmes sont devenus plus forts depuis sa victoire. Omaze a remis des maisons de plusieurs millions de livres liées à la RSPCA, à Comic Relief, à la British Heart Foundation, au King's Trust et à la Société Alzheimer, avec des prix annoncés d'environ 3 millions de livres à Somerset, ce que la société a dit a recueilli 3,5 millions de livres pour la RSPCA, jusqu'à Londres et Lake District maisons dans la gamme £4 millions à £6 millions. Les entrées commencent toujours dans le groupe £10 à £25. L'entreprise garantit un don minimum à l'organisme de bienfaisance partenaire pour chaque campagne. C'est la partie du modèle qui ne dépend pas de si le gagnant garde les clés.
Chaque transfert n'a pas été aussi propre qu'un appel téléphonique du vendredi. Un gagnant de £6 millions de Norfolk a attendu plus d'un an après qu'un conseil ait découvert que des parties de la propriété, y compris une piscine et un court de tennis, avaient été construites sans plan avec votre permission. Omaze a déclaré plus tard qu'il avait obtenu un consentement rétrospectif, qu'aucun gagnant n'avait à payer pour corriger un défaut historique de planification, et que les prix de maison transfert avec un bon titre et commercialisable. Le chalet Devon de Williams n'est pas venu avec ce genre d'astérisque. Son problème était le contraire : la maison était si simple que le marché l'a pris rapidement, et le seul souvenir dont il plaisantait était une tondeuse dans le garage d'un collègue.
Le détail d'appel de spam est ce qui a fait voyager l'histoire, et il a vieilli dans une petite parabole sur la façon dont les entreprises de prix doivent maintenant atteindre les gens. Un mobile de travail qui a été brûlé par des appelants de nuisance est un instrument hostile. Omaze est passé une fois. Un an plus tard, le même homme expliquait, calmement, qu'il avait transformé le rêve en code postal Sussex et une visite de week-end à la tondeuse de quelqu'un d'autre. Les 1,7 million de livres pour Macmillan ne dépendaient pas de son séjour. Les infirmières ont été financées quand les billets ont été vendus, pas quand il a décidé où dormir.
His winner interview is still on the Omaze Devon house page. For other turns of fortune outside the United States, The AEGIS Alliance’s Nouvelles internationales file is the shelf this one sits on.
