Inside Dan Osborne’s ‘cynical ploy’ to one up ex Jac Jossa – as we reveal his secret millions from 25p raffle scheme

SITTING in a display case in Dan Osborne’s Essex home was once an impressive Adidas Predator boot collections – each a piece of the celebrity football circuit he’d enjoyed so much. Just months ago, Dan sold the lot, telling followers it “breaks my heart”, but I can reveal that far from being desperate for cash the star has turned around his money troubles with a new business venture that has seen his bank account boom. The former TOWIE star’s businesses are booming after years of failed ventures Credit: Instagram It’s been six months since the former EastEnders star and the ex-Towie regular confirmed their marriage was over for good – but both parties are thriving financially Credit: PA Divorce is famously hard on the wallet. Not, it seems, for TOWIE star Dan. While his soap star wife Jacqueline Jossa was the bigger earner of the pair, with the 35-year-old admitting his own business had just £978 to its name back in 2019, sources say his fortunes have transformed since he and Jac finally called time on their marriage earlier this year. It’s been six months since the former EastEnders star and the ex-Towie regular confirmed their marriage was over for good, bringing the curtain down on a rollercoaster 13-year relationship that saw them marry, split, reconcile and split again more times than anyone could keep count of. After years of scandals and financial headaches, they now find themselves in an unlikely position – thriving apart, with the pair settling into a co-parenting truce for the sake of their daughters Ella, 11, and Mia, eight. For those who haven’t followed the saga, Jacqueline, 33, shot to fame as bolshy Lauren Branning on EastEnders, a role she played on and off since she was 17. She left Albert Square in 2018 and won I’m A Celebrity the following year, but off-screen her life was far from a fairytale. She had her own money struggles too, having been forced to sell her first home to cover the bills after quitting the soap, and her old company Pooker Bash Ltd went bust owing £33,000 to creditors including the taxman, a debt she only settled in 2022 after selling that first house. Still, even during her toughest patch her net worth was reported to be around £1.2 million by 2020. Back in December 2019, with Jacqueline crowned Queen of the Jungle and tipped by PR experts to become a millionaire within months, Dan’s own performing arts firm, Storms Entertainment, told a very different story, with just £978 left in its bank account and £7,469 of debt. The pattern continued for years. Only this March, Dan took to Instagram to tell fans he was selling off his prized boot collection, writing: “This breaks my heart to say this… I have possibly one of the best Adidas Predator Collections I’ve ever seen! The entire collection is up for sale.” A pal insisted to The Sun it had nothing to do with money troubles, claiming Dan simply didn’t have the storage space and that “his companies are doing very well.” But one associate of the former couple is suspicious of the shoe sale, telling me: “Some in Jac’s social circle have cynically suggested that it was all a ploy to garner sympathy from his fans and paint a picture that he needed the money before Jac takes him to the cleaners in the divorce courts. When the truth is in fact he is in the best financial position of his life.” Another business venture is tanning shop, Paradise Tanning in Benfleet which opened last July, nearly a year after he first got the keys – and vowed to turn it into “the best tanning shop in Essex”. It was only a few months ago that Dan was flogging his football boot collection online Credit: Instagram / danosborneofficial Only months later, records show Dan has ploughed thousands into the business with hopes of getting a big return. The final straw for Jacqueline was the discovery that Dan had bought a house behind her back. The five-bedroom pad, complete with a bar and a gym, sits on a busy main road close to Southend, and records confirm Dan picked it up back in February 2024 for £730,000. The bulk of that turnaround, it seems, comes down to Prize Paradise, the online raffle site Dan runs with his brother Ryan. The concept is simple but hugely lucrative: punters buy tickets for as little as 25p a go for the chance to win everything from designer handbags to six-figure cash prizes and even houses, with Dan regularly popping up on the company’s Instagram posing with giant winners’ cheques and turning up on doorsteps to hand over prizes in person. What started as a side-hustle has grown into an online empire, with accounts up to 31 December 2024 showing the firm’s equity at £743,581 – up £271,994 on the year before – and £319,459 sitting in the bank. Two weeks ago, Ryan marked Prize Paradise’s sixth anniversary with a gushing Instagram post revealing the firm’s immense success since launching out of Dan’s garage. He wrote: “6 years ago today we started in @danosborneofficial’s garage. £23.4M won in prizes, so many lives completely changed.” It’s here that the biggest clue to Dan’s financial revival lies. Behind the scenes, Ryan appears to have become the architect of the business, with Dan himself publicly crediting his brother: “Without you there’d be no prize paradise, literally we’d be f**ked without you.” Dan’s brother Ryan marked Prize Paradise’s sixth anniversary with a gushing Instagram post revealing the firm’s immense success Credit: Instagram/@ryanosborne14 Dan (far left) and his brother Ryan (centre) are close business partners – with sources saying ‘Ryan is the brains behind the whole thing’ Credit: Instagram/@ryanosborne14 A source close to the pair confirmed: “Ryan is really the brains behind the whole thing. Dan knows that and has said none of this would be possible without Ryan.” While Dan has always been the more recognisable of the two thanks to his TOWIE and Celebrity Big Brother past, Ryan has been there from the beginning, co-founding Prize Paradise alongside his brother back in June 2020. Company records list him as a named director, and the pair also co-own Ink Paradise, the tattoo parlour they run together in Bexleyheath – which looks to be thriving too, with recent posts showing three tattooists now working out of the shop. Another of Dan’s businesses, Paradise Beauty Ltd behind the tanning shop, paints a murkier picture. Accounts show it owes creditors £535,540 and has accumulated losses of £392,719, though a source close to Dan insists this is nothing to worry about given it’s only a year old, and still absorbing hefty set-up costs. They added: “A first-year loss is entirely normal, and the shop is thriving, with staff numbers already doubling from two to four.” Once dogged by cheating scandals and branded a “love rat”, Dan has spent the last year rebranding himself online as a devoted dad, serious entrepreneur and mental health campaigner. Sources say it’s a redemption arc that’s only “halfway there”, but one that had to happen after his reputation was left in tatters. The financial revival hasn’t been one-sided. After she and Dan put their £1.6million family home on the market, Jacqueline walked away with a healthy chunk of change of her own. What started as a side-hustle for Dan has grown into an online empire Credit: instagram/prizeparadise Since the split, Jac has built the Jacqueline Jossa Academy into a fully fledged business and launched her own talent agency, JJA Management. The pair have settled into a co-parenting truce for the sake of their daughters Ella, 11, and Mia, eight Credit: Getty A source close to the star told us: “She was the one propping up the finances while Dan chased one business idea after another for years, so having something left over for herself has been a massive weight off her shoulders.” She’s since built the Jacqueline Jossa Academy into a fully fledged business and launched her own talent agency, JJA Management. Accounts for her new company, EMJ Entertainments, show assets of £800,000 and £500,000 in the bank. Our source added: “It’s been a strange one to watch from the outside. Jac finally has money behind her that’s entirely her own doing, while Dan has somehow gone from a man with no direction to running three businesses. They’ve both landed on their feet.” Both Dan and Jacqueline’s representatives were contacted for comment.