Netflix hit ‘Million Dollar Secret’ filmed at Okanagan Lake luxury chateau

“Million Dollar Secret” is one of the most popular shows on Netflix right now, and it was shot at a luxury lakefront villa on Okanagan Lake in Kelowna.

Château Okanagan was renamed The Stag for the reality series where a group of guests have to find out which one of them is hiding the million dollar prize in their room, and whoever is hiding the money at the end of the game takes it home.

Normally people rent out Château Okanagan for a vacation with up to 16 friends and family.

“When you have 16 people they come here for relaxation most of the time,” Kathleen Nierfeld, who co-manages Château Okanagan near McKinley Landing, told iNFOnews.ca. This group obviously had an agenda to do something different here.”

Brian Dower, general manager of the villa and spa, said he was surprised by how many people it takes to make a reality show.

“We had camera crews from Australia, executives from England, teams from L.A. and Vancouver all here to pull this off, and then all of the local support that went into it,” he said. “Every minute you see on camera, there’s just a huge amount of work behind the scenes to put that production together.”

The Château was renamed in the show as a part of the artistic direction so it wouldn’t be tied to the Okanagan.

“As you watch the show you’ll see lots of branding from companies across the Okanagan,” he said. “It shows Mount Boucherie’s wine barrels, although they were called whiskey barrels in the episode.”

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The contestants on the show were also guests at the villa so the full staff was taking care of them like they would ordinary guests, just with dozens of production people around.

“We were completely hands-on. Some of our staff were on film which was really cool,” Nierfeld said. “And they’re having fun now, like viewing parties and enjoying seeing themselves on TV.”

Dower said their phone has been ringing off the hook since the show came out, and he thinks it’s going to promote tourism all around the Okanagan as well.

“If you Google Netflix’s Top 10 you can see globally right now it’s the third ranked show in terms of viewership,” Dower said. “It’s just been exciting to see how much exposure it’s given both to this property and to the Okanagan since it’s been released.” 

Dower said they have hosted a few smaller film shoots in the past but this one was by far the largest. He said they would be open to being used as a film set again if the offer is right.

The next episode of “Million Dollar Secret” comes out on Netflix, April 9.