The record-breaking lottery winner who scooped the £184million EuroMillions jackpot refused to wake his sleeping wife to tell her their lives had changed forever.
Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucestershire, are celebrating winning the eye-watering amount in last Tuesday's draw.
The couple went public today in Cheltenham to discuss their huge win and said they had no idea until the day after.
Communications Sales Engineer Joe has spoken about the moment the penny dropped and he discovered they were rich beyond their wildest dreams - but they didn't find out the life-changing news at the same time.
Joe revealed that he had some time to himself to try and get his head around the staggering win, secured with a Lucky Dip ticket.
He only told hairdresser Jess once she had woken up after his early start.
Eventually the alarm rang and as Jess struggled to turn it off, Joe told her: "I’ve got a secret, I’ve got something to tell you."
Jess’ initial reaction when presented with the news was disbelief, thinking Joe had it wrong.
She said: "Joe got up as usual at 5.15am to sort out the couple’s dogs.
"Once the dogs were happy he checked his phone and saw the email from The National Lottery saying, ‘Good news, you’ve won a prize’."
Joe said: “I looked it up and saw we’d won. I saw how much and I didn’t know what to do.
"I couldn’t go back to sleep, I didn’t want to wake Jess up so I just laid there for what seemed like forever.
"I spent some time searching for property with no budget limit, which was a novelty!”
The couple, who have been married for 11 years, have two primary school age children.
Jess says the inspiration behind their win is her late father, who always played before he passed away.
Jess, who manages the business side of a hairdressing salon she runs with her sister, said: "My dad played the National Lottery all his life and constantly dreamed of winning.
"He'd always ask us what we'd do when we won, how we'd spend it, who we'd treat. It was a regular conversation and I feel like he was preparing us."
When Jess’ father passed away around seven years ago, Joe took on the mantle of playing The National Lottery.
