Meet the British couple who won the £184m EuroMillions jackpot, and prepare to be surprised at what they bought first

A married couple have been unmasked as the winners of Britain's biggest EuroMillions lottery jackpot of £184 million, revealing the first thing they bought was a wardrobe.

Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, scooped a record-breaking £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket on the draw on Tuesday May 10.

Joe, 49, a communications sales engineer, and Jess, 44, who runs a hairdressing salon with her sister, have been married for 11 years and have two primary-school aged children.

Questioned on how they celebrated their win, Jess Thwaite said: "We've had a family meal, we went and had a family meal so we could share with our family.

"To tell the truth, we bought bedroom furniture. We bought a chest of drawers and a wardrobe.

"Other than that we haven't done anything."

Asked if they would reach out for advice from past lottery winners, Joe Thwaite said: "We want as much advice as we can get."

Mrs Thwaite said: "The win gives us time to dream, which we haven't had before. We've had one week to think about this and we now have time to share lots of experiences and go on adventures with our family and friends."

The record was previously held by an anonymous ticket-holder who banked £170 million in October 2019.

The new record-breakers mark the second EuroMillions jackpot won in the UK this year, with the £109 million jackpot from the draw on February 4 claimed a few days later.

Mr Thwaite said that when he received an email telling him he won a prize he thought it was a lucky dip.

"Then I looked at the amount and I put the phone down. And I picked the phone up again, and I looked at the amount again.

"I first thought it was in thousands," he said, adding that he thought it was "life-changing".

But then he "started counting the digits", adding: "Amazing, but also surreal."

He said they have been trying to move house for quite a while and he went on Right Move.

"You go on Right Move and you set your limits on what you can afford, and in the past everything we've kind of wanted is far beyond what we can afford, so I thought I don't need to filter, I can actually just look at anything," he said.

'Don't be stupid'

Jess Thwaite said her husband woke her up, saying it was a "normal husband-and-wife grumpy morning".

She said she told him: "'Just let me turn the alarm off' and he was like: 'I've got a secret to tell you."'

The 44-year-old said he then told her they had won £184 million and her reaction was: "Don't be stupid."

Mrs Thwaite said she then thought: "This is a fun game to play, this is wrong, there's obviously something wrong with the app. Let's go with it and let's enjoy this moment of thinking we've won the lottery because it's not real."

She said they decided to ring the lottery office at 8am when it opens, adding: "I was like: 'Right, I'll go make coffee and get on with the day.'"

When the office told them they "definitely had won", Mrs Thwaite said: "I didn't think it was real to be honest. I still don't think that it's real."

Asked if they would carry on working after their win, Jess Thwaite said: "I don't think we are at the moment.

"I'm going to take some time with that and what we're going to do."

Her husband Joe Thwaite said he has handed his notice in.

He said: "I'm leaving work."

Mrs Thwaite added: "I think we're going to have a full-time job managing all of this for quite some time."