Marriage proposal as Wigan couple share the spoils on cult TV show Hunted

And the moment Daniel Ryder knew that he and Hayley Morrison had got their prize in the bag - as they leapt into the sea for their awaiting speedboat - the gym boss proposed to her!

The pair were on the run for 25 days and managed to escape their professional pursuers by a matter of seconds in Thursday night's exciting sixth and final episode.

They share the spoils with best friends Rob Ellington and Ben Arrowsmith who also managed to outwit those giving chase.

A total of 10 fugitives had begun the series which challenges them to avoid capture anywhere in Britain while being tracked by a crack team of experts who have state-of-the-art technology and huge experience at their disposal.

They can monitor automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, CCTV and trace mobile phone calls, have lists of the fugitives' friends and relatives to whom they might turn for assistance and a rapid response team and helicopter which can get to a scene double quick if those in control have a sighting.

As episode six showed, the hunters also pay for information. As Daniel, 33, and 27-year-old Hayley made their way from a bolt hole in Altrincham, to their extraction point in the Anglesey coastal town of Amlwch, a taxi driver who had just given them a lift, betrayed their location for £1,000. However, another man who had taken them some of the way refused to be bought by the hunters, saving them precious time.

The pair had criss-crossed the country to avoid detection. During the first episode the couple were seen evading their chasers and managing to make it to friends and family in Standish to pick up essential survival items before heading off to the Lake District to lie low.

Rob and Ben, who had relied much more on hitch-hiking, were further away from Anglesley when the extraction point was disclosed to them and decided to split.

But as the hunters closed in, all four managed to leap off the harbour wall and into the water just in time, clambering aboard the speedboat and popping a bottle of champagne as they opened a suitcase full of £100,000 for them to share.

Having proposed to her as they achieved victory, Daniel said: "Being on the run made me see sides of Hayley I'd never seen before. It showed me how amazing she is. She was a lot stronger than me mentally and I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Hayley, an HR officer for Wigan Council, said: " It feels absolutely amazing to be engaged. I never even thought Dan would do anything like this. Coming away from this experience, I'm a lot stronger person. I surprised myself.

"If someone had said that 'you are going to jump in the sea' I would have gone 'no way' but who knows what I'm going to jump off next."

Until the very last moment, the Hunters had been confident of a "clean sweep" of arrests.