‘Whose idea was this?!’ fume EastEnders fans as they call out baffling blunder about Phil Mitchell

EASTENDERS viewers have been left fuming over Phil Mitchell's finances.

The hardman - played by Steve McFadden - has had his fingers in many pies over the years which have helped him keep the money flowing, including chicken shops covering for a money laundering scheme.

He currently co-own The Boxing Den with ex Sharon Watts and current wife Kat Slater, as well as Peggy's bar which he also co-owns with his spouse.

Phil never seems short of a bob or two and late last year, he lent Sharon £50,000 without batting an eyelid when her son Albie was 'kidnapped'.

He hasn't received the money back after Keanu Taylor's mum Karen kept the cash after her son revealed what he had done.

But it isn't the first time Phil has lost a lot of money, and its left some EastEnders viewers pondering how he still has so much cash in his accounts.

Taking to a soap fan forum, one viewer wrote: "I really want someone to calculate Phil’s cash total of lost money.

"He has lost hundreds of thousands to Kat, Alfie, Karen, Sam and Sam’s ex in separate occasions over the past few years alone.

"I remember he and Shirley stole some of Roxy’s millions years ago but surely we can’t still be led to believe this is what’s being used."

Another added: "Money in EastEnders is like some sort of unexplained magical phenomenon.

"The main one is Phils safe being like Harry Potter's room of requirement- it always has what he needs when he needs it, despite his claims that he "can't get that kind of cash together in a day".

"Ditto for the safe in Peggy's which has been looted at least 3 times in the last year by people who know him well enough to know the combination and he still hasn't changed it and uses the same combination for the one in the gym."

A third commented: "Phil is the only person who's allowed to have a successful and profitable business in Albert Square. Everyone else has to be scraping by, and when they have money problems they won't simply get a bank loan, oh no. They must come grovelling before their feudal master Phil Mitchell for scraps from his table.

"On this point, the boxing gym makes absolutely no financial sense whatsoever. When it was a regular gym run by Sharon, presumably it had a lucrative income stream from membership fees.

"Now that's gone, what income does the boxing gym actually generate? I suppose they could sell tickets for fights but I doubt that's very profitable. Seems like Phil has destroyed a decent money maker.

"Indeed, it's actually not clear what Phil's income is at this point beyond owning various "chicken shops" that were simply money-laundering fronts anyway."

Over on X - formerly Twitter - one EastEnders fan has kept a running total of the amount of money Phil has given out or had taken from him in recent times.

They wrote: "'Phil Mitchell The Bank' surely has to run out of money soon! £100,000 for Sam £50,000 ransom for Albie £10,000 taken from the safe by Keanu for Lisa £30,000 taken from the safe (Alfie's fault)."

In a follow up tweet from earlier this month, they added: "More money taken from Phil! Sam took a wad of cash from the nightclub safe as a leaving gift for her son.

"Phil quickly found £30K to pay Sam her share of the inheritance left by Aunt Sal. A Phil & Kat divorce would be very costly for him."

Another viewer tweeted: "Serious question; Karen run off with Phil money, Sam takes the P*** and run with more and more money and Phil does nothing! Whose idea was this S***?"

EastEnders airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.