A millionaire mother had an alarming realisation about the cost of living after swapping lives with a much lesser off couple on a TV show.
Since its inception back in 2017, Channel 5 series Rich House Poor House has allowed families from wildly different ends of the spectrum to experience life 'on the other side' as they swap houses and financial fortunes for an extended period of time.
The episodes typically follow the same format, ending with the millionaire participant declaring they had no idea how badly other families suffer with their finances and resolving to act more benevolent with their fortunes.
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This has long received criticism from viewers, with many calling the format 'exploitative' of the working class and 'poverty porn'.
One participant to take part on the series was millionaire property investor Abi Hookway, who found it particularly hard to manage life on the breadline during her time in the experiment in 2023.
The episode saw Hookway, 38, open the doors of her luxury home in Doncaster, Yorkshire to struggling parents Heather, 24, and Brad, 22, and in turn moving into their rented home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
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Hookway also swapped weekly budgets with the couple, meaning that she and her two children now had to survive on just £12 a day while Heather and Brad enjoyed splashing out with her lavish £172 daily budget.
Learning to survive on less than 10 percent of her typical daily spend brought several sobering realisations for Hookway, as she admitted that she had no idea on how to budget.
In one clip, the mum-of-two was left stunned by the price of essentials in the supermarket before revealing that she wasn't aware how much basic food items cost.
"At the supermarket I was shocked at how much milk costs. I never go grocery shopping, I have a housekeeper who does that for me," she said.
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"I was genuinely shocked at the price of food. My housekeeper buys our food and cooks our meals, typically I wouldn’t even look at prices."
After being forced to spend the week eating frozen meals in order to cut costs, Hookway went on to admit had no idea how families were able to 'survive like this'.
"I was gobsmacked at the cost of basic items, I assumed I could get egg, milk, bread and cheese for a fiver," she said, adding that the experience had helped her be more grateful of the successes she's achieved with her businesses.
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The self-made millionaire, who had managed to grow her impressive property portfolio from £24,000 of debt, also revealed she found it frustrating to see how few people have access to information on financial literacy and money management.
"Schools need to provide basic budgeting, money management and investing lessons from primary school," she said.
"I found it incredibly challenging and confronting. It made me want to help more people."
Brenna Cooper