Eye-opening – Mother tells of experience on taking on life of luxury for Rich House Poor House TV show
A mother who swapped her life for one of luxury has said the experience has opened her family's eyes.
Claire Lee and her four children moved from Willenhall to a £650,000 home in Tettenhall as part of the experiment aired on Channel 5's Rich House Poor House last night.
They were also told to spend £3,000 a week – more than 16 times the £170 they typically live on.
Cardiologist Mahrous Alsoud, 54, and his paediatrician wife Rana, 49, and their four children went the other way.
Single mother Claire, 43, spent the money on takeaways, toys and a watch.
The family, which live in a £110,000 three-bed house, also spent £53 on steak in a visit to Essington Farm shop.
After the show aired last night, Claire said: "Overall I think it was a positive experience for me and my children.
"It opened my kids' eyes about what is possible to achieve.
"I want them to have ambition and for them to want to achieve their ambitions in life."
She added: "It was a mixture of emotions. They had a beautiful house, but I didn't feel poor when I did the swap.
"I just felt like a normal working mum.
"To swap into that house and have that budget I felt guilty spending the money but you have to spend it all, that's part of the show.
"We found the house really big - almost too big for us.
"We're always used to being very close and sometimes I couldn't find my kids in that house - it was so big!"
"[When shopping] it was really hard to get out of the mindset of budgeting, but just being able to put things into the trolley without thinking.
"I didn't want to waste money so it was strange."
"I didn't ever feel that my kids went without. I work full-time and I provide my kids with the stuff they need."
Meanwhile the Alsouds had to get used to sharing one bathroom between six people.
They said they were impressed with how Claire handled her money, while appreciating they were 'really lucky'.
