A single mother broke down in tears after a wealthy pair of business owners offered to help get a job after she was signed off from work due to anxiety.
Amy, from Belfast, who supports her daughter on just £60 a week, switched lives with a pair of beauty aestheticians – who admitted they burned through ‘thousands and thousands’ each week, on this week’s episode of Rich House, Poor House.
The Channel 5 programme, in which wealthy and less fortunate families swap lives for five days, revealed the emotional moment that wealthy businesswomen, Michelle and Liz, promised to help single mother, Amy get back to work after a bout of ill health left her relying on benefits.
On this week’s episode of the show, which airs on Sunday, self-made business woman Michelle, who lived in her luxury house in Lisburn near Belfast, and her best friend and colleague, Liz, said they grew their business from the ground by ‘working 24/7’.
The two friends run an aesthetics clinic in Belfast, which also offers discounted procedures to women who’ve suffered domestic abuse or illness.
Meanwhile, just a few miles away in Newtown Abbey, Amy lived in a housing association flat struggling to even afford the basics for her and her daughter.
With just £60 a week to spare, Amy was unable to afford most things and the pair had even been living without flooring in their hall or living room.
Despite living off of benefits, Amy was desperate to get back to earning a living but struggled with a lack of confidence, having been signed off from work due to anxiety a few years earlier.
Self-made business woman Michelle, (left) who lives in her luxury house in Lisburn near Belfast (right), and her best friend and colleague, Liz, said they grew their business from the ground by ‘working 24/7’
Meanwhile, just a few miles away in Newtown Abbey, Amy (left) lived in a housing association flat struggling to even afford the basics for her and her daughter, Phoebe, 12
The mother had previously worked in retail during the pandemic but was forced to quite amid mental health struggles. Amy became one of 2.3 million people signed off of work for health reasons in the wake of Covid.
Meanwhile, prior to the swap, Michelle described herself as someone who ‘likes to shop’. The businesswoman showed off a glamorous walk-in-wardrobe containing 50-60 pairs of shoes and multiple designer handbags.
She and business partner Liz admitted they enjoyed ‘the finer things’ including ‘nice holidays, handbags, and shoes’.
‘Being in a job you love is vital, it makes you want more, it makes you want to improve and grow,’ she said.
Describing what she hoped to achieve during the swap, Liz said: ‘To offer confidence to someone who is maybe lacking in confidence.’
Michelle seconded the wish to support an individual ‘struggling to realise their own dreams and ambitions.’
When it came to the swap, it was clear the vastly different weekly budget would be a struggle for Liz and Michelle, who said they would typically spent more than £60 on just one meal out.
Arriving at Amy’s abode, the two aestheticians immediately picked up on the ‘small double bedroom’ belonging to Amy, also noticing that she had ‘blinds but no curtains’.
When it came to the swap, it was clear the vastly different weekly budget would be a struggle for Liz and Michelle, who said they would typically spent more than £60 on just one meal out
Describing what she hoped to achieve during the swap, Liz said: ‘To offer confidence to someone who is maybe lacking in confidence’
Elsewhere, as Phoebe and her mother took a tour of Michelle’s vast abode, the two couldn’t help but notice the huge ‘comfy’ beds.
In their welcome note, Amy apologised for the ‘lack of living room and hall carpet’, adding that they hoped the pair felt ‘at home’ regardless.
Michelle and Liz then took a peek at their cash for the week, shocked to discover they had just £61.09 to burn.
‘That’s less than what we’d spend on a meal out,’ said Liz.
Amy then opened an envelope containing a whopping £1,600 to last the week. Shocked to discover a budget 25 times her usual spending limit, Amy said seeing the cash in real life didn’t ‘feel real’.
On the first night of the swap, Amy and her daughter tucked into a tasty £50 takeaway, while the aestheticians made do with some freezer fish fingers.
After the first night in Amy’s house, Michelle and Liz complained of feeling ‘freezing’ and ‘unsafe’.
Trying to make a positive start to the swap, the beauty experts headed to the shops to buy food for the week – but swiftly chomped through nearly half their budget.
‘I don’t know how they’re surviving with such little money, it’s really scary,’ said Michelle.
Despite living off of benefits, Amy was desperate to get back to earning a living but struggled with a lack of confidence, having been signed off from work due to anxiety a few years earlier
Later in the episode, Amy met up with a friend of Michelle’s, where she discovered that the business woman hadn’t always lived the high life and was also a single mother of two who experiences poverty in the past.
On the other side of the divide, a candid conversation with Amy’s brother, Brian, revealed to Michelle and Liz that Amy and her daughter had spent four months homeless.
Brain said the mother and daughter duo had spent the time living with him and that the mother had slept on his floor – despite his best efforts to give her the bed.
During the swap, Amy and Phoebe got to enjoy a taste of luxury. They treated themselves to an afternoon at a beauty saloon, went on a zipwire and even visited one of Northern Ireland’s most prestigious theatres, Lyric.
Keen to help Amy achieve her dream of getting back into work, the beauty workers arranged for her to do a trial shift at their salon working a receptionist at their salon.
Despite her past experiences with anxiety, Amy excelled in the trial, with a worker at Michelle’s clinic calling the aesthetician to inform her that things had gone well and that the mother had been a natural.
Michelle and Liz were also keen to help Amy out with her living room, insisting a carpet is ‘a need not a want’, and swiftly arranging for a new one to be installed.
They even transformed their living room with a new set of furniture. ‘I really want them to have a home that’s warm and cosy,’ Michelle said.
On the other side of the divide, a candid conversation with Amy’s brother, Brian, revealed to Michelle and Liz that Amy and her daughter had spent four months homeless
When either parties finally met, both were emotional having had a taste of how the other lived.
‘Looking at my materialistic things is nothing at all compared to the bravery you have been through. It was such an ordeal sticking to that budget. It was really hard to try and get food,’ Michelle admitted.
‘I was humbled and it made me really how lucky I have been,’ Liz added.
Reflecting on her side of the swap, Amy opened up about her struggles with anxiety. She said: ‘Fear of failure has been something that’s been holding me back but after this week, I feel so much more sure of myself.
‘I had this really funny feeling and I realised it was hope and I’d never felt hope like it.’
In one tender moment, Michelle told Amy that she would be ready to talk about offering her a job when she was ready.
Michelle told Amy that her staff ‘couldn’t speak highly enough’ of her and that ‘it takes a certain kind of soul to be able to sit and take a call and talk to people when they’re feeling vulnerable’.
The mother-of-one broke down in tears upon hearing the news, and jumped up to give both women a bus.
And that wasn’t all. When Amy and Phoebe arrived home to their brand new living room, they were both hit with another shock as they discovered they’d been given a brand new carpet and furniture.
‘It a completely different living room,’ said Amy in another emotional moment.
‘Absolutely gorgeous, I was not expecting any of this,’ she added. ‘This is unbelievable.’
Reflecting on things their end, Michelle asked Liz is she thought money bought happiness.
‘No, it buys security which leads to happiness. Money can’t hold you if you can’t sleep at night,’ she said.