A mum who gave up her career to spent time for her five children is left in tears as she is offered a lifeline by the millionaire couple she swaps houses with on Rich House, Poor House.
Jade and Dean Barter live on £145 per week with their children, despite Dean working 50-hour weeks as a HGV driver. Mum Jade had been previously training to become an accountant, but put her career dream on hold to look after their five boys.
For one week, the family swap with qualified accountant Marina and Przemek Wegorek, who have an eight-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, and have a weekly budget of a whopping £1,300 a week.
Marina and Przemek’s five-bedroom mansion, complete with an indoor swimming pool, a walk-in wardrobe and flawless kitchen, leaves the Barter family utterly flabbergasted.
But the extent of the money they are given proves overwhelming for Jade, who is used to scrimping every last penny for food and the electric.
After one food shopping trip, Jade is left shocked when one of her sons brings back a £23 jar of chocolate buttons. Meanwhile, Marina cries when she enters the Barter house and discovers the fridge is empty.
At the end of the week, Jade and Dean realise that they still have £800 left in their budget and decide to go on a shopping spree for the kids.
But the excitement quickly turns as Jade is shell-shocked after spending their usual monthly income in a single day on toys.
“I was excited to take the pressure away from you,” Jade tells her partner. “I was excited for you not to worry and feel like you’re letting us all down.”
Despite being more comfortable with the money, Jade realises that nothing is more important than bringing up her children and spending time with her sons. However, she is keen to make plans for the future and insists that when all of her children enter secondary school that she will restart her career.
Meeting up at the end of the ‘house swap’ with the Wegoreks, Jade opens up about how they found the experience and the reason she chose to put a pause on her career.
“I see a lot of the strength that you have in me and I love applying that,” Jade says. “I never saw [my eldest son] grow up and i put everything into work and now I’m a little bit resentful because I know I can do that and I really just want my babies. I want nothing else.
“Once they’re in mainstream school, I’m ready to go then and I’m going to throw everything at it.”
Martina replies encouragingly: “I’m sure you can do that and when it comes to a career – when you are ready to get in and explore – I’d love to be your mentor and guide you and be able to open the networks so that you may be able to get onto the property ladder so that you don’t need to worry about increasing rent and things you’re not in control of.”
Stunned, Dean says away from the meeting: “Marina and Przemek trying to help us get onto the property ladder and just giving us a chance in life that nobody has.”
Everyone is clearly emotional and Marina adds that she has also now learnt that she needs to spend more time with her family.
But that wasn’t it – the Wegoreks also bought the Barters a new cooker after struggling for a week with the nobs that had fallen off.