A MUM-of-eight who lives in a council house and relies on credit trades lives with a millionaire who drives Kylie Minogue’s old car on Rich House, Poor House.
Anne and Mick Ross, from East Doncaster, live in their cramped three-bedroom home with five of their eight kids, which sees four boys sharing one room – with two lads sleeping in one bed.
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Anne, a homemaker, hasn’t worked in 13 years and it’s up to Mick to “bring home the bacon”, with the couple forced to rely on credit to get by.
Mick, an accident repair driver on £8.50 an hour, says: “The TV, that’s still being paid off. The sofa, the three-piece, the fish tank.”
They swap lives and homes with Terri-Ann and Michael Nunns, who lives eight miles away but worlds apart in their six-bedroom mansion complete with a hot tub.
Despite having extra space and spare cash, Anne says: “I’ve enjoyed it and it’s been lovely, but I miss my own house.”
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Terri-Ann, mum to Aaleyah, Aamaya and Arlo, set up a dieting business which saw her work her way up from her own council house and is now making millions.
Terri-Ann says her prized passion is her ‘rolex’, and she also drives Kylie Minogue’s old Range Rover.
As the families settle in to their new homes for the week, the Nunns are forced to live on £229 a week.
But Terri-Ann hasn’t forgotten her roots as a single mum living in a council flat nearby, and still knows how to budget.
She says: “I think it will be nice to go back and see how far we’ve come, because that was our life eight years ago.
“It does feel a bit weird coming back here. I lived here about eight years ago, It was a really really difficult time in my life. I was a single mum.
“I can’t remember the last time we thought about what we spend on a food shop.”
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Commenting on their new budget, she says: “I don’t think that’s a really bad budget for us, but I think for a bigger family, you wouldn’t be having ought extravagant.”
Meanwhile the Ross’ are given £1,200 to spend, with Mick saying: “I don’t think I’ve ever counted so much money in one week.
“That’s just shy of what I earn a month.”
The kids each get a credit card with £25 to spend, and another £100 each to blow on toys.
Mick adds: “People from the higher earning spectrum take it for granted a little bit that they can just get what they want.
“We can’t afford to give them that. It’s heart-breaking, it really is.”
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As Terri-Ann spends all her time on her business, husband Michael works part-time and looks after the home.
In the swap, driver Mick is tasked with doing the weekly food shop and cooking each night.
He splurges £177 on the supermarket, buying previously unaffordable luxuries such as lobster for his family.
Anne gets to enjoy some time to herself, with a cleaner taking care of the housework and ironing.
She says: “This is it, no more children, time for me to decide what I want to do with myself.
“I don’t think I value what I do, contribute to the household, when you see what somebody else is getting paid to do what I do day in day out, makes me feel a bit better about it.”
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She learns about Terri-Ann’s business, with the entrepreneur’s friend telling her: “Terri-Ann was always slim, she got pregnant with the twins, she got really big, and then sadly, the little girl died due to complications while having the babies.
“She struggled she’d come home from the hospital with one baby. So she went from having a twin pregnancy to having depression to comfort eating, and it just spiralled.”
It strikes a chord with Anne, who has twin boys, saying: “It was quite emotional for me.”
As the week progresses Anne decides she wants to go back to work, to have something that’s “just hers” and to earn some more money.
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While the Ross’ aspire for holidays and set about getting passports, the Nunns realise they may have been happier when they were poorer.
Terri-Ann says: “If the business hasn’t taken off, I’d be living in a house like Anne and Mick live in.
“I think we’d still be happy because we’re as happy then as we are now, in fact in some respects we’re less happy now.
“I don’t think money makes you happy. Look at Mick and Anne, they’re happy.”
And as the swap ends, Mick agrees, adding: “I don’t think money itself makes you happy. Definitely doesn’t. I’ve got no money, I live on a very small budget each week, but I’m happy.”
Meanwhile this Rich Kids, Skint Holiday teen joins a cash-strapped family on holiday.
In other news, we told you how this millionaire’s daughter broke down in tears as she was forced to go on a budget camping trip.
And the Rich Kids of Instagram flaunted their lavish summer breaks in these envy-inducing snaps.
