One mum living on just under £60 a week was brought to tears after a millionaire decided to help her out.
Julie, who lives with her two daughters Chloe, 21, and 17-year-old Martine, appeared on an episode of Channel 5's Rich House, Poor House, but clearly got a whole lot more from the TV experiment than just an experience.
The mum previously ran a successful doggy day care business, but after financially struggling through the events of Covid-19, she was forced to call it quits.
"It was a well established company, and then COVID hit and instantly shut me down," she explained. "I had no income, I wasn’t able to pay my bank loan, credit card and other things like that."
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Julie, who now works in a care home, was forced to go to a Solvency company, which later left her with 'bad credit' and struggling on a lower income.
"Once I pay my rent, council tax, gas and electricity - I’m left with very little, I’m left with about £58 for shopping."
Julie's daughter Martine is currently in theatre school in Essex, but Chloe doesn't have her own personal bedroom and sleeps in the living room with the mum admitting: "I hate the fact that she doesn’t even have her own bedroom, I’m looking to see if I can do something with the conservatory and make it into a bedroom for her.
"But I haven’t got the money to do that at the moment."
In the episode, Julie meets businessman Jazz and his partner, Catia.
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Jazz, who started his first business as a football coach when he was just a teenager, went on to scale the business up from £30 a week to a staggering £3 million business with 30 staff members.
He later sold the business a few years back in 2020, and now teaches others how to increase their income with a house boasting five bedrooms, a garden and even a steam room.
Jazz and Julie swapped homes and were issued a budget on what the other person typically lives off a week; Jazz's was £1,200 while Julie's was £59.76.
"Imagine working from Monday through to Friday, and that’s what you’ve got to spend for your family," the millionaire said. "It must be quite psychologically challenging, because people will often say, well why am I doing this?"
Talking about the impact of the week, Chloe revealed: "One thing we have learnt this week is communicating as a family, and doing it in the right way instead of just having an argument about it.
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"It’s definitely made me realise that when I do go home, I need my own space."
And that's exactly what she got as, at the end of the week, the couple told Julie they were willing to help her out with her dream of running a restaurant or pub. which will have days specially for people with illnesses like dementia.
The mum-of-two broke down in tears at the gesture as she thanked Jazz and Catia.
And that wasn't the only surprise.
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The couple went on to tell Julie they had already bought Chloe a new bed with storage and how they wanted to convert the conservatory into a living space so Chloe could finally have her own bedroom.
"It’s so kind of you to do that for me when you don’t even know me," the teary mum said.
She went on: "I’m very overwhelmed, he’s helping me with my first event. Words can’t describe how happy we are.
"We are so grateful for what they have given us."
Featured Image Credit: Channel 5Topics: Channel 5, Cost of Living, Money, Parenting, TV And Film, Mental Health