How the other half live - C4

[Oakey]

anyone watching this?

about a wealthy family financially helping a 'poor' family.

the 'poor' family are just what you expect. black family living on grotty estate. mother the size of a bus, three kids, one sleeping on the floor, etc.

they're living in 'poverty', the only income they get is the £240 a week in benefits!

ignore the benefits part a second, that's two hundred and forty quid a week! more than most people take home on minimum wage!

what a joke

Edited by Oakey on Thursday 30th July 21:35

[Jasandjules]

No, Mock the Week is on.

And the trailer I saw was some rupert child explaining how they weren't rich and didn't live in a big house, whilst in the garden of her parent's huge mansion. So figured I'd have my urine steaming watching it......

[Oakey]

is this show for real?

the wealthy family have donated some money to the poor family which the mother duly spent on furniture. a new bunk bed and dining table and chairs.

not any cheap st though, oh no, it all looks like solid fking oak!

[uuf361]

Did she really have £5.5K in debts which she used their money to pay off ?

Didn't seem to have much to show for it unless she spent it on cake

[robinhood21]

I only watched the second half of the programme so don't know the full details but, the table, chairs and the bedroom furniture were all purchased by the other (rich) family.

[FourWheelDrift]

uuf361 said:

Didn't seem to have much to show for it unless she spent it on cake

Good mayonnaise is quite expensive by the litre jar and she'd need quite a few jars of it to spread on all the cake.

[EINSIGN]

Did the poor childrens mother eat their father?

[SPR2]

Oakey said:

is this show for real?

the wealthy family have donated some money to the poor family which the mother duly spent on furniture. a new bunk bed and dining table and chairs.

not any cheap st though, oh no, it all looks like solid fking oak!

I thought the rich family bought the table, sewing machine, laptop etc.as gifts and paid for decorating the childrens bedrooms as money given to them would have affected other monetries[correct word?]

[dreamz]

i watched the first half and it took too long to get into it.

the father of the poor family split from the mother and did one.

i found it hilarious that the mother of the poor kids when asked to visit the rich family puts on a wig

wtf... if u spent that £2.50 on some cereals for the kids then maybe they wont have to be hungry.

[Monki]

Saw the intro bit and immediately thought

"Media (read Nu Labia) trying to make you feel guilty again for working hard and making a success in your life"

What is it about TV shows recently and trying to make out that people not bothering to work should be helped by those who make an effort?

Plus isn't Zimbabwe a bit of a long way from here? Surely there were other safe havens enroute to Britain?

[Oakey]

SPR2 said:

Oakey said:

is this show for real?

the wealthy family have donated some money to the poor family which the mother duly spent on furniture. a new bunk bed and dining table and chairs.

not any cheap st though, oh no, it all looks like solid fking oak!

I thought the rich family bought the table, sewing machine, laptop etc.as gifts and paid for decorating the childrens bedrooms as money given to them would have affected other monetries[correct word?]

I think the rich family might have bought the table, howewver, I'm sure the mother said she'd been out shopping and had a surprise for them (the beds). If so, convenient the beds match the rest of the furniture.

Also, these people are from Zimbabwe, aren't there any white, British people in poverty anymore or is it a requirement that the families in these shows are black and / or foreign?

That's not even the point though, she still gets £240 a week in benefits, that's £12,480 a year! I don't see how she can be struggling!

[nogginthenog]

Oakey said:

SPR2 said:

Oakey said:

is this show for real?

the wealthy family have donated some money to the poor family which the mother duly spent on furniture. a new bunk bed and dining table and chairs.

not any cheap st though, oh no, it all looks like solid fking oak!

I thought the rich family bought the table, sewing machine, laptop etc.as gifts and paid for decorating the childrens bedrooms as money given to them would have affected other monetries[correct word?]

I think the rich family might have bought the table, howewver, I'm sure the mother said she'd been out shopping and had a surprise for them (the beds). If so, convenient the beds match the rest of the furniture.

Also, these people are from Zimbabwe, aren't there any white, British people in poverty anymore or is it a requirement that the families in these shows are black and / or foreign?

That's not even the point though, she still gets £240 a week in benefits, that's £12,480 a year! I don't see how she can be struggling!

I got the impression - correct me if I'm wrong - that they are British citizens. Why should it matter where their country of origin is? The mother seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the kids out of trouble, which must be difficult given the area they live in.

She could do with cutting down on the pies though if she's going to stand any chance of getting a job. Is this a series? I'm guessing at a happy ending where she lands a job, moves out of the area etc.

[Oakey]

nogginthenog said:

Oakey said:

SPR2 said:

Oakey said:

is this show for real?

the wealthy family have donated some money to the poor family which the mother duly spent on furniture. a new bunk bed and dining table and chairs.

not any cheap st though, oh no, it all looks like solid fking oak!

I thought the rich family bought the table, sewing machine, laptop etc.as gifts and paid for decorating the childrens bedrooms as money given to them would have affected other monetries[correct word?]

I think the rich family might have bought the table, howewver, I'm sure the mother said she'd been out shopping and had a surprise for them (the beds). If so, convenient the beds match the rest of the furniture.

Also, these people are from Zimbabwe, aren't there any white, British people in poverty anymore or is it a requirement that the families in these shows are black and / or foreign?

That's not even the point though, she still gets £240 a week in benefits, that's £12,480 a year! I don't see how she can be struggling!

I got the impression - correct me if I'm wrong - that they are British citizens. Why should it matter where their country of origin is? The mother seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the kids out of trouble, which must be difficult given the area they live in.

She could do with cutting down on the pies though if she's going to stand any chance of getting a job. Is this a series? I'm guessing at a happy ending where she lands a job, moves out of the area etc.

Because the narrator kept banging on about how we, the public, donate X amount of money to poor people in other countries so for a change we should look to do the same at home? And actually, yes it does matter where their country of origin is, they've come here as immigrants and contributed what exactly? Nothing, and in exchange received £240 a week in benefits!

[Steve126]

Surely she has received more than £240 per week. I think the £240 is the amount of money given to her each week, but probably doesn't include the rent and council tax on the council house she lives in.

If she really did feel bad about her daughter not having a proper bed to sleep in, why on earth didn't she ease of the pies and put the money saved in an account until she had enough for a new bed?

[Oakey]

Steve126 said:

Surely she has received more than £240 per week. I think the £240 is the amount of money given to her each week, but probably doesn't include the rent and council tax on the council house she lives in.

If she really did feel bad about her daughter not having a proper bed to sleep in, why on earth didn't she ease of the pies and put the money saved in an account until she had enough for a new bed?

She spent £100 a week on food and when they showed her shopping she was doing it at a Pound shop!!!

[Mattt]

Oakey said:

Steve126 said:

Surely she has received more than £240 per week. I think the £240 is the amount of money given to her each week, but probably doesn't include the rent and council tax on the council house she lives in.

If she really did feel bad about her daughter not having a proper bed to sleep in, why on earth didn't she ease of the pies and put the money saved in an account until she had enough for a new bed?

She spent £100 a week on food and when they showed her shopping she was doing it at a Pound shop!!!

What was the other £140 on?

[Oakey]

Mattt said:

Oakey said:

Steve126 said:

Surely she has received more than £240 per week. I think the £240 is the amount of money given to her each week, but probably doesn't include the rent and council tax on the council house she lives in.

If she really did feel bad about her daughter not having a proper bed to sleep in, why on earth didn't she ease of the pies and put the money saved in an account until she had enough for a new bed?

She spent £100 a week on food and when they showed her shopping she was doing it at a Pound shop!!!

What was the other £140 on?

I forget now, I only remember food because, surprise surprise, it was at the top of the list. I think below that it may have been Gas - £40 and after that I forget. That can't be right though, £40 a week on gas?

[uuf361]

I thought the show was a tad patronising overall and I wonder how many of the comments from the kids were lines fed to them rather than genuine comments.

I still don't see where all the benefits money goes or how she incurred a load of debts in the first place........

Not sure if it a series or whether that was a one off......might be vaguely interesting to see the outcome.

The 'poor' kids did though, seem well behaved and could speak properly so she seemed to have done quite a good job of bringing them up inbetween eating all those cakes/pies

[qooqiiu]

Yes, this is indeed a series! Well done channel 4. Yet another piece of "reality" st. In the same vein as the secret millionaire/wife swap etc...

It was truly unpleasant viewing. Just how little self respect must you have to agree to appear as the "poor" family... And what kind of must you be to want to appear as the "rich" family.

Scummy TV

[Deva Link]

Oakey said:

they're living in 'poverty', the only income they get is the £240 a week in benefits!

ignore the benefits part a second, that's two hundred and forty quid a week! more than most people take home on minimum wage!

£240 for a family of 5 isn't much - I bet we (family of of 4) would be nudging that on supermarket bills (food, cleaning stuff etc) per week, and there's no alcohol etc in that. We probably eat a bit too much red meat though.