Millionaire swaps life with a single mother-of-two who has £52 a week
Self-made millionaire who grew up in a council house and believes ‘poor people are to blame if they stay poor’ is shocked after swapping lives with a part-time carer who feeds her children on £52-a-week on Rich House, Poor House
- Mark Harvey lives in eight-bedroom mansion in Burton on Trenton, Derbyshire
- Grew up in council estate before becoming successful and earning millions
- Swapped lives with Billie Thompson, a single mother-of-two from Nottingham
- Billie is a part-time carer on benefits, left with £52 a week to feed her children
A millionaire who grew up on a council estate before founding his own property empire and believes anyone can turn their life around was given a tough wake up call on Rich House, Poor House last night.
Father-of-four Mark Harvey, 34, grew up in a council house before joining his father’s building farm and branching out into IT sales, eventually amassing a large enough fortune to buy up a multi-million pound property portfolio.
He lives in an eight-bedroom mansion in Burton on Trent, Derbyshire, with his wife Nicky, his daughters Courtney, 12, Sienna Rose, six, and Freya, four, and son Theo, one.
Mark admitted he had the ‘controversial’ opinion that: ‘If you are born into a poor background, that’s not your fault but if you stay there, it is your fault.’
Mark Harvey, a father-of-four, 34, lived in an eight-bedroom mansion in Burton on Trenton in Derbyshire with his wife Nicky, his daughters Courtney, 12, Sienna Rose, six, and Freya, four, and their son Theo, one
With £16,000 in debt, single mother-of-two Billie Thompson, right, who was studying joinery and hoped to turn it into a business, had to rely on her mother Deb, left, for financial help
However he was shocked by how difficult it can be to change your circumstances when he swapped lives with single mother-of-two and part-time carer Billie Thompson, who lives in a three-bedroom council house in Nottingham.
Mark, who has a disposable income of £1,750 a week, struggled when he learned part-time carer Billie has just £52 a week to feed her daughter Maxie Jay, five, and her son Blayne, 12.
By the end of the Channel 5 experiment he could see how difficult it was for someone to make a change in their life when, like Billie, they had to care for others and offered to help her make a lasting improvement to her situation.
At the start of the week Billie was £16,000 in debt and was studying joinery in the hope of one day starting an all-female company.
‘I’m good at my job, I’m really good at my job. I got above and beyond for anybody and I just try and do my best,’ Billie said.
Thanks to part-time work, she earned £100 a week, which she topped with benefits. But after paying her utilities, she was left with around £50 of disposable income.
‘I struggle a lot; really bad. And I also borrow a lot of money off my mum,’ she said.
She admitted that she finds it difficult to control her spending, which is how she collected her debt.
Billie went on the show with her mother Deb, her son Blayne, 12, and her daughter Maxie Jay, five (in front of Mark’s eight-bedroom mansion)
‘People will see me around. “Billie got a good life and Billie does well, she’s got an nice car,” but it’s all on finance,’ she said.
Meanwhile, even her mother Deb had to be brutally honest with Billie and said she told her ‘stop living like a millionaire when you’re not.’
But Billie had dreams of starting a career in joinery after going back to college a year prior.
‘I just want to be something and make my kids see that, you know, you can be whatever you want.
‘And with me doing the joinery course I’m doing something that a man does, and not a lot of women do it. I just felt really good about myself,’ she said.
However, Billie had to stop her job and her joinery course in order to take care of her grandfather for a year, after he was diagnosed with cancer.
‘I was on sick, not going to college and my whole like revolved arounds going to my mum’s house and helping out,’ she said. ‘I put all her needs before my own.’
But she added she still hopes to one day be her own boss.
Mark and his family, pictured, swapped their life of luxury for Billie’s life in her three-bedroom council house
‘I’ve got to get on my own two feet and make things work,’ she said.
Meanwhile, in Derbyshire, Mark enjoyed a life of luxury thanks to his hard work but admitted he came from humble beginnings.
‘I grew up on a council estate. Now I look back I would say there are definitely easier starts to have but at the time I didn’t know any different,’ he said.
After leaving school, Mark worked with his father as a builder, but after two years of hard graft, he began a career in sales, and his career rocketed.
‘I found myself in the IT industry in a software company that was actually failing at the time, we managed to turn it around, doing a half million pounds worth of sales in 18 months,’ he explained.
This helped him build a property portfolio which is now worth several million pounds.
The father-of-four credited discipline and mental strength for his success and followed a very strict routine every day.
Deb, who poured her savings into helping Billie, got to put her feet up during the swap, and enjoyed a visit to the spa
‘I wake up at 4am, I’ll meditate to find my space in my mind and my body, and then I will stretch out with some yoga.
‘I love yoga, I love stretching the muscles and then I’ll jump straight into the ice bath,’ he said. ‘This is beautiful for the physical body. But I find the biggest benefit is for the mind.’
Mark is also spiritual, believes in the power of healing crystals, and has an appointment with a shaman once a week.
He continued: ‘This could be controversial, but I’m a big believer like if you are born into a poor background, that’s not your fault but if you stay there, it is your fault.’
He was also determined to help whoever family he ended up swapping with to better their life.
‘We’re going to brainstorm with my family and see how we can create more resources so that, you know, we increase the standard of life,’ he said.
His fiancée Nicky, who came on the show with him, also believed he was the best placed person to help.
Mark immediately put together a plan so that his family could make more money while living on the bread line. Pictured, posing outside their mansion
‘It’s really amazing what he can do, how we can help people,’ she said.
Mark also said he wanted to go on the show for his children.
‘My children, they don’t know any different. They don’t know about not having money or not having choices,’ he said.
‘So I’m looking forward to doing it as a whole family experience and see how we cope under those pressures.’
However, the father-of-four had a rude awakening when he was told how much money Billie was left with to feed her family on for week.
As part of the swap, Mark would have to feed his family of six on the same budget of £52.31 Billie fed her family on.
‘That’s less than £10 per person,’ the shocked father told Nicky. ‘Theo, you’re going on a diet.’
But already, the millionaire was trying to think of a hustle to make more money to feed his family.
‘Let’s go to the shop to buy enough food, just for one meal, because were gonna have to think what we’re gonna do with the money,’ he told Nicky.
‘We’re gonna have to use this money to make money.’
Meanwhile, in Derbyshire, Billie and Deb were reduced to tears when they drove to Mark’s eight-bedroom mansion.
‘Just image living here,’ Deb said, through tears.
Blayne got to pet various animals, including this tortoise, when Billie hired a petting zoo for him and Maxie Hay
And learning they would benefit from a disposal income of £1,750 for the week was the cherry on top.
However, is was a bitter-sweet moment for Billie, which caused her to reflect on her own circumstances.
‘It was just very overwhelming,’ she said. ‘This is something I’d want to give my kids and I don’t think I’d’ ever be able to. And it upset me.’
As the second day began, the mother-of-two headed to Mark’s gym, to start the day with a personal trainer session, which pumped her up for the day.
‘It’s made me realise that I can do this, I will do this and I won’t give up,’ she said.
She even had a go at Mark’s ice bath, which she said ‘made her feel more fresh and it gets you going for the day’.
Meanwhile, in Nottingham, Mark started the day by delivering Billie’s neighbours vegetables, something she does regularly, and tidying up the flat.
‘I can see how easy it is to get into that trap of having no time,’ he said.
‘You want to create new things in your life: where is the space if all other spaces are filled from doing the same thing over and over.’
While looking over the house, he also came upon Billie’s debts and realised bailiffs were involved in her dire financial situation.
After a busy morning, him and Nicky headed to the local shop to buy food.
They negotiated with the clerk so that they could get the items past their sell-by date for free, promising to buy other items on top of it.
This way they manage to stretch their £10 into a healthy meal for the family while Mark thought of a way to make more money.
As the experience rolled on, Billie met with Mark’s childhood friend Benno, who told her more of the millionaire’s childhood.
‘He lived with his mum and dad and his sister. Didn’t have much growing up. He didn’t have much money,’ he said.
‘I remember a time when he’s come out and he actually had a pair of his sister’s trainers and they were pink and I remember he painted them black.’
He also gave more insight into Mark’s business ventures.
‘He used to work with his dad in the building trade. What I would say is, he wasn’t encouraged to go and do something different,’ Benno continued.
‘He was just dragged in the building trade and there were times when Mark wanted to push his dad into bigger projects but his dad never wanted it, he never wanted to take too much on.
‘So he’s gone and done what he’s done and he’s done very well.’
For Deb, there was hope Mark could teach Billie who to escape her own financial situation.
‘He’s wiling to help a lot of people to get where he is so yeah, Billie needs somebody like Mark,’ she said.
Back in Nottingham, Mark and Nicky met with Billie’s brother and his girlfriend, who revealed that the mother-of-two had wanted to start a carpentry business.
‘I think hearing from Jordan about how passionate and good Billie is with carpentry and the fact she’s now not finishing the course. The detriment there is like, you know, she’s just running out of time,’ Mark said.
The couple also heard from Robert, who met Billie when she worked as a carer for his father.
‘She’s basically got a heart of gold,’ he told them. ‘She’s naturally very kind, she notices things which is what you want when you’re caring.
‘When he was being difficult, she was amazing, I’m ever grateful for that. She would see jobs that would need to be done, enabled me in the end to have my father longer than he would have otherwise.
‘She needs to build her confidence a bit more and then she’s on her way.
The millionaire said the chat with Robert showed him that Billie was a ‘hard worker.’
He also met with Billie’s friend from the joinery class Terry, who told him of Billie’s dream of starting an all-female carpentry business.
Billie used some of the money at her disposal to buy £320 worth of tools and equipment she needed for her carpentry. She also treated her children to a petting zoo, something they could normally never afford.
Meanwhile, Mark and Nicky used wood they got for free and the tools at Billies’ joinery class to make items they planned to auction off to make more money.
At the end of the show, the two families got to meet and exchange their experiences.
‘I want people to look at me the way they look at you. And it’s just hard getting… I just wouldn’t know where to start,’ Billie told Mark.
The millionaire told her ‘not to worry about anyone cares about looking at you’.
‘I’ve always been a very insecure person when it comes to myself,’ Billie continued.
Mark said he wanted to help her ‘be comfortable and have a better life.’
In order to help her get there, Mark offered to help Billie figure out how to create her carpentry business.
He told her: ‘You really want to transform you life and are really ready to do this.
‘I’ll be willing to work with you, guide you, whatever it is that you need, point you in the right direction, give you a series of training programmes. So you can literally find out what you want to do.
‘So that you don’t have to rely on your mum or anyone, so you can stand on your own two feet.’
The businessman told the camera: ‘I can see that she wants to have change that’s super important because people got to out drive.
‘I’m super excited to help Billy get into the carpentry, this niche of female carpenters.
‘I don’t think having money makes you happy, but when you’re happy, if you want money, you can go and get it.’
Billie added: ‘It’s all positive things right now, I’m really thankful… If you want something you can get it, it’s just your mindset.’
Rich House, Poor House airs at 9pm on Sundays on Channel 5.
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