The Rich House, Poor House mum had to turn down a job that would change her life
Steph was forced to made a difficult decision after appearing on Rich House, Poor House(Image: Channel 5)
A single mum living on £98 a week was forced to turn down a life-changing opportunity.
Steph recently appeared on Rich House, Poor House and was offered a job but she had no choice but to refuse the offer due to a family issue and unable to take on the long commute.
Alongside her mother Gail and her daughters – 12-year-old Amelia and seven-year-old Darcey, they swapped lives with wealthy Mr Whippy owner Joe Sealey on the Channel 5 series and their worlds couldn’t be more different.
At the time, Joe traded his six-bedroom estate – complete with cinema room, gym and indoor pool – for seven days in Steph’s three bedroom council house with a damaged ground floor and mould spreading through Amelia’s room.
Despite working six days a week from home in telesales, Steph struggles to cover essential costs. Once fundamental household expenses are paid, they’re left with just £98 per week for all other needs.
At the end of the swap, she was given a life-changing opportunity as Joe offered her a position on his sales team with a starting salary of £60,000 a year.
However Steph has revealed that she’s had to make the heartbreaking decision and turn down the job offer after the office moved to a different location.
Giving viewers an update, she took to her TikTok and explained that the relocation means she would have had to do a four hour round commute, which she says wouldn’t work due to being a single mum and her mum’s health deteriorating.
She said: “In relation to the job, I agree with all of you that it’s an amazing opportunity. Sadly due to the main office relocation it would mean a four hour round trip commuting for me, to be able to go there and take that job offer up.”
During the swap, Steph had no choice but to send her mum home after she became too unwell to continue with the programme and it seems her health is still a concern for Steph.
Steph explained: “As you all know I’m a single mum, I’ve got two beautiful girls. My amazing mum, whose health is not great, it’s not massively improved since the show, so it’s not viable for me to be able to travel a four hour round trip.
“I need to be closer to my girls and my mum but again it was an amazing opportunity that was put forward. Sadly the location did change in between and it’s just not viable for me to do that
“But I just again wanted to say a huge thank you to Joe, my production team, Channel 5 and most importantly every single one of you. It’s not easy to put yourself out there.”
Following a successful business meeting on the show, Steth was promised £20,000 from the initial sales proceeds but unfortunately the sale still hasn’t gone thorough.
Steph added: “Since filming last year, Joe has been tirelessly working with Kaspas trying to get the deal across the line, that obviously you would have seen me go and do the sales pitch for. At the moment, that hasn’t been completed but I know Joe is still working in the background trying to get that over the line for us.”
You can stream Rich House, Poor Holiday on Channel 5