I’m a multi-millionaire & was on Rich House Poor House – I changed a broke man’s life & now pay him £50k a year
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE who swapped lives with a broke dad on Rich House Poor House has told how he’s since offered him a job – and now pays him a handsome £50,000-a-year salary.
Wealthy property developers Steven Green, 45 and partner Gemma Sharples, who live in a five-bed home in Redcar, North Yorkshire with daughter Sadie, 14 and granddaughter Ariana, five, appeared on Channel 5’s Rich House Poor House in 2019.
The multi-millionaire couple, who had £1,600 a week to live on after bills, swapped lives with Demi and Ben Gowland-Jeffries, who were living in a rented mid-terrace home in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.
In contrast, they had just £57-a-week left to cover food, clothes and emergencies.
Ben was working a zero-hour contract as a roofer and could earn as little as £30 a week, while Demi was at home looking after her daughter Lillie, meaning the family were living on just 50p per meal.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, former army sergeant Steven reveals how he’s since helped the couple turn their lives around.
“We’re really close with Ben and Demi now,” Steven says.
“We offered Ben a position with us job as a sales and marketing executive in our professional training business, so he’s part of our team.
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“He’s getting on really well.
“His wage when he come on board with us was £10k and he’s now making around about a £50k salary.
“He’s bought a new motorbike and is doing his driving lessons at the minute, Demi’s set up her own beauty business and they’ve actually moved into a bigger house and have now got another child.”
But despite his success, Steven says he didn’t come from a privileged background.
Rather, it was a “chance” opportunity in the army in 2001 that he credits for “transforming” his life.
“I came from a broken family and it was a bit tough,” the successful businessman explains. “We didn’t have a lot of money.
“I ended up going into the army because I couldn’t really see myself progressing anywhere and I started to get into a bit of bother.
His wage when he come on board with us was £10k and he’s now making around about a £50k salary
Steven Green
“I was pretty fit as a soldier and one of our bosses came in and said there was a coaching course available if anyone wanted to do it because the guy that was meant to go on it was injured.
“I ended up going on it by chance and that really changed my life because it was all about coaching and mindset, having a clear vision and knowing what you want in life.”
Giving him the focus and drive he needed, Steven eventually went on to set up successful property, mindset and coaching firms.
Discussing why he decided to go on the Channel 5 show given the chance, the multi-millionaire says: “It was mainly for my daughter.
“I’ve always tried to bring her up the right way and try to make her appreciate money.
“I didn’t want her to grow up with this ‘take’ mentality and we always felt like we’d done the right thing, but until you really put it to the test, you just don’t know.”
Steven describes the filming process as “intense” and was surprised at how emotional he found the whole experience.
“It was seven full days,” the successful property developer says.
“It was very intense. It was early morning sometimes until 11pm at night.
“They probably did over 100 hours of recording and you had about 30 minutes of that going on the show.”
But it wasn’t just his daughter that took away some life lessons.
“I didn’t think I’d get as much from it as I actually did,” the mindset coach admits.
“It wasn’t until I actually went into their house, lived in that close proximity with them and slept in their bed that I really get a sense of what these people were going through.”
Speaking of one particular revelation that shocked him, Steven recalls: “Demi’s mum initially told us and then one of Ben’s friends in the pub told us that Ben used to only eat one meal a day in order to be able to give Lillie what she needed.”
He continues: “It took me and Gemma back to our harder times when we particularly struggled.
“It was really weird. I really felt like I knew these people even though I’d never met them.”
I didn’t think I’d get as much from it as I actually did…it took me and Gemma back to our harder times when we particularly struggled
Steven Green
“I could just see two people who wanted to create something for their daughter and for themselves and just didn’t know how.”
So after the show, Steven and Gemma took it upon themselves to pay for Ben and Demi to go on a £30,00 training course, giving them the confidence they needed to move forward.
“We give them training and I was quite tough with them both,” he admits.
“But they threw themselves in and that’s why they’re doing so well now.
“They’ve completely transformed their lives.”
Along with helping Ben and his family, Steven and Gemma have since turned their attention to charity work – and they’re about to open their first charity, which focuses on mental health.
“I always try to give back anyway but [being on the show] made me focus on that even more,” the businessman explains.
“We’ve started putting our trained coaches into schools free of charge to positively impact children’s lives.
“I just looked at their family and looked at ours and how we started and thought if people could get that guidance at an early age, they’ve just got so much more of a better chance.”
He continues: “I just want to give back and make as big a difference as I possibly can.
“I want to be remembered as someone who helped to make a change and helped others to fulfil their potential.”
As for the future, Steven says it’s a “very exciting time” for the couple who are “going big.”
I want to be remembered as someone who helped to make a change
Steven Green
He says: “We’re looking to build our businesses up.
“We’ve got a clothing brand that’s about to come out and then real expansion of our businesses.”
And it’s clear Steven can achieve anything he puts his mind to after he recently broke the world record for the longest single-event triathlon, which was a staggering 226.428 miles.
In doing so, he swam seven miles, biked 181 miles and ran 46 miles – and couldn’t rest for more than five minutes at a time during the 30-hour challenge.
The new Guinness World record holder recalls: “It was 30 hours with no sleep – we went straight through.
“I got through the swim alright but the last 15-20 minutes on the bike I started to feel it.
“But the whole of the run, I was just in pain from the first mile to the 46th mile.”
He was helped along the way by Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins star Ollie Ollerton, Geordie Shore’s Kyle Christie and the former record holder Ian Lambert – the latter of whom helped him through the final stages.
“I was about five miles away from the end of it all and I’d torn my ligaments in my foot and my Achilles’ heel was all swollen,” he says.
“It was really touch and go whether I was going to be able to get through it and I actually collapsed and it was Ian who caught me and we saw it through.”
But determined Steven managed to finish and raised a whopping £27,000 for worthwhile causes in the process.