Famous, Rich and Homeless sounds like the title of an ill-conceived BBC Three ‘yoof-friendly’ factual film, so it’s quite surprising to see that it’s actually a two part ‘life swap’ style show on BBC One. Well, I say swap, but I don’t think the homeless people get to sample the D-list lifestle, which might make for more interesting programming.
Five rent-a-celebs, including reality TV stalwarts like Hardeep Singh-Koli and Bruce Jones, spend ten days sleeping rough on the streets of London in a bid to boost their profiles raise awareness of the harsh realities of living rough. If this idea is giving you deja vu, it’s because this appears to be a celebrity sequel to 2007’s Filthy, Rich and Homeless, in which a bunch of rich people spent time living on the streets – in other words, it’s exactly the same thing but with faces you might recognise a bit more.
I’m all for raising awareness of homelessness, but I don’t think a tacky ‘celeb’ retread of a very recent programme is the way to go. I could be proved wrong, but I suspect the programme will reveal more about the egos of those involved than it will of the important issues, which is a big shame.
Hopefully, the new series of Ugly Betty, which returns tonight, will give me more to smile about. I’ll let you know tomorrow…
