Five wealthy Australians swap privilege for homelessness in Filthy Rich and Homeless on SBS

Five wealthy Australians swap privilege for homelessness in Filthy Rich and Homeless on SBS

Monday, 29 May 2017

Media Release

There's a crisis in Australia. More than 100,000 people have no place to call home*.

With the gap between the haves and the have-nots widening, and house and rent prices sky-rocketing - homelessness is a frightening possibility for more of us than ever before.

In Filthy Rich and Homeless - a bold social experiment airing over three nights on SBS, produced by the award-winning Blackfella Films (First Contact, DNA Nation, Deep Water: The Real Story) - five wealthy volunteers will get a glimpse of what life is like without a home.

The five have agreed to swap their privileged lifestyles for 10 days and nights living on the streets of Melbourne. Their preconceptions about homeless people will be shattered as they find out what it's like to go from having everything to having next-to-nothing.

Preparing to live amongst Australia's homeless are:

Self-made millionaire Tim Guest; daughter of boxing champion Jeff, Kayla Fenech; rags to riches beauty entrepreneur Jellaine Dee; third generation pub baron Stu Laundy; and model and Sydney socialite Christian Wilkins.

Leading the five participants on this social experiment is celebrated journalist and passionate advocate for the issue Indira Naidoo, and homelessness expert Dr Catherine Robinson.

With their phones, ID and money taken from them, the five participants will each be given second hand clothing, a sleeping bag - and nothing else.

For an eye-opening and life-changing 10 days and nights, the group will be separated and each will experience life alone on the streets, in boarding houses, crisis accommodation and squats.

They will meet people who have no home to turn to, gaining a greater understanding of the varied and complex reasons for how they came to be without a home and hearing their heartbreaking stories of survival against the odds.

SBS Director of TV and Online Content, Marshall Heald said: Filthy Rich and Homeless is confronting, heartbreaking, and at times incredibly heart-warming as it shines a light on a part of our society often overlooked and ignored. By helping to make the invisible visible, the series aims to spark a national conversation around much-needed change for Australia's significant homeless population.

Filthy Rich and Homeless airs over three nights - Tuesday 27, Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 June on SBS from 8.30pm. A special live studio program hosted by Indira Naidoo and Tom Ballard will air directly after episode three.

Filthy Rich and Homeless is produced by Blackfella Films for SBS in association with Screen Australia and with assistance from Film Victoria. It is based on a format created by Love Productions, broadcast by the BBC in the UK and distributed by BBC Worldwide.

Join the conversation: #FilthyRichHomeless

*Australian Bureau of Statistic: Census of population and housing: estimating homelessness, 2011

LINK:	http://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/news-media-releases/view/id/1801/h/Five-...
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