May 12th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
It’s a fiery swap as housewife Tina Griffiths from Basingstoke and Labour party councillor Julie Young from Colchester trade places for 10 days. Julie Young and her teetotal husband Tim are both Labour party councillors, which means politics is top of the family agenda. As a socialist couple they spend more of their time helping others than spending time with their family. Young family life is constantly interrupted by their constituents who need their help, which means the needs of 10-year-old Kier, 14-year-old Matilda and 16-year-old Harriet often end up coming second. Read more & comment »
April 28th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
It’s an explosive Wife Swap this week as Alison from Eastbourne and Michelle from Northampton trade places – and parenting styles. Alison Henry has one priority in life: her five children. She cooks, cleans and runs around after them all day, every day. Alison believes her role is to make life as fun and comfortable as possible for her children, so the household is run according to the kids’ timetable. Alison doesn’t like rules or forcing her kids to do anything they don’t want to do, so they have no set bedtime, leading to post-midnight running around; and even when they eventually go to bed they rarely stay there. Read more & comment »
April 14th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
The award-winning Wife Swap continues with the Ahmed family, a strict Pakistani Muslim family who pray five times a day and choose to wear the hijab (headscarf). The backbone of their family philosophy is based on Islamic principles and their three teenage children are well-mannered, work hard and are very respectful of their parent’s wishes. Supermum Nuzhat works full time, studies, manages all the cooking and household chores, and keeps a keen eye on what her children are doing.
Deborah Escott works as an admin director for a theatre company and is the sole breadwinner in her liberal family. Husband Andy is a musician and house husband who looks after their three-year-old daughter Emily and 16-year-old Becky, Debs’s daughter from a previous relationship. Becky has recently come out as a lesbian. Will these two very different mums ever see eye to eye? How will husband Shakil react when Deborah arranges for his two teenage daughters to attend a live music gig and how does Nuzhat deal with a rebellious teenage daughter whose sexuality is a direct challenge to her religious beliefs?
Sunday 15th April Channel 4 8PM
April 6th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
Wife Swap , the BAFTA-award-winning hit show, returns with a new series. Wheelchair user Ruth, an active and health conscious mum from Shropshire, swaps places with Sue, an armchair loving mother of four from Kent. At 17, Ruth was involved in an accident that left her a paraplegic. Despite this she is an incredibly active mum of two who doesn’t let anything stop her from living life to the max. She is extremely passionate about healthy eating, limits sugar and salt in her house and has strict control over what her well-mannered children do and don’t eat.
Despite a demanding job working with adults with learning difficulties, Sue ‘runs’ her household from her favourite armchair in front of the TV while her four daughters bicker around her. At mealtimes the kitchen turns into a fast food café. The freezer is packed with pizzas and chips and there’s always an endless supply of crisps, chocolate and biscuits. How will Sue’s family react to their new ‘Mum’, when Ruth bins the junk and enforces a healthy eating regime? And when Sue introduces chocolates and sweets along with her new rules to the household, will Ruth’s children overdose on their sugar rush? Wife Swap: The Aftermath follows on E4, with Ruth and Sue meeting again after watching the show go out.
Channel 4, Sunday 8th April, 8PM
April 5th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
A couple who appear in this years series of Wife Swap have revealed that they like to Wife Swap in real life too.
The Sun reports:
Publican Steve Tyler and his stripper partner Tori Martin meet up with other couples for swingers’ nights where “anything goes”.
Bisexual blonde Tori — real name Justine — has also been filmed by common-law hubby Steve enjoying lesbian romps at wild sex parties.
Of course, their new partners, Andy and Paula Wroath, a straight laced couple of horse trainers, know nothing of their professions or history…you can imagine how that revelation went down!
You can catch up with the couples on Channel 4 on the April 22.
March 21st, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
Wife Swap , the BAFTA-award winning hit series, is back with a celebrity swap. Debbie McGee, wife of magician and entertainer-extraordinaire Paul Daniels, swaps places with outspoken radio presenter Vanessa Feltz.
Singer Ben Ofoedu and Vanessa are enjoying a whirlwind romance. Ben is ten years younger than Vanessa, and after four and a half months of dating he has just asked her to marry him. As Ben says to the reporters at one of the celebrity events they attend, “we’re celebrating love at the moment”. Mother of two Vanessa says she’s astonished by her new relationship. “Ben is the most extraordinary gentleman, and the fact that he noticed me is completely mind-boggling, it didn’t occur to me in a million years that he could fancy me.” Read more & comment »
January 20th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
In the second episode of Wife Swap , the award-winning hit series, female comic JoJo swaps with Dawn from Doncaster.
JoJo is the mother of three children by her ex-husband: Ruaridh (aged 13), Eilidh (aged eight) and Ciara (aged 11); and Fynn (aged two) by current partner Allan. She’s a straight-talking woman who boasts that she’s not a “motherly mum”. She prizes self-reliance and independence in her kids; in the mornings, for example, she stays in bed until 11:00am, while the three older children make their own breakfasts and packed lunches and get themselves off to school. She’s proud of her family, and her parenting style, which she refers to as “healthy neglect”.
JoJo boasts that she’s got too much of a life to spend it doing housework; in fact, the cleaning is done according to a rota where the children do more than their parents.
By contrast, Dawn believes that cleanliness is all-important: “seeing lovely bubbles swishing around in a washing machine is every woman’s dream.” Her two children, Lewis (aged 12) and Kirstie (aged 11) do nothing in the house, and neither does her current partner, Garry. He and Dawn have been together for six years, but Garry doesn’t lift a finger in the house, and only contributes financially in the rare event of him finding a few days’ work. But Dawn believes that “the role of a perfect woman is to keep a clean house, put a hot meal on the table and be a tart in the bedroom.”
How will JoJo cope with a cleaning routine which includes 15 hours of ironing a week, and a partner who spends every night out with his mates? What will Dawn think of JoJo’s messy home and her philosophy of “healthy neglect”? And how will Dawn’s new husband survive two weeks with the “most controlling” women he’s ever met?
January 14th, 2007 by Lisa McGarry.
In another episode from the award-winning hit series, laid-back Kelly and regimented Donna try to impose their own rules on households with markedly different attitudes. Kelly lives with her partner, Lee, and seven children. She doesn’t believe in routine or timetables; her children do what they like when they like. There are no bedtimes, and no homework. Lee doesn’t lift a finger round the house, even when he’s out of work.
Donna’s family runs a little differently. She lives with househusband Craig and two sons, and the household runs on routine. Donna will check her sons’ homework, make sure that they’ve done their chores, and guarantee that they eat properly. How will Kelly cope in a house where routine and structure are so important?
Can Donna get Lee to take responsibility and help out with the chores? And how will schoolteacher Donna cope in a house where seven children are allowed to run riot?
Wife Swap airs on E4 on 15th January 2007
October 15th, 2006 by Lisa McGarry.
Wife Swap Star Lizzie Bardsley has admitted to looking for love on an online dating service.
The mother of eight who faced court charges on charges of benefit fraud after appearing on the show said to The People:
“I went on the website in May – nothing ventured, nothing gained. But to be honest I’ve still not found my Prince Charming.”
Her profile on girlsdateforfree.com states
“I would like a Prince Charming and not a frog prince, or do they only exist in fairy tales… well let’s hope they don’t,”
She adds: “Yes I’ve got kids but that doesn’t mean I’m looking for a dad for them, they’ve already got one of those. I’m on here for me!”
January 2nd, 2006 by Lisa McGarry.
Another chance to see “obedient wife” Bonnie trade places with modern wife Derenda for two weeks. Bonnie lives with her husband Pete and son Zac in Peterborough, and has a particular reason for doing Wife Swap .
She wants to prove that her philosophy works – she’s a “mindful” wife. Pete is the absolute boss, and that’s how Bonnie likes it. “Everything I do is to please him,” she says, but that doesn’t just mean cleaning the house to his exacting standards, or cooking whatever he might want to eat; it’s about “treating him as a mix of the Prime Minister and the Divine.” Meanwhile, in Doncaster, Derenda has a very different view of men. As far as she’s concerned they are there for money and sex. After working shifts down a coal mine, her partner Alani comes home to do all the cooking and most of the cleaning for her and the four kids.
Can she learn to be a mindful wife and take pride in pleasing her new husband? And will Bonnie be able to show Alani the difference that having an obedient wife will make to his marriage?
