Rich heir who thinks the homeless are lazy spends two nights on street
Trust fund kid who thinks homeless people are like ‘raccoons’ that eat from bins is shocked by the harsh reality of begging for food when he swaps his plush bed for two nights on the street
- Hanif, 21, from Norfolk, is heir to a massive fortune and trades his funds in stocks
- The rich kid swaps his luxury lifestyle for three days of sleeping rough on streets
- At first Hanif is convinced he can escape the lifestyle by getting himself a job
- But privileged lad struggles to find food and shelter and craves a decent sleep
A trust fund kid who thinks homeless people are ‘lazy’ discovers sleeping rough is harder than he thought after spending three days posing as a vagrant.
Hanif, 21, enjoys a life of riches in Norfolk, casually splashing the cash on expensive jewellery and designer clothes.
He reveals he recently purchased four watches, each costing an eye-watering £33,500, because he thinks they are a ‘good investment’.
Appearing on tonight’s episode of 5Star’s Rich Kids Go Homeless, the privileged heir, who is set to inherit his family’s fortune and tops up his personal trust fund by trading in stocks, reveals he believes homeless people are ‘uneducated’ and work-shy.
He says: ‘The homeless are lazy, due to the fact they have given up. Hardly anyone is going to be homeless if they’ve been brought up in the right environment.
Hanif, 21, from Norfolk, is heir to a massive fortune and tops up his personal trust fund by trading stocks. For three days, the trader will live rough on the streets
Hanif (right) meets George (left), an academic who’s chosen to live on the streets for the past 40 years. Pictured: George explaining to Hanif how he wants to buy a yellow trailer for his bike in order to transport more cans to trade for cash
Hanif spends the first two nights of the experiment sleeping rough on the streets of Camden (pictured). The young heir was convinced he could easily find his way off the streets
‘You’re not likely to stay on the streets if you’re well-educated.’
The wealthy heir goes on to compare homeless people to ‘raccoons’, referencing the fact they ‘eat out of bins’.
Hanif claims he’d have no trouble escaping the streets if he were in their position – but he’s proved wrong after just one day spent on the streets in Camden, north London – home to the third biggest community of homeless people in the UK.
After spending two days wandering the streets looking for food, Hanif meets George W. Singleton III, an academic who chooses not to live in a house.
George, who’s been on the streets for the last 40 years – three of which were spent in the UK – says he doesn’t see himself as homeless, but refers to his situation as ‘extreme weather camping’.
Hanif leads a life of luxury, spending his money on designer clothes and five star hotels. Pictured: Hanif enjoying a meal at the Savoy in London
Hanif, who is set to inherit his family’s fortune and has his own trust fund, likes to spend his time in pricey hotels and restaurants. He is pictured in the Michelin star restaurant Hakkasan in Mayfair, London
George, whose research focuses on independent living and alternative health, says he’d rather spend his days studying than working for someone else.
The academic teaches Hanif to scavenge on the streets in order to make enough money for food.
George makes his living by recycling aluminium cans, which he sells for 50p per kilo. He also scours the streets for nitrous oxide ‘pullers’ – the silver bullet-shaped cannisters that contain ‘laughing gas’ – and trades them in return for cash.
However, while George manages to find plenty of cans and pullers to recycle, his work is limited due to a lack of proper equipment. He has a bicycle, but not a proper trailer to transport his load.
In a touching moment, Hanif promises to buy George the yellow cart he needs to make his ‘business’ more profitable.
Hanif had never met a homeless person before participating in the social experiment and used to have negative views on the homeless, which were proven wrong thanks to his encounter with George
Hanif spent the day with George, who taught him to scavenge on the streets in order to make money. He also lends him a tent to sleep in for the night
At the beginning of the experiment, Hanif is positive he will make it off the streets in no time.
But his plan of finding work, first in a local coffee chain and then as a labourer, fall flat, and he is forced to focus his energy on finding food and shelter.
Hanif refuses to beg for money, as it would be ‘too easy’; but within an hour of being on the streets he resorts to begging for food. Thanks to the generosity of a local chicken shop, he scores some fries and tenders.
Hanif studying the lid of a champagne bottle in a photo shared with his 37,500 Instagram followers. The young heir is confronted with the reality of living rough for three days
After trying – and failing – to get some tips from two homeless men who are suspicious of his clean clothes, Hanif eventually has to sleep rough on the streets of Camden.
On the second day, Hanif is called out by a homeless man who accuses him of being a poser.
In a shocking exchange, the unfriendly man shares his suspicions about Hanif and threatens to stab him if he ever sees him again.
Shaken by the dangers of being on the streets, the heir vows to be more careful.
Hanif’s efforts to find a job near King’s Cross station fall through, and once again the young man braces himself to spend the night on the pavements.
After two days, Hanif admits being homeless is harder than he thought. He admits: ‘Physically I’m OK, but mentally I’m just under crack.’
George is an academic who chose to live homeless in order to focus on his academic research. He makes a living by scavenging the streets for tins and cans to trade for cash
George with the yellow trailer Hanif bought for him after meeting him during the 5Star experiment
‘I thought that a better upbringing would help your chances of getting off the streets quicker. Being put in that situation myself, the streets have almost broken me.’
He adds: ‘It’s not as easy as I thought; finding a job now is not realistic.’
At the end of the experience, the young heir reveals the experience has ‘completely changed’ his ’emotional structure as a person’.
‘Life on the streets is so difficult, I guess I didn’t really know just how much survival took up in your day to day life,’ he says.
‘I’ll definitely be making a lot of changes in my life.’
Hanif adds that he intends to look into ways to help rough sleepers, such as working in a soup kitchen.
We later discover that Hanif keeps his promise, providing George with the yellow trailer he so desperately needed.
Rich Kids Go Homeless airs on Tuesdays on 5Star at 9pm
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