22-year-old Christian, nicknamed ‘Prince,’ slept rough on the streets of Melbourne and dumpster dived for food in the experimental doco, telling The Daily Telegraph ‘I was even eating carrots that hadn’t been washed.’
The eye-opening experience saw Christian give up his mobile phone, cash and luxurious lifestyle – an experience that left him so traumatised he made a tearful phone call from a payphone to his mother Michelle Burke.
However it was dad Richard who was most concerned.
'My dad was especially nervous,’ Christian admitted.
He was down in Melbourne one day and he was contemplating walking around the streets trying to find me,
With more than 100,000 people living homeless in Australia, the series aims to shine a light on the plight of those struggling with life on the streets.
Along with Christian, other fellow privileged personalities such as millionaire Tim Guest, the daughter of boxing champion Jeff Fenech, beauty entrepreneur Jellaine Dee, and pub baron Stu Laundy will also be taking part in the experiment.
Reflecting on his experience, the budding model said that the isolation of the people who experience homelessness every day is ‘overwhelming’ and it ‘made me acknowledge how lucky I am,’ before adding that he missed his lip balm the most…
Filthy Rich and Homeless premieres on SBS on 27 June at 8.30pm.
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