A former factory worker who now makes £1.2million a year from his online delivery business, and through trading in foreign exchange markets, swaps his life of luxury for sleeping rough in this week’s episode of Rich Kids Go Homeless.
At the start of the week, James Watts, 24, from Southampton, says he had no sympathy for the homeless as he grew up in a council house and escaped his troubled upbringing by making millions unassisted.
James, who spent £100,000 on trips around the world by private jet in just one year, does not mince his words about the homeless, calling them ‘lazy’ for not improving their lives.
Coming from a troubled background himself after he dropped out of school in Year 9 and took up drinking aged 12, James believes that if he can turn things around and become a successful business owner, others have ‘no excuse’.
But, after spending three days on the streets of Ealing posing as a homeless man and meeting other rough sleepers, James realises just how hard it is to survive.
At the start of the week, James Watts, 24, from Southampton, says he say no sympathy for the homeless as he grew up in a council house and escaped his troubled upbringing by making millions unassisted Pictured: Before hopping on an chopper while in Cannes, France, in 2019.
After three days spent as a homeless man in Ealing, James said he could not express how degrading sleeping on the floor was
At the beginning of the show, James claims he can prove how easy it is to get off the streets, without begging.
‘I don’t really feel sorry for people on the streets because they are lazy and haven’t planned their lives,’ he claims.
‘I’ve come from a background where I never had money. I feel like if I can go from that to where I’m at now, they’re no reason they can’t too,’ he adds.
‘I think I’ll prove how easy it ease to get off the streets.’
Opening up about his family history, James admits his parents’ split had serious repercussions on his life.
Enjoying the French Sun in Paris in October 2018. James admitted he spent £100,000 on travel in 2018, visiting more than seven countries that year
‘I was living with my mum in a council house, I was an a****** child. I got in trouble with the police a lot. I’d go out, pick up the locks on the window and jump out,’ he says.
‘I used to drink back then when I was like 12, I think that’s why I don’t drink now,’ he adds.
‘I dropped out of school in year 9 when I was 13, I’ve got no GCSEs.’
In Dubai, in November 2018. James was determined to manage to get off the streets by looking for some jobs he could do, but was rejected everywhere he asked
James was convinced he could find a job and get off the streets in no time, but had to resort to begging instead
But James managed to turn the tide around and is now a successful business owner.
‘I never really had a father figure in my life, so all along my goal has been to have enough money and have enough freedom so that I don’t have to work, so that I can spend time with my kids, because I never had that,’ he explains.
‘I’m thinking a decade ahead.’
However, once on the streets, James struggles to adapt, realising opportunities for work are scarce.
Armed with a strong motivation, he starts by walking into shops, cafes and restaurants he hopes will pay him in exchange for cleaning, but is turned away repeatedly.
Only a day into the experience, James change his tune, after failing to find anything else to do but beg.
James said that he couldn’t understand why people failed to turn their lives around. He is pictured on holiday
On board a private jet before a holiday in July 2019. James said he would probably turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with life on the streets
‘It is a lot harder than I thought but I’m going to keep trying,’ he says.
‘I still think the homeless are lazy, or I don’t know how hard they tried before they gave up, if they tried at all,’ he adds.
‘If I can get off the street in the next three days, I don’t see why anyone else can’t.’
But his attempt at catching people’s attention by leaving handwritten notes on cars windshields and on building door also fails.
However, this does allow him to meet another homeless man named Cern, who is curious about his endeavour to find a job.
Cern shares his personal story with James, explaining he ended up on the street after the death of his mother, and this, combined with the loss of his job, and no confidence, left him without any financial or social capital.
The chat is an early eye-opener for James, who admits he had never thought of these kind of scenarios.
‘I feel like I wasn’t really seeing the full picture. I feel I was looking at homelessness and homeless people in the way that everything was their fault, but you can’t control who’s gonna die in your family, who’s gonna hurt you, how you’re gonna feel,’ he said.
‘I feel a little bit annoyed with myself that I didn’t of these sort of scenarios before. This has opened my mind a lot,’ he adds.
Dipping his toes in the water in Dubai, 2018. The entrepreneur was shocked by the realities of living as an homeless man
After all of his attempts to find a job fail, he has to start begging in order to find food, admitting he had only been thinking about the money, but had not factored in the cold or the hunger he felt.
‘You beg to feed yourself, and then you beg again,’ he says, defeated.
‘I’ve got nowhere to stay and I’ve got no money and I’ve got no phone, so it’s shocking, and I’m a little bit worried about where I’m going to sleep tonight.’
He admits he is shocked at how fast he had lost his motivation to find work and resorted to begging.
After meeting the homeless man named Cern, who took him on and shared his story with him, James admits he had preconceived ideas about rough sleepers, and has found they are not true.
Enjoying his private villa in Phuket. At the end of the programme, James said he understood homeless people better
‘I fell with the wrong crowd sometimes and I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,’ Cern admits meanwhile.
Cern has been living in the streets for three years and speaks candidly about his alcohol addiction, saying it helped him cope.
‘People fall into certain unfortunate things,’ he says, ‘but we’re not all bad.’
After spending more time with Cern, James says: ‘Even though I believe drinking is a massive contributor to homelessness, I now slightly understand why they do it, it’s an easy of feeling good for a short period of time.’
And at the end of the experience, the millionaire has changed his mind completely.
‘I can’t describe how degrading it is, how horrible it feels, just how unsafe it feels,’ he says.
‘I’d probably resort to drugs or drinking or something to keep me warm, I can see why I could do it now, cause it is just unbearable.
‘I think it can be classless living there, literally living like animals, just trying to survive.’
‘Realistically, I tried so many avenues to try and get some work, and I got rejected to every single one of them.
‘Why carry on after that when you can just go to the lowest of the low and beg?’
Rich Kids Go Homeless airs on Wednesday at 9pm on 5Star.
