06 November 2023 , 14:56
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All out, sisters! Downing the tools of their unpaid trade, the downtrodden wives in some of the UK’s laziest families have taken drastic action in Channel 5’s Wife On Strike.
Despite it being 2023, it seems women’s biggest achievement is getting their blokes to empty the dishwasher. It’s estimated that one member of every UK household does two-thirds of the chores. In most cases, this means modern women do indeed have it all now – a full-time job and responsibility for all the cleaning, cooking, laundry and shopping. Having often felt like going on strike myself at times, I spoke exclusively to three families in the show whose lives were turned upside down when the wives staged a walk-out.
The Hunt family home is a 'pig sty'
Mum Sam has a day full of cleaning and choresThe Hunts
This family of five doesn’t so much have a domestic chore problem as a teenage girl problem. Parents Sam and Gary met when they were both police officers and Sam, 47, gave up her career to bring up the girls and manage the household. But now the girls are grown-up – at least outwardly – Sam looks after the new family storage business and the entire home, while Gary, 60, escapes to look after “operations”.
“This place would be a pig sty if I didn’t do everything,” Sam moans – the moan of millions of women who have gone before her. Genial gentleman Gaz admits, “I’m no good at multi-tasking, Sam’s much better at that. I’m a firm believer that men are good at doing one task at a time, and women are better at coordinating.”
Sam and Gary’s beautiful and whip-smart sarcastic siblings, Gracie, 18, Oonagh, 16, and 13-year-old Caoimhe, like to sharpen their claws on mum. “They have no respect for me,” Sam says sadly. But when Sam escapes briefly from her life of drudgery in Market Harborough, Leics, Gaz becomes the new target.
TOWIE's Chloe Brockett makes cheeky dig at Saffron Lempriere during filming
“I don’t want to be Mr Unpopular. I have always believed that every little girl should be treated like a princess,” he says, unexpectedly quoting Dirty Den from EastEnders. For the first time ever, Sam leaves her children and is torn apart by the guilt. But the guilt turns to rage when she sees how they treat their dad and the dirty dishes and washing start piling up around the house until, finally, even Gaz loses his rag. Saying that, at least the girls cleaned the kitchen surfaces – mainly by parking their bums on them – but even Gary admits they went too far with some jokes. “Their sense of humour can be a bit inappropriate.”
Gary Hunt escapes chores to look after 'operations'
The Sneddon family with wife Chrissy, her dad Arthur and husband JohnThe Sneddons
John and Chrissy’s gleaming white kitchen and bathroom surfaces in their spotless bungalow are so bright, you could see them from the Moon. But keeping a house that sparkling is a full-time job – on top of the one Chrissy already has working for the NHS. Not only that, Chrissy also looks after her 86-year-old father Arthur, who came to live with them in St Agnes, Cornwall, after her mum, who had Alzheimer’s, died two years ago during Covid. “I was adopted,” she explains. “And I’m so grateful to my parents for bringing me up, and I promised my mum before she was taken away in an ambulance that I would always look after Dad.”
This extra workload is one Chrissy, 55, gladly shoulders but she also worries if anything happens to her, would John be able to cope? Not from where he’s usually found – which is in the pub. “You could eat your dinner off my toilet seat,” Chrissy says proudly. But adds: “I’ve made a rod for my own back.”
Chrissy admits she had to housetrain her 54-year-old husband, who unsurprisingly was single for 30 years before they met. But at the heart of her over-enthusiastic use of the bleach bottle is a sad story of being badly treated in a past relationship and, although John is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, he’s a funny and kind man.
John claims he does 10% of housework
Chrissy works for the NHS and looks after her dad Arthur“Something’s got to change,” says Chrissy, who at first doesn’t realise that also means lowering her incredibly high standards of cleanliness to mere mortal level. John is left to wonder at the big questions in life like – how many matching pillowcases do they own? And how can anyone tell if a duvet cover is inside out?
“It’s just so much work,” sighs John, who even had to go to the chippy to pick up tea for him and Arthur without diverting to the pub for his usual pint. Arthur and John look so lost without Chrissy. It’s not deep cleaning that keeps a family together – but deep love for each other.
The Bensalem family
The battle of the sexes won’t be won in the boardroom, but in the bedroom – which is where husband Wassim likes to take a nap after an entire day at work. Meanwhile, his wife Laura got up at 4.30am to start her list of chores, and won’t go to bed till after 10.30pm. Self-confessed people-pleaser Laura, 37, cleans the house from top to bottom every day, and also serves different meals to her five kids – Lewa, 15, Ella, 14, Samir, 12, Summer, 12, and Rayan, 11 – and her mum and dad, Kathy, 67, and Brian, 62, who live with them.
“It wasn’t always like this,” says Laura, who tells how in the early days of their marriage, Wassim helped out more around the house. Wassim admits his traditional Tunisian background has coloured his view of a woman’s role in the home. He adds: “But I’d like to be stricter than Laura – the kids are spoiled and they have to learn to be more independent.” Even when cleaning obsessive Laura goes on strike and stays in a hotel, she can’t sit still.
The Bensalem family, made up of Dad Wassim and Mum Laura, plus their five kids (Press Enquiries: [email protected] NOTE: Channel 5 images are for the use of Press outlets only. Any blogs requesting access to these images are required to seek approval from Channel 5 directly. Contact [email protected] While we will continue to send out the weekly PI booklet every Friday, we have now launched the ViacomCBS Media Hub. This is an all-encompassing press centre where you can find the latest PI, press releases and other relevant information.)
Mum Laura gets up at 4.3am to start the chores (Press Enquiries: [email protected] NOTE: Channel 5 images are for the use of Press outlets only. Any blogs requesting access to these images are required to seek approval from Channel 5 directly. Contact [email protected] While we will continue to send out the weekly PI booklet every Friday, we have now launched the ViacomCBS Media Hub. This is an all-encompassing press centre where you can find the latest PI, press releases and other relevant information.)“I even asked the maid for a duster to polish my room,” she confesses. Undaunted by the list of 45 tasks Laura says he needs to complete every day at their home in Greenwich, South East London, Wassim did what all men do when faced with cooking. He went to the chippy. “I’d be a fool to do all of Laura’s jobs,” he decides, forcing the entire family to do them instead. But some unexpected triumphs emerge. “I’m more involved in family life,” says Wassim. “I know more about the kids’ lives.
- Wife on Strike starts tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.