Perfil: The Great House Giveaway Rating: Our Changing Planet Rating: The Promised Sell-off Of Channel 4 Can't Come Too Soon

<p class="mol-para-with-font"><span class="mol-style-bold">The Great House Giveaway</span></p><p class="mol-ratings"><strong>Rating: <strong><img src="" width="450"></strong></strong></p><p class="mol-para-with-font"><span class="mol-style-bold">Our Changing Planet</span></p><p class="mol-ratings"><strong>Rating: <strong><img src="" width="450"></strong></strong></p><p class="mol-para-with-font">The promised sell-off of Channel 4 can't come too soon. Britain's second state-owned broadcaster is in desperate need of privatisation — and if you doubted it, <span class="mol-style-bold">The Great House Giveaway</span> (C4) supplies final proof.</p><p class="mol-para-with-font">This property makeover show is a straight rip-off of BBC1's long-running daytime schedule-filler, Homes Under The Hammer.</p><p class="mol-para-with-font">A house is bought at auction, DIY builders and decorators renovate then sell it, and at the end of the episode we count up their profit.</p><div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="style"> <div class="mol-img"> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption">Presenter Simon O'Brien buys a run-down house at auction on The Great House Giveaway</p></div><div><div data-track-module="am-related_carousel^related_carousel" data-track-selector=".rotator-panels a:not([class*=external])" data-dm-rotator-rotate="false" data-track-pos="static" data-preferred-shared-network-enabled="" data-dm-rotator-auto-init="" id="p-18" class="related-carousel with-fb-or-tw tvshowbiz half" data-dm-rotator-active-class="active" data-dm-rotator-page-count="1.0" data-dm-social-article-auto-init="" data-dm-rotator-page-size="1"> <div class="rotator bdrcc"> <div class="rotator-title"> <h2>RELATED ARTICLES</h2> <ul class="rotator-pages link-xocc"> <li class="rotator-prev"></li> <li></li> <li class="rotator-next"></li> </ul> </div> <ul class="rotator-panels link-bogr1 linkro-ccox"> <li> </li> </ul> </div> <p> </p><p> </p>
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</div> </div><p class="mol-para-with-font">The C4 version, which shifts to a teatime slot all this week, isn't merely unoriginal.<p> </p><p> </p>
It's so penny-pinching, it almost pays for itself.</p><p class="mol-para-with-font">Presenter Simon O'Brien buys a run-down house at auction — this one was a derelict three-bed terrace in Stafford, with wallpaper hanging off in strips and ivy growing through the broken windows.<p> </p><p> </p>
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He shelled out £118,000.</p><p class="mol-para-with-font">Simon handed the keys to paramedic Sarah, 52, living in a <a href="https://openclipart.org/search/?query=rented%20property" rel="dofollow">rented property</a> with partner Mark, and 24-year-old Paige, who was still at home with Mum. The women hadn't met before: they were left to get on with the repairs, boosted by a £12,000 loan from Simon.</p><p class="mol-para-with-font">We watched them knocking through walls, wrestling with flatpacks and boarding over the ceilings — though it looked as if Mark was doing most of the heavy work.When it came to the sale six months later, Paige and Sarah had to pay back every penny — as well as covering the cost of borrowing, taxes, <a href="https://sunbetth.bet/" rel="dofollow">sunbet</a> estate agent fees and legal bills.</p><div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS tvshowbiz" data-version="2" id="mol-fb5dba10-c9b5-11ec-a666-1fd898382f16" website STEVENS: Channel 4&apos;s peak-time flatpack flop