Harborough mum leaves her teen girls to fend for themselves for the first time on new reality TV show

A Market Harborough mum has left her teenage daughters to fend for themselves for the first time during the filming of a new reality TV show.

Mum-of-four Sam Hunt left her family for just under a week, challenging her daughters and husband to run the household without her.

The show, called Wife on Strike, first aired last night (Monday) on Channel 5. It centres on families where busy mums feel taken for granted either by their other half, their children, or both.

Former police officer Sam left her job in 2012 after trying to synchronise and juggle her shifts with her now retired police officer husband Gaz, to ensure they had both family time and childcare cover. But that proved too difficult.

And now the couple, who also have a son living in Nottingham, still lead a busy family life, running the household and their joint business EasyStorage.

Sam says her husband is not the problem, but the pair often found themselves cleaning up after their three daughters Gracie, 19, Oonagh, 17 and Caoimhe, 13.

The mum, who also volunteers for the Jubilee Foodbank, said she had never left the children before and was concerned for her husband who would tidy up after them just to avoid arguments.

She told the Mail: “Gaz does pull his weight but it can be a problem as the children take us for granted.

“When I was at the hotel, I was given updates and shown clips of the footage they’d filmed and I was mortified about how disrespectful they were to Gaz. They really weren’t happy I wasn’t there.”

Despite some initial angst over Sam’s absence, she said the girls cleaned up the bathroom they shared, during the course of filming.

“Usually if I refuse to clean their bathroom it causes a stalemate situation and it gets really awful. When I came home it was immaculate. It made them think and have discussions about what we do for them. Usually if I ask them to do something they argue, so then Gaz will do it. But now he understands how detrimental it can be to do it for them. It is important that they do things for themselves.”

On whether the show, which was filmed at the beginning of summer, had had a lasting impact, Sam said: “We have two out of three clean bedrooms now, so it’s a good result. It was a really positive experience for them and for all of us.

“The day I returned home it was mine and my daughter’s birthday, and they had put up birthday and welcome home banners and pinned up photos and written thank you notes on them. It was really heartfelt and a lot of thought had gone into it.”

Although Sam is not entirely certain whether the positive results will continue.

“We’ll see,” she laughed. “I usually tend to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

The show airs on Mondays at 9pm.