Viewers claim Channel 4’s Secret Spenders is ‘out of touch with reality’ for helping families who spend up to £17,000 a year on online shopping, cycling gear, and 15 takeaways per WEEK amid the cost-of-living crisis

• Secret Spenders claims to help cash-strapped families save on food and bills
• Last night’s episode followed a couple spending over £16,000 a year on luxuries 
• Another family could order up to 15 takeaways a week spending £300 a month
• Viewers felt the programme wasn’t beneficial for those truly suffering from crisis

Channel 4’s Secret Spenders has been accused of being ‘out of touch with reality’ after sending its experts to help families who spend thousands a month on non-essential items amid the cost-of-living crisis. 

The programme, which aired last night, claims to help cash-strapped British families cut back on their spending, but was slammed for choosing couples who were spending hundreds a month on unnecessary luxuries. 

One couple were said to be spending nearly £17,000  a year on non-essential items, including £400 per month on online shopping, £200 a month on cycling gear and as much as £700 on food a month – including pricey food subscription boxes. 

Meanwhile another family were ordering as many as 15 takeaways per week, spending up to £300 per month, while spending £80 per month on 15 bottles of fizzy drink a week. 

Channel 4’s Secret Spenders has been accused of being ‘out of touch with reality’ after showing families spending thousands a month on non-essential items amid the cost-of-living crisis. Pictured: Kent-based couple Damien and Molly, from Kent, who claim they can’t save for their wedding even though he earns £5,000 a month as a civil engineer

Norfolk-based couple Charlotte and Amanda were ordering as many as 15 takeaways per week while spending £80 per month on 15 bottles of fizzy drink a week

Viewers were quick to take to social media with their views, with one writing: ‘These programs are so annoying they don’t help anyone who actually needs it #secretspenders’. 

Another said: ‘Watching a tv show where a couple could save £16,000 by just halving non-essential spending’.

‘I don’t think the program makers have thought this through or grasped the reality of this cost of living crisis, shame on them’, wrote a third.’ 

‘Secret Spenders is one of the worst of these cost-saving programmes I’ve seen. Ghastly’, said another. 

Viewers were quick to take to social media with their views, with one writing: ‘These programs are so annoying they don’t help anyone who actually needs it #secretspenders’

The programme followed Kent-based couple Damien and Molly who have two children and rely on Damien’s salary, bringing home £5,000 each month as a civil engineer.

The couple were keen to save for their wedding, with a goal of £6,000, but admitted they both ‘have a tendency to spend money we don’t need to’. 

Molly revealed that her husband had spent around £3,000 doing work on his push bike the previous year, while spending around £200 per month buying equipment for his bicycle. 

The couple admitted to excessively buying clothes – with one of the show’s presenters discovering several pairs of unworn trousers with tags still on them. 

They were spending around £50 a week on four person food subscription boxes while splashing out a whopping £600-700 overall on food per month. 

Molly admitted to spending as much on £400 per month online while ‘revenge shopping’ because of her husband’s snoring late at night.  

‘When you’re awake at 2am feeding a baby and your partner is snoring next to you, in your brain you think what can I buy to annoy him’, she said. 

The couple admitted to excessively buying clothes – with one of the show’s presenters discovering several pairs of unworn trousers with tags still on them

They were spending around £50 a week on four person food subscription boxes while splashing out a whopping £600-700 overall on food  including various sweet treats per month

The couple were then given financial advice which included ditching one of their multiple streaming services, changing their television package to one costing £58 per month and cutting both online shopping and buying cycling gear to £100 per month. 

Meanwhile, Norfolk-based couple Amanda and Charlotte were on a reduced joint income of around £800 from £3,000 per month after Charlotte was forced to quit her cleaning job following an operation and wrist injury. 

The couple wanted to save £3,000 so they could move back to Brighton but were struggling to cut down on their spending. 

‘I’d really like to stop spending so much money’, said Amanda. ‘At the moment i’m just on benefits and that’s really tough. Because I desperately want to move back to Brighton its much nicer down there its much more accepting’. 

The couple had moved to Norfolk because Charlotte’s father had been unwell, but were struggling to reign in their spending habits to try and make the move once again. 

Amanda and Charlotte were ordering as many as 15 takeaways per week, spending up to £300 per month, while spending £80 per month on 15 bottles of fizzy drink a week

‘Charlotte is a takeaway fiend’, said Amanda. ‘It’s been difficult for her because I had a hysterectomy last year and then when I recovered a broke my wrist so Charlotte has had to do everything for the last four or five months so. 

‘When she finishes work at night she’s just knackered and says “We’ll just get a takeaway”. Sometimes we’re having three takeaways in a day and this might happen four or five times a week. 

‘When I broke my hand it was my dominant hand so I couldn’t do that either, Charlotte can cook she just doesn’t want to’. 

The couple, who had credit card debt of £6,000, were also spending £80 per month on ten litres of Pepsi Max a week. 

Their financial advice was to cut down on their fizzy drink spending by using a sodastream, saving them around £300 a year, and reducing their takeaway habit to save a huge £3,600 a year. 

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