Cheddar man to appear on TV in 5Star programme Rich Kids Go Homeless

A young man from Cheddar who made his first million pounds aged 18, is to feature in a programme on 5Star tomorrow night (April 29).

Dan Legg, who attended Kings of Wessex Academy in Cheddar and then moved away to Southampton for business but has now returned, will feature in Rich Kids Go Homeless, which will be shown at 9pm tomorrow.

Dan has described the experience of living on the streets of London for four days for the programme as the toughest thing he has ever had to do, but says it has changed his perspective on life.

After his little sister Sofia took her own life after struggles with mental health, Dan rebuilt his life and has made his money through currency exchanging.

He told Cheddar Nub News: "Still, even to this date there is not enough money in the world to fix the loss of my sister, it has always been and will always be a massive struggle for me.

"I know she is looking down on me and that she will be really proud of everything I have achieved and that really motivates me."

Dan started his business career aged just 13, when he made £2,000 through selling in-game features on computer games, but he has now progressed to recently celebrating his 20th birthday on a private yacht and returning to Cheddar by buying a house for £650,000 just five minutes from where his parents live.

He was approached by Channel 5 to do the documentary late last year via a casting company who got in touch via his Instagram page.

Dan said: "I was told it was about homelessness and I thought it would be great to do as I could potentially influence my audience based on what I learned from my experience.

"Anyway, the film crew arrived on the first week of December to my house and we filmed a day in the life kind of thing, they wanted to do a house tour and film some of my cars.

"It was great but I felt a tad uncomfortable as I hate showing off because I feel I am a decent and grounded person.

"Arriving in London I was briefed and given a run down of what I was about to do and how it all worked, etc, I think it was at this point that I'd realised what I got myself into, normally I go to London for meetings or as a little getaway and party, but now It had sunk in that I was about to do four days on the streets of London with absolutely nothing.

"I won't dig into too much detail of the episode because I don't want to spoil it but it was one of the toughest things I had ever done."

Dan was dropped off by taxi into a random location, so he decided to try and find the iconic Shard as he figured it was easy to find as it was the tallest building in London.

While walking towards the Shard he approached various homeless people and sat down and had a chat with them to figure out how they had become homeless.

"I arrived at the Shard and set up base around there to try and get a night of sleep, I think I slept in the smoking area of a private hospital which was completely surreal for me," Dan said.

"I thought that with it being TV the show would be over dramatised a little and was expecting tea breaks and a little support.

"However they make it as real as it can get, the camera men and women don't even talk to you, so it genuinely feels you are on the street by yourself.

"They have a zoomed in camera lens so they don't even have to be near you, so people would genuinely think I was homeless.

"I had four days to try and get myself off the street, I had a few money-making methods, but you'll have to watch the episode to see."

However, one part of the filming became particularly emotional for Dan, when he spoke to a homeless man called Mark about family and mental health.

Dan said: "With the environment I was in and my overthinking I got emotional really quick and tried to hide from the cameras as I burst into tears.

"The camera men had headsets on so they could hear my microphone - they ran over to me as they heard me in tears and started filming, I asked them to stop once but realised after the first time asking they weren't going to.

"They were confused and didn't know why I was crying, I never really cry so I was kind of confused too.

"I explained to them and to the camera what had happened with my sister as they didn't know this before.

"It was really hard for me to speak about as I never like to bring it up as it brings back a lot of trauma from my past.

"However I am glad I brought it up and I feel like I might be able to help somebody at home watching the show to encourage them to keep trying, to make sure they know that it is not the end and they will make it through.

"It won't be easy and there will always be a missing part of life that can't be replaced by any amount of money, success or fame.

"Family is so much more valuable than any other substance in the world, and also one of the only things in life that are irreplaceable."

Dan says he is happy he took part in the show and he found it a reality check that a lot of homeless people he met were nicer and had more personality than people he would speak to normally every day.

He said: "If I learnt anything from the show it would be to encourage people to say hello or have a chat with someone who is homeless because it means so much more than just receiving a couple of quid when you feel so lonely and ignored, its so difficult to get through each day.

"I only did four days so I couldn't even imagine what months or years would get like."