Sarah Beeny, 51, has responded to critics of her programme, which saw her and her family renovate their home in the Somerset countryside to a high standard.
Filming began in 2020 during the pandemic and some viewers claimed the show was “tasteless” and “absurd” for showing excessive wealth during a difficult time for some in the UK.
Sarah somewhat agreed with this sentiment and said: “I do know the show is… in the nicest possible way, a little bit nauseating.
“Building a great big house in the countryside and having a lovely time. I do recognise that. I’m not a total idiot,” she told The Guardian.
Sarah and her husband Graham Swift said in one episode that they hoped the elaborate build will still make them seem “posh enough”.
This prompted one viewer to say the renovation of her £500,000 home was a “middle-class monster”.
One confused viewer tweeted: “I’ve nothing against Sarah Beeny and her family, I’m sure they’re lovely, but do we really need another program showing wealthy people’s decadent lifestyle when there are so many struggling to make ends meet with rising fuel costs, job uncertainty etc?”
Another commented: “OMG! How spoilt is #SarahBeeny? And who the Hell needs a house that big? Multimillionaires are just greedy and selfish! You should give what you don’t need to charity.”
Another joined in saying: “I’m really struggling to relate here – can they finish this absurd middle-class monster on budget and can they get the cornice level Oh no!! I’m starting to hope the local peasant’s revolt and take it from them.”
However, despite some scepticism, the TV presenter said she also received a plethora of kind comments on social media.
Sarah recalled a nurse who tweeted her to say: “I’ve just done a 14-hour shift in a hospital. Thank you for making this show. It’s just lovely escapism and it makes me smile.”
Less than a year into the project, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sarah appeared alongside her sons Billy and Rafferty on Lorraine on ITV in April to share that she now had been given the all clear – telling host Christine Lampard how the months since her diagnosis had been a “rollercoaster ride”.
The star, who underwent chemotherapy and will have to take medication for the next 10 years, said she would remain “very vigilant”.
When asked how she feels to be given the all-clear, she said: “Weird. It’s good but it’s weird.
“They kind of go, ‘That’s it then, that’s the end of that.’
“And you kind of go, ‘How do you know?’ and they go, ‘We don’t, we just kind of think so.’
“It’s been a weird ride that I wouldn’t wish on anyone else, but I’m glad I did it rather than somebody else,” she said.
Sarah Beeny’s New Country Lives airs tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm.
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