It’s the show that sees two wives completely swap households and live by the other’s rules; as you can imagine, chaos often ensues. And now, Wife Swap Australia star Leanne Aravidis has dished about her time in the experiment.
WATCH: Wife Swap Australia sneak peek
If you’re unfamiliar with Wife Swap Australia, it is a social experiment which sees two vastly different wives from two vastly different families attempt to switch lives and put each other’s parenting styles to the test.
Each wife is tasked with writing a household manual full of rules on how to run their home. And, despite how tempting it may be to revert to their own methods, each wife MUST strictly follow each other’s rules no matter how uncomfortable or opposing they may find them.
After they’ve tested out the new rules, the wives take back control and implement their own manual of rules which their new family must obey.
At the end of the swap, the two wives are reunited with their own families before both groups are put in a room together to discuss their individual experiences.
Speaking about her episode of the show, which airs tonight, primary school teacher Leanne Aravidis exclusively tells New Idea that, while she learnt a lot from the experiment, it didn’t change much off-screen.
“It was an eye-opener to see how the other half lives and their points of view on how things could be better in our household. But it didn’t really change anything to be honest.”
Leanne, who lives in Perth, flew to Melbourne to spend six days living with her makeshift family, the Lange family. And while the trailer for the episode makes it seem like the 11 kids were running amok, Leanne assures us this was not always the case.
“The kids were just so cute and lovely and from day one I had one on my hip and one hugging my leg and it didn’t change the whole time I was there.
“I was really involved with the kids. Lots of cuddles all the time. And it is hard to leave beautiful children at the end of it.”
When it comes to Leanne’s own kids, the mum confesses that, despite what they may show on screen, they were happy to be reunited with their own way of doing things.
“Behind closed doors they said ‘mum we’re not doing any of that’. We lead a pretty balanced life already and my kids have lots of down time and we’re quite comfortable the way things go.
“But, you know, the kids had a great time and it was a good experience for them.”
At the end of it all, Leanne has no regrets when it comes to the experiment, confessing she would “100% do it tomorrow” and that it is an important reminder to consider all different ways of parenting.
“Everyone has their own style and some styles are better for your family but you’ve got to be open-minded and try new things and be open to realising that your way isn’t always the best way.”
Wife Swap Australia airs tonight on Channel 7 at 8.30pm.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
