A billionaire has invited a TV crew inside his newly-renovated Mayfair mansion for the Channel 4 show Britain’s Most Expensive Home.
John Caudwell, who made his fortune as the founder of Phones4U, bought the property for £87million in 2012 and has spent a staggering £65million having it fixed up – with the goal of attracting “A-lister” celebrities to raise money at his annual charity ball.
The spanking new design of Mayfair House features gold leaf embellishments, crystal chandeliers, a lava-effect wall in the swimming pool and a floor with an inbuilt "river" of live tropical fish in the dining room.
However, the opulent water feature has proved problematic for some of Caudwell's clumsier guests – who have ended up drenched.
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“A couple of people have fallen in," he told Mirror Online during a tour around the property.
"Fortunately, most of my friends aren’t really drinkers – if they don’t drink so much they’re not going to fall in the pond.”
The TV show, which aired last night, has divided opinions on Twitter, with some calling the mega-mansion “ghastly” and “tasteless".
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One critic moaned: “John Caudwell's display of wealth (& poor taste) is obscene in the current economic climate. #britainsmostexpensivehome.”
Another person tweeted: “His lava wall costing the annual salary of a British worker.”
A third added: “It looks like John Caudwell earned a billion quid and spent it all in Woolworths.
"Never was the phrase ‘money can never buy taste’ so apt.”
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But other people said that the businessman deserved to spend every penny however he saw fit.
The businessman was raised in a humble terraced house in Stoke-on-Trent, attending a local comprehensive school and then setting-up a mobile phone wholesale business with his brother Brian in the 1980s.
“Well done to John Caudwell,” wrote one, “Made all his money. Can spend it how he wants. Why would anyone hate on him for spending his own money.”
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Caudwell responded to the backlash personally on Twitter, saying the property was an investment to help him raise money for charity by hosting posh parties.
He wrote: “You're right, it is a huge amount of money.
“But I'm also the UK's biggest tax payer and one of few billionaires that have pledged to give away 70% of my wealth.
“This house and its value will contribute even more to charity in the long run, so it's an investment.”
- Channel 4
- Money
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