I’m the millionaire football freestyler Liv Cooke & you might be surprised at the show I’m on this weekend
Football freestyle world champion turned property developer Liv Cooke from Lancashire is appearing on a Channel 5 show this week and it might surprise you!
Leyland born and raised Liv Cooke, 25, is best known as a six times world record holding footballer freestyler.
However over the last few years, Liv has venured into property development instead and now a whole new career move is on the cards as she is set to make her first reality show appearance!
The former pupil, who splits her time between England and LA- where her wife Gal is from - is appearing in an episode of Rich House Poor House on Sunday, a Channel 5 show which sees residents of a ‘rich house’ and residents of a ‘poor house’ switch homes and lifestyles.
We caught up with Liv to chat all about her new TV venture so find out what she had to say below, including why she signed up for it, what she thought of it and what her future TV plans are...
Can you tell us a bit about your involvement in the show?
“Little bit different from me this time. If it's not a quiz show for charity like The Weakest Link or Tipping Point, every time I've been on TV, it's been Match of the Day X or Football Focus, something along those lines. Obviously that comes back to most people knowing me as a football freestyler but in recent times, I've gone full time in property. So going into 2024 I told myself, this is where my heart is right now, It's time to put the football down for a bit and focus on scaling the business.
“That's what I've been doing and a producer from Rich House, Poor House reached out to me at the start of the year, and at first, I said, ‘No, I'm not doing it, no way’. I turned it down a few times. and then I sat back and I thought, why not? Like what a cool experience. I'm very grateful for the fact that I've been financially free since a very young age, like 15 or 16 years old, through my work in freestyle football, and I thought, I'm 25 now, I'm starting to look at wanting a family so why not go into this experience and to be honest, just be a bit humbled, just remember what it's like and remember that material things are great but that's not happiness. That was my motivation for going into it and it was a great experience.”
So are you one of the people swapping homes?
“Yeah, so my wife and I, we were the rich house and we went into what they call the poor house but I don't like calling them the poor house. Everyone referred to them as the poor family, and I felt really bad but you know what, one thing I noticed throughout the week is they're rich in everything. They're not poor, they're not lacking anything, they've got a beautiful life and a beautiful family, and they know that.”
What exactly did switching homes involve?
“So you go and live in their house, they go and live in yours. You don't know who this family is, you've never met them and you have no idea where you're going. They leave you things to do, so their schedule, their meal plans, their budget. We had, between the two of us, £70 pounds for the entire week for food and activities and anything that's after the rent so that was very difficult. And you've got to go and make it happen so you've got to go to the shops and do their jobs. That was really cool actually, I loved meeting all of their colleagues and friends and family. We had a blast.”
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What was the hardest thing about swapping homes?
“The hardest thing was sharing a bathroom. We're not used to that, we were arguing about who got the shower first and stuff like that.”
And the best thing?
“The best thing was their lifestyle. It was a breath of fresh air and it took me back to when I was younger, to be honest. Everything about their life, their job, their coaching and the football on the side - having time for those regular commitments - was amazing. That's something that I've neglected in my life: I've always put my business and my staff before my own hobbies. I've not even been able to commit to a Sunday League football team, for example, which I would love to do, because knowing where I'm going to be every single week and if I'm going to be free at the same time each week is hard. So it was a breath of fresh air to have hobbies as a priority, which I don't think we have had the privilege of doing in quite a long time.”
So what have you taken away from the experience?
“I've come away inspired, and I've definitely calmed down in terms of workload but the thing that I really took from the Wings family - the family we swapped with - is how much they prioritise fun. I do agree with that, and I do need to do that more. Although I love my work, we need to set aside time together -Gal and I - to just do family things, whether that's going on dates or anything like that. We need to do that a bit better.
“But most of all, I just enjoyed the experience, being in a completely different environment, and I'll be honest, I actually loved their life! I could have settled in for months! Most people would want to leave instantly and get back to their life but it took me back to where I've come from. Like I came from a family that didn't have a lot of money. My mum was a part time carer, my dad was a scaffolder, I've not grown up with a lot. Granted, it was probably a bit more than the Wings family, for example we weren't in a council home, but we were probably not far off. So I've never been used to having a lot and even now, when I'm worth a lot more in terms of net worth and income, my life hasn't changed. I reflected on this the other day, and I realised from when I was earning a few thousand a month to what I'm earning now, my day doesn't change. I wake up and I'm still grafting from like 5am. A lot of people strive for money with the ambition to retire, but I realised that's not me. There is no end for me, because I love what I do.”
Are you excited for others to see the episode?
“I don't know! I don't know how it's gonna go but I'm used to getting hate, so either way, it'll be fine. I think when you do something like this and you're coming from the side with money, with the culture in the UK, it's easy for people to look at you and assume the worst. I always say this to people that are coming up underneath me, that when they've got these materialistic goals, like, they want a supercar, I say that's fine’ -like, I love my cars, I will always get stupid cars for stupid prices because I love them- but when you're doing it, make sure you're doing it for you and not for other people, because if you're doing it to get validation from people, that does not work in the UK. People don't see you riding down the street in a pink Ferrari, and think, ‘wow, I adore her, I wonder what she's done to get that, I respect that’. In England, they look at it and they think ‘you're an a***hole. What have you done to get that? It's not right, you're not humble, blah, blah, blah.’
“I think that's why I was very concerned and at first said no to going on the show, because I know how the culture can be. I know the stigmas, and I fit it very well. I'm a young girl with flashy cars, and I know how I can come across. So I was a little bit worried about that, but I thought, you know what, what does it matter? I'll just go on, I'll be myself. If they like me, great. If they don't, it's not going to affect me.
“So I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm excited for people to see a side of me that they've seen before. Whenever I've done TV in a football capacity, it's almost like scripted, where as this is genuine. It is a roller coaster of emotions, I do cry on the show and stuff like that so I think people will see me for the first time.”
Why should people tune in on the weekend to watch your episode?
“Tune in to see me break down!”
Final question then - is this the start of what you hope to be more TV appearances?
“Going into this year, I retired from all of that. I wasn't doing Match of the Day X anymore, or anything like that, I turned down quite a lot of shows, like Dancing On Ice but I think it's not that I was trying to step away from TV, it's that I was trying to focus on building the property business, and it's grown exponentially better than I could have imagined going into the year. All the goals I've set for the year have been smashed so now my tunnel vision is opening up a bit more and if the right opportunity came then I would love to showcase what we're doing. I think there's a lot of great property TV shows out there, but I think a few could use a bit of a revamp. I think a younger audience could be targeted and I would be happy to fill that role.”