Given to the new season of SBS documentary series Struggle Street, it's unsurprising that the stars of Gogglebox Australia found the show both confronting and eye-opening.
The first segment of the series premiere focused on the daily plight of dairy farmers Barry and Rosey, who live with their two kids in Deniliquin, NSW. As the parents revealed the extent of their ongoing struggle, Gogglebox participants reacted in shock.
"You don't realise how bad it is out there," Tim said. "We should be looking after our farmers."
"They've got no choice - and that's the sad thing," Leanne said in response to Barry explaining that they'd been left with no choice but to let go of all their employees, and are now forced to milk the cows twice daily with their young kids in tow.
"God, what a tragic life," Di said, as Mick shook his head.
"Probably not doing a whole lot of good paying a dollar a litre for milk," he reflected. Di's response? "No, I don't think you are."
She added, with a laugh: "You're the good Samaritan, Mick, who doesn't get off your ass and do something about it."
"She's an incredible woman, that woman," Di said about Rosey stepping in to help with the workload.
"She's milking cows with one hand and changing diapers with the other," Jad added, with Isabelle Silbery commenting that "us city people don't even know what hard work is."
Following Rosey and Barry's story on the challenges of dairy farming in Australia, the Goggleboxers were then introduced to the contagiously optimistic 72-year-old Bob, who lives in a park and rides around the country to complete seasonal work.
"Shows like this shed light on a part of Australia that we have never seen," Tim told Leanne.
"We have a 10-minute shower to wash our hair, this guy has a bucket," one daughter from the Dalton family reflected, with her sister adding: "The gap in Australia between those who are struggling and those who are living comfortably is just... growing."
"This guy's still positive, that's the most incredible thing," Symon observed.
The Gogglebox cast appeared in agreement that Australians like Bob, who have worked hard their whole life and paid their fair share of taxes, deserve to qualify for the pension.
"Are we not paying enough tax for people like that to be supported?" asked Matty.
You can watch Season 3 of Struggle Street on Wednesday at 8.30pm on SBS. The four-part documentary will also be available to stream at after broadcast.
