Wife Swap USA (C4): CAPRICE Policchio drinks coffee through a straw to a avoid staining her bleached teeth and is obsessed with doing housework. The Pitts let their 25 pets, from parrots to prairie dogs, have the run of the house and only clean the bathtub once a month.

How nice to see that Wife Swap may have crossed the Atlantic but nothing has changed. The aim is still to find two families who live and do things very differently and get the wives to swap places for a week or two.

Clean up campaigner and compulsive list-maker Caprice (the one with the white teeth) got to change places with anything goes, animal-loving Bambi (the one who likes pets, but she would with a name like that, wouldn't she?).

The result wasn't hard to predict - they would hate each other's style of parenting and home care. The good news was that in the second week, they could change the rules to impose their views on their new families.

"I think it's poo," said a visibly shaken Caprice, exploring the Pitts disorganised home. She called it the filthiest house she'd ever seen.

She searched in vain for a list, horrified at the way the children were allowed to make as much noise as they could and go to bed whenever they wanted.

Things weren't much better round at the Policchios. "Your house is like a hotel room," said Bambi, a woman for whom housework is a dirty word.

Fun as it was watching the collision as each woman encountered the other's lifestyle, it was even better when the wives changed the rules to do things their way.

Caprice's husband Don - a man who swept the road outside the house - didn't approve of Bambi buying a cat. "A significant complication in our lives," he called it a tad melodramatically.

The Pitts were alarmed to return home and find that all but three of their 25 pets had been removed, along with much of the clutter, so that Caprice could spend every waking hour cleaning and de-pooing the place.

Bambi introduced fun and noise into the Policchio house. Caprice introduced lists and order into the Pitts' house.

There was resistance from the Pitts' children at being made to eat at the table and go to bed at ten. On the other hand, Policchio sons Ian and Adam liked their new freedom and cat. "I'm not missing my mom at all right now," declared Ian.

For once the caption in large letters stating: IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIVES turned out to be true. The wives criticised each other at the post-swap confrontation ("I hate you," was one of the kinder comments) but made lasting changes at home.

The Pitts kept the dining room table for family meals although insisted on all the pets coming back.

The biggest change was in Caprice. She chilled out a bit, allowing open house for her son's friends and let husband Don play his guitar in the living room. She even stroked the cat.

Published: 20/05/2005