Jacob Rees-Mogg‘s new ‘Kardashian-style’ reality show was snubbed by UK broadcasters before it ended up on US television as no-one wanted to help ‘further his media career’, sources have claimed.
Meet the Rees-Moggs is set to star the ousted MP, his wife Helena and their six young children: Mary, Peter, Thomas, Anselm, Alfred and Sixtus.
The Discovery+ documentary will also follow his failed General Election campaign after he spectacularly lost his North East Somerset seat last week while standing next to a man dressed as baked beans.
But one ITV insider said that it had been a simple move to reject the show.
They told the Mirror: ‘Jacob Rees-Mogg is a GB News presenter who has set his sights on furthering his media career now that he is no longer a serving member of parliament. Did we want to help with that? I don’t think so.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg pictured after losing his North East Somerset and Hanham seat on July 5. His new reality show was snubbed by UK broadcasters before it ended up on US television
Sir Jacob (centre) pictured with (left to right) son Thomas, daughter Mary, wife Helena and son Peter as he receives his Knighthood at Windsor Castle last September
Jacob-Rees Mogg and his family (pictured) could become the ‘British Kardashians’ as they are set to star in a five-part series following their life
‘The Rees-Mogg doc was turned down by all broadcasters before ending up on Discovery+.’
However, a source from within the production crew said that staff members had been wowed by the eccentric politician’s courtesy and kindness.
While some have likened the show to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, others compared it to the ‘spooky’ TV hit The Addams Family.
A source previously told The Sun: ‘They have been filming for a few months but no one expected the election to be announced.
‘It was gold for the show, however, and gave a real insight into what family life is like for working MPs.’
The programme, made by production company Optomen which also produced At Home With The Furys, will follow Jacob around Parliament and at his country pile of Gournay Court in West Harptree.
After Sir Jacob had asked her mother’s permission to woo her, the couple enjoyed a whirlwind relationship which saw them marry at Canterbury Cathedral within a year.
They now share six children together, Mary, Peter, Thomas, Anselm, Alfred and Sixtus, and all reside along with their live-in nanny at the Grade II-listed Gournay Court in Somerset.
Sir Jacob pictured at last week’s count with Barmy Brunch from The Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Fresh from being ousted as an MP, Sir Jacob is launching his own reality show
Jacob’s competition, the Kardashians, found fame through the popularity of Keeping Up With The Kardashians
The Rees-Mogg family: his wife Helena and children, Sixtus, Peter, Mary, Thomas, Anselm and Alfred
As you can imagine for a man rooted in tradition and chained to the ‘proper way of doing things’, ‘Honourable member for the 18th-century’ Jacob has raised his children in an anachronistic fashion.
Religion occupies a central place in the life of Jacob Rees-Mogg – overriding even politics.
Friends have revealed that he has had a private chapel built at his house in Somerset, where Catholic Mass is said occasionally and which he uses as a place of contemplation.
He also reads the catechism to his children over lunch every Sunday as a way of passing on to them the teachings of the church.
In rare pictures of his brood, Jacob’s children are all immaculately turned out dressed in shirts and ties and floral dresses.
Sir Jacob himself was precocious and at just nine he wrote his first will and testament.
When he was 12, he was selling stocks and shares and would amuse classmates by calling his stockbroker at lunch time.
Speaking to the Daily Express at the time, he explained: ‘I like playing with money. I love the stuff. I want more and more of it.’
As an adult, his interest and ability to make money grew and he is now worth an estimated £100million.
Together with his wife, he is also a director of the UK company Saliston. Its most recent accounts show net assets of £10.3million.
Since their marriage in 2007, he and Helena Rees-Mogg have also bought two properties in which they live.
The first is a house in his North East Somerset constituency which they purchased outright in 2010 for £2.9million; the second is a house in Westminster which they bought in 2018 for £5.6million.
A 12-year-old Jacob Rees-Mogg reads the Financial Times
Jacob achieved some financial security through his marriage to heiress Helena de Chair
Jacob’s mother-in-law, Lady Juliet Tadgell (left), is worth in the region of £95million thanks to her property interests in Britain and America and her extensive art collection
Wealth experts have speculated Rees-Mogg’s mother-in-law, Lady Juliet Tadgell, is worth in the region of £95million thanks to her property interests in Britain and America and her extensive art collection.
As Helena Rees-Mogg is Lady Juliet’s only surviving child (her half-brother died in 1998 aged 36), it seems fair to assume that she will one day inherit some of her mother’s estate.
The Rees-Moggs could, therefore, worth a combined total of at least £165 million. Ultimately, the family’s wealth could plausibly exceed £200 million.
Sources close to Rees-Mogg, however, have described the figures relating to his family’s wealth as ‘fanciful’.
This month, the politician lost his Somerset North East & Hanham seat to Labour’s Dan Norris by more than 5,000 votes.
Afterwards, he said he could not ‘blame anybody other than myself’ and that it had been ‘a very bad night for the Conservatives’.