VR headsets
© CEO sleepout TwitterThe wealthy men and women were filmed wearing virtual reality goggles as part of the CEO Sleepout.

The head honchos of Australia's most profitable businesses gathered together to raise money for homeless people by partaking in the 'CEO Sleepout'.

But the wealthy bosses were slammed after it emerged the men and women were given virtual reality headsets to simulate homelessness instead of actually sleeping rough on the streets.

Footage of a row of CEOs wearing the expensive headsets as they experienced 'what it was like to be homeless' through futuristic software sparked fury from dozens of critics who slammed them as 'out of touch' with reality.

The caption of the video, posted to Twitter, read: 'Our Sydney CEOs using virtual reality to get a glimpse of the realities faced by the people who experience this everyday.'

But despite the noble intentions behind the cause, the charity was instantly condemned online by users who were unimpressed by the philanthropists wearing VR goggles instead of taking to the streets.

CEO sleepout tweet
ceo sleepout tweet
'When you want to be woke but don't actually want to mingle with the dirty poors,' one Twitter user joked.

'Lord forbid they go anywhere near a real homeless person,' another wrote.

Others encouraged the wealthy business leaders to live in the 'real' world where people are forced to sleep nightly on Sydney's cold streets.

ceo sleepout
ceo sleepout
'Um, maybe with what you paid for the VR headsets you could have fed, bathed and housed ACTUAL homeless people,' one woman said.

Another sarcastically wrote: 'Yes! Dealing with the virtual cold, the virtual violence, the virtual hunger, the virtual untreated illness, the virtual despair...'

The businessmen and women involved in the annual CEO Sleepout includes John O'Sullivan, CEO of Tourism Australia, Annabel Spring, Group Executive for Wealth Management at Commonwealth Bank, Tobi Pearce, partner of Kayla Istines and CEO of the Bikini Body Training Company and even Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

During the event CEOs from across Australia 'sleep rough' on cardboard and in sleeping bags on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Gold Coast, Launceston, Canberra, Newcastle and Wollongong.

Organised by St Vincent De Paul, it aims to raise millions of dollars to help solve the homelessness crisis.

So far in 2017 the initiative has raised well over $5 million from donations.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the organisers of the CEO Sleepout for comment.