'Party girls' try living with nuns in convent for reality TV show

A group of young girls seeking a "spiritual journey" has been sent to a convent in Norfolk, England as part of a reality television series.

Five young girls sporting thigh-high boots and mini-skirts were sent to live with nuns in the Daughters of Divine Charity Convent in Swaffham, Norfolk for a new reality show called "Bad Habits, Holy Orders."

Upon their arrival at the convent, the young women immediately put the patience of the nuns to a test. Rebecca Cheng, 19, a nightclub podium dancer from Newcastle, was singled out by one of the nuns because of her skirt that sits "ten inches above her knee."

"They are dressed very provocatively and I think it's wrong," said Sister Francis, the deputy head nun who has been at the convent for 47 years. "Promiscuity now seems to be the norm, rather than a relationship of love and trust," she added.

Sister Frances Ridler noted that the community was persuaded to take part in the show because nuns did not "always have a good press" in popular culture.

She described the show, which will air in the U.K. on Thursdays starting next week on Channel 5, as an "honest portrayal" of religious life, adding that it would be "good for the Church."

The other girls who participated in the show were Tyla Edwards, 22, a podium dancer from Leeds; Sarah Lawrence, 19, a club hostess from Surrey; Gabriella Ryan, 21, a lingerie model from London; and Paige Wallace, 23, a secretary from Bristol.

Their mobile phones were immediately confiscated at the start of their two-week stay, and they were told that there must be no noise after lights out at 10 p.m., according to Daily Mail.

The young women were also instructed to join the nuns for prayers in the chapel each morning at 7:15 a.m., and the rest of the days are devoted to more praying, cooking and cleaning the convent.

The girls admitted that the two weeks they spent with the nuns had been life-changing. The girl who used to work as a nightclub dancer had started volunteering with the homeless, while another enrolled in a healthcare course.

Ridler said that the girls "slowly opened up" because they realized that the nuns "were interested in each of them as people."

"I don't think in the world they were living in they could open up [and] have in-depth conversations," she said, recounting the time when the girls started crying when one of the nuns talked about the pain of a bereavement.

"It was a God-given, spiritual moment. I can honestly say we felt we made a difference to their lives," she added.

However, Ridler said that it was a shame that "some of the holy bits" were not included in the show, including their pilgrimage to Walsingham and the daily meditations prepared by the nuns.