THE PARTY GIRLS

One clutches a bunch of thongs which wriggle like spaghetti, another holds up her favourite corset. Finally, some divine intervention – a white lace suspender belt is yanked out of a drawer. This, at least, has a touch of the virginal about it… Watching the girls pack for their convent stay there’s no hint of a habit, at least not a good one. “To be fair”, the girls shriek, they were never told they were going to a nunnery, only a spiritual retreat. “I thought it might be yoga,” says Rebecca Cheng, 20, from Newcastle. We get the picture. This lot are going to unleash almighty hell although it turns out the girls were more terrified than the nuns. “I was scared when I got there,” says Rebecca, then a nightclub podium dancer who admits clubbing most nights and downing five vodkas between twerks. Oh, and having multiple one-night stands, weekly. “I had never seen a nun before in real life, only in Sister Act and in horror films,” she explains. She admits her toughest crosses to bear in the convent were “no alcohol and no mobile phones” – which led to a lot of “FOMO”, Fear Of Missing Out. “I love attention,” Rebecca says. “I became anxious my mates were going out. On Day Two I wanted out.” For Sarah Lawrence, 19, from Hertfordshire, a former nightclub hostess, the nunnery restrictions were unbearable. Even the windows were locked. Desperate, she snuck vodka in. “I was looking for a reaction,” she says. The nuns confiscated it, but Sarah admits something astonishing. “Sister Linda was so nice, she was forgiving, it made me feel guilty. I felt childish.” This was a new feeling for Sarah – and with it came relief. “I have a reputation as a massive party girl, I feel I have to keep it up. We all play a part on social media – what was nice in the nunnery is we could be our true selves.” Now Sarah is working as a PA and enjoying a “productive” day rather than partying all night.

And Rebecca admits once she accepted silence, she found herself actually talking – properly opening up about worries. She has now ditched her podium work and has a long-term boyfriend. But it is perhaps Gabbi Ryan, 21, from South East London, who tells most emotionally of a divine transformation. She is a lingerie model with 20,000 Instagram followers. Ditching make-up and selfies was painful. In thigh-high boots, she seems all confidence. But, she says, holding Sister Anna’s hand: “Inside I’m very self- conscious.” She tells of the pressure to look good, and that without her social media world “I’m nothing”. Her “penance” was showing the nuns her modelling photos. “I was petrified they would judge me,” she says, quietly. But they told her she was beautiful – and didn’t need the make-up and glamour poses. Seeing the nuns without blusher, lipstick and cleavage made her realise she didn’t need to put on an act – she could leave work Gabbi at work. “I was told be sexy, sex sells, I thought male attention was a perk of the job,” she says. “In a weird way I became envious of the nuns. They don’t need male attention.” By the end of the series Gabbi takes a selfie without make-up. “It got 800 likes,” she smiles. ■■Bad Habits, Holy Orders, Channel 5, 10pm tonight.