Five party girls learn about life beyond selfies at a convent
The young women understandably encounter a few slip-ups during their four-week spiritual journey, including a run-in with an entirely different type of spirit – vodka.
‘ When we make a mistake, we move forward. We progress,’ Sister Francis says. ‘And that’s really the lesson I would like you to learn.’
The nuns live by rules of poverty, chastity and obedience, surviving on a mere £25 a month – a far cry from what most of the girls, and indeed many of us, are used to. Tyla, shockingly, admits to spending around £40,000 last year on clothes, cosmetics, accessories and her hair, which seems excessive when compared with the nuns’ frugality.
As the series develops, Gabbi, Paige, Rebecca, Sarah and Tyla open up about how they’ve been left feeling somehow unfulfilled by the way they live their lives.
Rebecca talks about her relationship with her father, to whom she was extremely close before her partying ways drove a wedge between them. She writes home, in the hope that they can repair their bond.
In turn, Gabbi admits that both she and her older brother have been trolled online because of her modelling, something which deeply upsets her.
Throughout their journey, you start to see more emotional, caring, mature women emerge. They learn life lessons during their time with the nuns, and decide they want to give something back to the community by working with those in need.
The other girls reflect on their own lifestyles and spending habits, vowing to change. ‘It’s nice to give,’ Rebecca, a podium dancer, says. ‘I want to do things for other people.’
The mission helps Tyla to appreciate her mother’s work more – she’s a carer. Initially nervous around the elderly, Tyla admits that ‘there’s a 93-year-old with more conversation than me!’.
In today’s society that’s often obsessed with selfies, make-up and social media, the Norfolk nuns help to teach the five girls about self-respect, acceptance, and resisting temptations.
It shows that journeys of hope and enlightenment are possible. Although these particular young women are unlikely to spend any more time in church, they have learned that they don’t need make-up to be beautiful.
The series is moving, funny and surprisingly emotional, and highlights that, given a little help, we’re not that much unlike the nuns after all… Bad Habits, Holy Orders airs on Channel 5, Thursdays, at 10pm