Trading Places experiment 'transformative' say friars

Welcoming three influencers into a Catholic priory in the English countryside as part of a reality TV programme was "transformative", the friars involved have said.

As part of the Channel 5 series Trading Places, three young men swapped their hedonistic lifestyles for seven days with friars in a secluded priory in Oxfordshire.

Fashion influencer Luke, barber Max and personal trainer Alan - all in their early 20s - took part in the week-long social experiment at the Carmelite Priory, just outside of Oxford.

The priory is a religious brotherhood made up of nine members who are devoted to a life of simplicity and service to others.

"We decided in advance, let us open our hearts, open our house without pretence and let people share it," Father Liam Finnerty, from the priory, said.

"These young men came, they shared our life, they shared our days, they shared our ministry and we observed in them a change."

"They calmed down from a frenetic kind of lifestyle looking for dopamine into a silence and discovering themselves."

The priory is part of the Carmelite Order, which dates back to the 12th Century, with the 17-acre woodland site hosting a community since 1958.

It is home to Discalced Carmelite friars from diverse backgrounds, including Nigeria, India, and Ireland.

As part of their faith, the friars wear rope sandals and simple traditional robes while maintaining a strict and contemplative lifestyle.

"One of our Carmelite saints, St John of the Cross, said that when you are in your room you're making spiritual honey," Father JohnBosco Ezeakacha said.

"When you make honey, when a bee makes honey, it's not for itself - it's for the other people."

"So what we do here, we pray, we learn, we read, we study."

The friars spend at least 10 hours each day in total silence, which Ezeakacha said was the "first shock" for Max, Luke and Alan.

"Of course the first day some of them slept - we could hear some voices snoring in the chapel, but it was part of the experience that they had to deal with."

"At the end of the week, I think they learned a lot from it."

But it wasn't just the priory's young guests who got something out of the series - which takes its name and premise from the 1983 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.

"It was transformative for myself and for the community and I would also say for the young men," Father Alexander Ezechukwu, the priory's director, said.

"We offered them hospitality and friendship, which is at the heart of what we do as Carmelites. I believe that had a huge impact on them."

"To experience another, to encounter another would always change you and we were open enough and vulnerable enough because we let others into our lives."

"Our jokes, our laughs, every aspect of our life they shared and I I think it allowed us to cherish what we have."

When asked if the priory would do something similar in future, Ezechukwu said: "We'll do it any time."