5 has announced a new four-part series, Trading Places, produced by Orchard Studios. This provocative ‘fish-out-of-water’ format follows groups of three young people per episode as they are taken out of their existing lives and plunged into an immersive, week-long, 24/7 experience inside one of four extraordinary and revealing worlds – worlds with clear expectations of behaviour, exacting standards and a way of life radically different from their own. In a world where a generation are only a click away from anything they want, Trading Places asks: is there something deeper and more significant to life that they might be missing out on?

In the first episode, three image-obsessed, brand-loving shopaholics step back in time to a 1960s-inspired, off-grid hippy commune that rejects all forms of consumerism and puts the planet first. With no phones and no social media, can they find a way to coexist? And will a society that places community before possessions show these conspicuous consumers that it isn’t all about bling?

Then, in episode two, a group of 18-year-olds who have turned their backs on education find themselves immersed in the disciplined environment of one of Britain’s most elite and traditional private boarding schools, which prides itself on delivering results. Will a lifelong allergy to lessons be tempered in a regime that rewards ambition and self-respect, balanced with strong discipline?

Episode three finds a group of larger-than-life party animals take their Holy Orders as they swap £800 boozy nights out for the calm of an ancient religious brotherhood, dedicated to simplicity, service, and devotion to the Lord. The results, which include ten-pin bowling for 80-year-old Friars on a Friday night out, are anything but predictable.

And finally, in episode four, three pampered young Brits accustomed to lives of comfort are put to the test as cowboys and cowgirls on a Wild West ranch, where hard graft, grit, and selfless teamwork are essential for survival.

Guy Davies, Consultant Editor for Commissioning at 5, commented: “Trading Places plunges our contributors into these alien, opposite worlds and it’s great to see how transformative this experience can be. Like our other top-rating and warm-hearted formats such as Rich House Poor House, we hope the viewers love it too.”

Clare Mottershead, Head of Factual and Formats for Orchard Studios, added: “We all wonder what it would be like to have a totally different life, and the young people in this series couldn’t have leapt further out of their comfort zones. The results are both challenging and eye-opening for everyone involved, with plenty of tears, laughter and genuine surprises along the way.”

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Categories: Press Releases

Tags: Channel 5, reality