LONDON - Seven British young adults were sent to the Philippines to experience cheap labor as part of a reality show about Western luxury. The participants, in their late teens and early twenties, lived and worked alongside Filipinos from an electronics factory in the outskirts of Manila.

The Brits - Alexandria, Oscar, Sam, James, George, Lucy and Shievonne - have been traveling around Africa and Asia for the documentary series ‘Blood, Sweat, and Luxuries’, in which the young volunteers live the life of local workers who help produce their favorite luxury goods. The show aims to explore the reality of Third World labor supporting the multimillion pound consumer industry in the West.

In the Philippine leg of their journey, the Brits worked for EMS, a highly efficient electronics company producing e-coil components for MP3 players based in Laguna. Workers in the factory are under constant pressure to meet maximum productivity and maintain high turnovers.

“We were discussing whether it will be a complete sweatshop, but it clearly isn’t. They got it together here. And this is the most focused workforce we’ve seen yet,” observed Oscar, a part-time model with a privileged background.

Their first impressions soon turn into horror as the Brits found it difficult to adjust to a rigid factory life, which they believed to be “highly stringent”, “boring”, “monotonous”, “controlled”, “anonymous”, “hideously pathetic” and a “waste of life”.

The Brits later realized the importance of the factory to the lives of people working there.

“These people that you’ve met don’t have a choice. If they don’t do this, what’s next? They go to the garbage dumps to claw for food, or become prostitutes? It’s crazy, but it’s life in a Third World country,” explained Perry, Factory Manager at EMS.

He added: “If we don’t do this job, somebody else will. Poverty is a reality for us. In the West, you have your luxuries and you can’t see beyond that. Here in the Third World, we breathe it.”

Through their fellow workers, the volunteers discovered the sacrifices that most Filipino laborers have to make to fend for themselves and their families in the provinces.

They also visited a large dumpsite in Tondo, a harsh alternative to factory life, where people sort through rubbish to find items to use, sell, or recycle.

“They are living and working in a giant bin bag. It’s not nice, but it’s life for them,” said Alexandria, a high-achieving student with a penchant for luxury items.

Shievonne, a part-time trainee surveyor, added: “They are just like all the other workers we’ve seen, in the sense that they are simply workers.”

The Brits have previously experienced mining precious gems in Madagascar, e-waste recycling and gold mining in Ghana, and leather and coffee production in Ethiopia.

“The experience has taken the fun out of getting anything luxurious,” said Oscar, who stopped using leather goods when he returned to the United Kingdom.

The rest of the group also wanted to make a difference: Lucy is using and promoting ethical jewelry, James is collecting clothes and toys for Africa, George is running a marathon to raise funds for impoverished miners, Shievonne is donating educational materials to charity, and Alexandria has organized a fundraising event for people in the slums of Manila.

“The things we saw were so vivid and real, and we can’t just turn our backs on that,” explained Sam, who also raised funds for charity.

Through the eyes of young British volunteers, the documentary highlighted significant issues on fair trade, labor conditions, poverty, capitalism and globalization.

‘Blood, Sweat, and Luxuries’ airs on BBC Three in the UK.