"Disturbing Truth Revealed: Club Managers Admit 'Bargaining for Jobs' in Holiday Rep Life"

ON Aiya Napa’s bustling party strip, a brazen club owner boasts that he has yanked down more than 100 girls’ tops to ogle their breasts “as a joke”.

Little does he know he is not talking to another young , but an undercover reporter whose bombshell exposé has revealed a toxic underbelly of filthy living conditions, illegal ‘balloon girl’ gigs and – most chillingly – harrowing tales of sexual harassment and exploitation.

Squalor and dark exploitation lurks behind the fun in Ayia NapaCredit: Getty – Contributor Thousands of Brits flock to Cyprus every summer in search of holiday jobsCredit: Getty – Contributor

Posing as ‘Sian’, a 24-year-old hairdresser from Reading, investigative journalist Tir Dhondy travelled to the sun-kissed party hotspot to reveal the dark truth behind the glamorous-sounding ‘working holiday’ packages offered to young Brits.

There are growing concerns that , thanks to meagre pay and squalid working conditions.

Recently, the that young adults working as ‘PRs’ in hotspots like Ibiza and Majorca are being abused like modern slaves – with Border Force warning travellers at airports in the month-long ‘Operation Karetu’.

Within hours of arriving in Aiya Napa, Tir witnessed the shocking abuses of power by club owners and rep businesses first-hand.

Landing a cash-in-hand job on the heaving strip of bars and nightclubs, she was immediately confronted with a barrage of abuse from her new boss.

Leering at ‘Sian’, the club owner tells her: “If I want to see your t*ts, I’ll ask.”

Joining in, the bar manager adds: “I think what he’s trying to say is, ‘Can I see your t*ts?'”

The sleazy chat moves on to how female workers can be taken off unpaid trial shifts and start earning cash in return for sexual favours.

The manager asks the club owner: “If they give you a b***job, they move off trial, don’t they?”

Clearly shaken, Tir now tells The Sun: “That was the thing that I found most sinister because, of all the awful things happening, that is a complete abuse of power.

“There was also a guy that ran a water park, and he would sleep with girls for them to get jobs – there were rumours of that kind of thing all the time. A lot of exploitation.

“A lot of the girls that come to do a season are 16 or 17, still at school, they’re super, super young.

“I felt really uneasy and after my own experience of working on the strip, I’m really concerned.

“I can really see how as a young woman you could end up dealing with a serious amount of sexual assault, and who would help you?”

Cockroach-ridden digs

Tir, whose horrifying exposé airs in the new documentary Undercover Working Holidays: Stranded in Paradise, signed up with the organisation Workers Family.

Operating across Europe’s best-known party hot spots, it is one of many companies providing wrap-around packages – meaning for a fee they offer jobs, somewhere to live, wristbands to get into clubs, and discount deals in and bars.

Undercover reporter Tir Dhondy travelled to the sun-kissed Cyprus party hotspotCredit: CHANNEL4 The main strip in Ayia Napa is lined with bars and nightclubsCredit: AFP – Getty

But, as with many rep groups, the reality is nothing like the touted on , with recruits fresh from the UK regularly presented with filthy accommodation.

Although the rooms looked basic but functional online, when she arrived in Cyprus, Tir was shown to a grim ground floor room behind bins, with a smashed window, four tiny beds crammed together and cigarette holes burnt into the sheets.

Broken doors and a lack of security meant anyone could barge straight in.

Another British worker, Isobel, had been left in similarly unsafe conditions – and one night she found a drunk stranger looming over her bed.

If I want to see your t*ts, I’ll ask

Bar manager

“I woke up in the middle of the night and there was this random guy stood there looking down at me,” she said.

“Anything could have happened. Looking back it makes me feel sick.

“I should have complained but who do I complain to? I wanted to experience something different but did feel a bit tricked.”

Tir later met another worker called Carmen who was dumped in an apartment covered in mould and unable to shower because they had no running water “90 per cent of the time”.

She also found filthy mattresses on the floor instead of beds, no air conditioning, broken toilet seats and rooms riddled with bedbugs and cockroaches.

Brits in their teens are lured to Cyprus to work for less than minimum wageCredit: Jamie Lorriman – The Sun Tir disguised herself as Sian, a hairdresser from ReadingCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk Isobel woke up to find a drunk stranger standing over her bedCredit: Channel 4

“The reps said that that’s what we’d paid for,” said Carmen.

“They said we’re on holiday and should just be grateful and enjoy it and that we’ll be kicked out of Workers Family if we complain anymore.

“We were scared of the reps.

“They were very aggressive and would threaten anyone who had a genuine question or concern.

“It feels like a complete scam. My mum eventually paid for me to get a flight home.”

I woke up in the middle of the night and there was this random guy stood there looking down at me

Isobel

Later at a pool party, Tir was told by a rep that she could work as a ‘balloon girl’ – selling nitrous oxide – despite the drug being banned in Ayia Napa since 2022.

She had signed up to Workers Family’s ‘end of summer package’, which offers four weeks’ work and accommodation for £399, as opposed to the usual rate of £799 in peak season.

Tir told The Sun: “If we were there for the whole season we’d have found much worse.

“I was only there a really short space of time, but found people who felt they were stranded and couldn’t afford to leave.”

Workers are slapped with hidden charges as soon as they arrive in CyprusCredit: Alamy Ayia Napa, the most popular resort in Cyprus, is dubbed the Med’s hottest club spotCredit: AFP – Getty

Hidden costs

Before claiming a family emergency and flying home, Tir worked as a PR girl – encouraging punters into a club called Titanic – earning the equivalent of just £5 an hour.

She explained later: “I’d only be making 30 per day and working every single day, that doesn’t seem like a lot at all, does it?

“It’s the equivalent of £26, how am I meant to live and party on that? It’s quite intense.

“I calculated you’re making £800 a month and you’ve already paid £400 for Workers Family accommodation so essentially you’ve only got £400 to live on for the month which doesn’t feel doable.”

Isobel, a Brit who was hired to sell tickets to a bar, revealed she was struggling with the poor pay too: “They pretty much expected me to work seven days a week.

“They’d make us start at 11am and finish anytime from five to eight in the morning. The one thing I expected was that they’d pay on time.

“But they didn’t pay me, they still owe me money – they still owe me two, three hundred euros.”

Workers sold tickets to pool parties and boat tripsCredit: Reportage Archive – Getty Young Brits are lured by the promise of a fun packed summerCredit: Alamy Bar girls would work from 11am until dawnCredit: Alamy

Workers also find themselves slapped with a series of unexpected hidden charges.

Checking in on their first night, they were told to fork out another €150 – including a €50 damage deposit, €40 for bills, €10 for bedsheets and €50 resort fee.

Tir said: “Being hit with additional charges for things like pillows and sheets on top of the hundreds already spent seems unfair but there didn’t seem to be any choice but to pay it.”

Many say they never had their deposits refunded.

A leading rep lets slip that these extra charges make the company a staggering €90,000 each summer. “I take all the heat but not the money, if I took a cut I’d be rich,” he told her.

You have put yourself in the clutches of people who want to exploit you

Andrew Wallis, UNSEEN

Tir said: “I did feel like it was a complete rip off and actually quite dangerous.

“While nobody is expecting luxury, the condition of the room was much worse than I thought it would be.

“A lot of people who come here don’t realise the implications of what they’re doing, it’s a difficult position to be in especially when you’re young and vulnerable.”

While the company openly connects jobseekers with employers on the island, Tir’s manager Nick confessed that in fact they were both working illegally without permits, so she would have to be paid in cash.

Experts confirmed the firm was misleading workers by not explaining that post-Brexit rules mean it is illegal for Brits to work in EU countries like Cyprus without a visa or work permit – leaving many at risk of a criminal record.

Tir said: “This was not made clear to me when I signed up, even when I asked if there was anything I needed to be organising.

Many Brits do not realise they need a visa to work in CyprusCredit: Getty – Contributor Nightlife in Seferis Platea, the main square in Ayia NapaCredit: Alamy

“Neither I nor any of the people I spoke to during this investigation were told they needed a working visa.”

Carmen added: “By the time we realised we were working illegally we didn’t have the money to book a flight home.

“We’d already spent the money on the package and thought if we don’t do these illegal shifts we can’t eat.”

Modern slavery warning

Last year the warned that teenagers heading out to Europe for a season are as “modern slaves” thanks to low pay and poor working conditions.

Andrew Wallis, CEO of anti-slavery charity UNSEEN, warns: “What we are seeing and what we have been involved with with Border Force is young British nationals going over to Ayia Napa and Magaluf and getting dragged into exploitation and criminal activity.

“When they arrive, they discover the opportunity isn’t as advertised. What they don’t realise is the vulnerability they’re getting into.

“They could be arrested for illegal working. Then that means the potential for a criminal record.

“And that is then ruinous for the rest of that individual’s life.”

It feels like a complete scam. My mum eventually paid for me to get a flight home

Carmen

Tir agreed: “It felt like a bait and switch deal, which is when a seller pulls you in with an attractive offer then delivers a different product.

“Several former customers say their memories are ones they would rather forget.

“The British Government is so concerned about young Brits working abroad that they have started to issue warnings.”

Wallis added: “The accommodation is tied to the work but the accommodation is always substandard and more often than not the accommodation costs will wipe out what potentially they could earn.

“Very quickly they feel that they’re trapped.

“Then they have more of a hold on you, you have put yourself in the clutches of people who want to exploit you.”

Workers Family and Titanic nightclub were contacted for a response.

Undercover Working Holidays: Stranded in Paradise – UNTOLD will stream on Channel 4 and YouTube from Tuesday 13 January.