Prawns Show Me What You're Made Of

Meet Kassia, Mali, Oliver, Michael and Rhianna.

Hiya!

Five pampered kids with all the clothes,

gadgets and toys they could ever dream of.

A girl can never have too many clothes.

My mum is wrapped around my finger.

I'm Stacey Dooley and I'm bringing these five kids to experience

some of the extremes of life here in Brazil.

Can they work in the factories and farms of South America?

This is our burger, that's our burger right there.

And live in real workers' homes?

This here is your toilet.

Are you joking?

There is poo in there!

With strict bosses watching their every move?

You need to be faster. You are holding up the production line

Don't leave things messed up like this.

Or will it all get too much?

I just think it's horrible.

Today has been the worst.

Today we move from Teresina to Natal, on Brazil's northeast coast

to start work at a huge prawn farm.

Can they handle the job?

Oh, dear!

Stay out of trouble?

You cannot do that, and look on the floor.

And what will happen when Olly and Michael stage a rebellion?

The boys wanted to have a quick chat with you.

Nani is not the right boss for the prawn factory.

It's 08:00 am in Natal,

and just like the locals, our kids are on their way to work.

Look at that man with the bike.

Our five have no idea where they are going,

but they are about to find out.

We're en route, on a river ferry, to a prawn factory.

-I'm scared of all seafood.

-I love prawns.

I'm not sure about the smell.

Us Brits eat around 85,000 tonnes of prawns a year,

but most of us have no idea where they come from.

First up we are meeting prawn farm boss Nani.

-Do you guys like prawns?

-Yeah.

-Do you eat prawns?

-Do you know where they come from?

-The sea?

I thought they come from the sea, but obviously not.

The Camanor Prawn Farm is one of the biggest in the region.

They produce 2,000 tonnes of prawns every year

which are reared in industrial sized ponds

and then processed in a large factory.

The work is repetitive and relentless.

But every prawn is worth money and they must be treated with care.

So first the boss wants to see if the kids can handle a live prawn.

They are still wiggling around, be careful.

Do you want to touch them?

You have to be a little bit careful as they can hurt you.

Hold them like this.

Oh, you got two there.

Try and keep a hold of it.

I'm going to put it back.

So far so good. But how will Mali get on?

Straight in there.

Oh, dear! It's probably dead now.

-Well done, Mali.

-Mali! You just killed a prawn.

It's a shaky start for Mali

and she hasn't even got inside the factory yet.

I do kind of feel bad about killing one of the prawns.

Mali murdered a prawn.

Five years ago,

Brazil's prawn industry was almost wiped out by a devastating virus.

So now there is a strict set of hygiene rules

which every worker must follow.

Which means no jewellery, no make-up and no nail varnish...

It's absolutely rubbish that having to take it off.

I wear nail varnish everyday.

..followed by a freezing cold shower.

This is absolutely freezing.

The boys are ready.

I think we look stunning.

But there has been a hold up back with the girls.

Rhianna? Is your mascara off?

Rhianna you know it's not off.

Do you want me to help you?

Rhianna's make-up won't budge.

Take it off.

Cos I put waterproof mascara on.

She was trying to get one over on them.

You just made your job harder.

Rhianna's attitude hasn't impressed the boss.

She will need to work hard to get back in her good books.

It's time for their first shift in the factory

and the chance to earn a promotion.

OK, guys, this is your first task.

So, here they take the heads off.

The job is a simple but messy one - pulling the heads off raw prawns.

How many heads do they chop off every hour, your workers?

The average workers can take 2,250 heads off per hour per hour.

That's one prawn every two seconds!

There is one big rule.

You cannot talk while you are doing this at all

because you don't want to contaminate the prawns.

That's going to be well hard.

-Are you all willing to give it a go?

-ALL: Yes!

The shift begins and everyone is getting stuck in.

NANI: Be careful not to take this off.

I don't think I will give up, I'm determined to do it.

But it's not long before one of the team loses interest.

At first I thought it was a prawn factory,

I was like, "Yay, we'll be doing something fun,"

and then we are decapitating prawns.

I'm really, really bored.

And soon Rhianna is breaking all the factory rules.

Playing with the product...

..constantly nattering...

Is that your second?

I thought you guys weren't talking?

..and back-chatting to the boss.

Cos they do it, really, really...

You can't talk when you're doing this.

I'll just talk away from it like that.

She told me to be quiet...

..because she thinks I'm spitting all over her food.

Back home in Yorkshire, 14-year-old

Rhianna is a bit of a shopaholic.

Looking nice is very important to me.

I spend, roughly, on clothes about £80 a week.

A girl can never have too many clothes.

Hiya!

I don't add up what she costs me, too much.

And when it comes to helping round the house,

she doesn't lift a finger.

I think it's OK for my parents to do housework

cos that's what mums are for, ain't it?

She had me, so she can clean up after me.

There's a selective deafness that she uses often

to get out of doing anything around the house.

If my mum ever asked me to do the dishes,

I would be like, "No, you do it!"

But mum Michelle is hoping Brazil will be a bit of a wake up call.

It will be nice for her to see that not everybody has

the life that she has.

It's going to be really nice cos I'll get a nice tan

and I'll sunbathe.

Back at the factory, there is no sunbathing

and Rhianna isn't the only one struggling.

Some of them are doing a really bad job.

It's not what you want to eat.

And these are Oliver's and Michael's?

-Olly and Michael's?

-Yeah.

I think Michael and Olly in particular are not taking

the entire head off which means a lot of these are just damaged.

They're completely unusable and she can't send them off to Europe.

But the boys have no idea how badly they are doing.

You see all the brains and stuff come out, so it's like fun.

I love it!

I am the prawn king!

And Rhianna's behaviour is going from bad to worse.

And when other workers start to notice, the boss steps in.

I saw you throwing the prawns here.

No... Sorry.

-You cannot do that.

-Sorry.

And look on the floor.

-So no chatting, hey?

-But I'm bored.

Rhianna may be bored, but I didn't bring her here to have fun.

It's important that you take this seriously

because for these people next to you,

this is their job, this is there life.

They do this day in, day out.

It is there job and stuff, and I ain't dissing it or anything,

but it's just not my cup of tea.

If she really was to work here and behaved in that way,

how would you react?

No, she wouldn't be able to work here, not with this behaviour.

My legs are hurting.

Rhianna, if you keep going the way that you are going,

-behaving this way, we must take you off this task.

-Take me off?

Rhianna, I really think that is your last warning, so be careful.

The whole group keep their heads down until the end of the shift.

OK, guys, you can finish up now.

Has anyone done enough to earn a promotion?

Kassia?

I think you did the most prawns.

-You're promoted.

-Thank you.

And Mali?

-Mali was good. You're promoted.

-Thank you.

The boys are up next and are hoping for their first promotion.

Michael?

Michael wasn't very good. Sorry, but your demoted.

Olly?

In the beginning it was very bad and in the end it was bad.

I'm sorry, Oliver, you're demoted.

So you've gone from very bad to bad.

Rhianna?

We couldn't have your attitude here.

I shouldn't have thrown prawns.

I mean, you have to see them as your food,

something you are going to eat.

Sorry, Rhianna, you're demoted.

Only Kassia and Mali have been promoted.

And not everyone is happy about the result.

I was a bit annoyed when I found out I wasn't promoted

because I tried my hardest and thought I did really well,

but obviously not.

She just came out and said, "You're demoted.

"You were very bad to bad," I thought I went from very bad to OK.

It's the end of day one at the factory.

The kids are staying the night at a local village.

And the boys have headed back to check it out.

House number two.

Home sweet home.

This is our lounge, I think.

You think?

The accommodation is very basic.

But typical of a worker in the fish industry.

And we got a toilet, an actual toilet.

The boys are in good spirits,

but are still to explore the last few dark corners.

What was it?

A dog.

The boys are laughing now,

but today's demotion hasn't been forgotten.

I thought it was actually quite good when we started beheading the prawns

until Nani got involved.

I think tomorrow morning I am going to have a chat with Nani.

Yes, confront her.

And we are going to tell her how we feel and she will promote us.

OK, this is us.

Just up the road the girls are visiting Aldecir,

a supervisor at the prawn factory.

He earns £11 pounds a day

and his wages have to feed his family of five.

-Hello.

-ALL: Hey!

I know you have worked in the factory for a very long time.

TRANSLATION: 12 years.

Since you're working, who looks after the little child?

TRANSLATION: Rachel.

Eldest daughter Rachel is 17 and plays a big role in the household.

She cleans the house, looks after her sister, washes the clothes.

Rachel does almost everything around the house.

How does that compare to you three at home?

When I used to do the dishes, my mum used to have a list of things,

so a knife would be like 7p and a pan would be like 30p and at the end

I would add them all up to make sure she was giving me the right money.

-This is true?

-Yes.

Will you tell our girls, Rachel,

why it is so important to help your mother and to help your father?

TRANSLATION: I'm only giving back what they have given to me.

They've already raised us

and given us everything we need like clothes and shoes.

I'm just giving back everything they have done for me all their lives.

-Nice to meet you. Take care. Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

She was shocked that we didn't to anything because she does

so much for her family.

I was a little bit embarrassed,

but that's the way we've been brought up.

Brazil are next to host the World Cup,

so I've arranged for the boys to have a bit of a kick about.

Hello, I'm Oliver.

They are meeting local lads

Kowan and Raphael to show off their skills.

Brazil versus England, this should be interesting!

I'm amazing at football.

I can do this.

TRANSLATION: That was terrible.

Kowan and Raphael both come from families

who work in the prawn industry.

And the boys are keen to find out more about their skilful opponents.

When you are older, what job do you want to have?

I want to be a professional footballer.

But if I can't, I want to be a civil engineer.

I get pocket money every week, do you get pocket money?

-TRANSLATION:

-£1.50 every week.

I get £20 every week.

I get a about £160 a month, which is quite a lot.

What do you do to get £20 a week?

Good question, but I really don't really know.

For no apparent reason.

For us here, it seems like you have a great life

because here in Brazil we have to work to get money,

but you don't, you have everything you want, very easily.

If you got the same amount of money as I get in a month,

what would you spend it on?

My dream is to buy a good pair of football boots.

The dream is to get a pair of shoes, so very different.

Very, very different.

Morning breaks in Natal.

It's 07:00 am and the village has already come to life.

Last night's experience has got the girls talking.

Last night was so cute. Rachel and her family were so cute.

-She does so much for her family and we do nothing.

-I know.

But Olly has woken up feeling slightly less positive.

I think Nani is horrible.

She's moody, she's bossy,

she hasn't got very good leadership as a boss should have,

so I'm really disappointed in Nani, and this is our letter to Nani.

We wrote it this morning. We feel strongly about this

because she did not give us a chance.

The boys are clearly fired up,

and before anyone goes to work, I need to get to the bottom of it.

-How are we all?

-ALL: Good.

And, boys, you were a bit deflated yesterday,

how do you feel about going back to the factory today?

-Me and Michael are furious.

-Fuming.

Nani is not the right boss for the prawn factory.

We've written a letter to her.

Olly, we're all laughing, but are you serious about this?

Do you feel like you have been unfairly treated?

I think we have been very unfairly treated,

and when I get to that factory, I am going to storm in

and she would never see me like this.

Label lover Olly from Kent wants for absolutely nothing.

I've got here my Cartier watch.

My Ralph Lauren T-shirt.

I think Oliver has no perception of money in any way, shape or form.

I enjoy buying things when it's not my money.

Do I think Oliver is spoilt?

I'm the brand man!

Yes!

This 13-year-old has a talent for avoiding work.

When my mum wants me to do some jobs,

I really don't want to do them, so I hide.

Oliver, come and empty the dishwasher.

And he is a master of getting his own way.

He will just keep going on and on and on until I say yes.

I don't think a lot of kids admit they are spoilt, but I am, I think.

He will always somehow get what he wants.

Well, now Olly WANTS a promotion.

-Now are you sure you want to give this letter to Nani?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

But to get it, he has to challenge his boss about yesterday's decision.

-The boys wanted to have a quick chat with you.

-OK.

Yesterday when you demoted us, we thought it was a little bit unfair

because once you said we were doing bad, we really,

really tried and I don't think you took that into consideration.

We counted the prawns and we could see that the quality was really bad.

Then why did you say we were good when they were really bad?

It went from really bad to bad.

We wrote you a letter because we felt really passionate about it.

"Dear Nani, we are writing in the concern

"that you made a mistake demoting us last night.

"We both think that you should give us a chance in the prawn factory

"as a promotion.

"Many thanks, Michael and Oliver."

Can we have another chance and be promoted please?

Unfortunately not.

We can't have someone working in the farm not doing a good job.

Is it usual for the workers to question

-the boss's authority like this?

-No, not at all.

I didn't appreciate that and I have one task for you now.

You have to taste the prawn heads to see the quality of the prawns.

So that's what you are going to do now.

The plan has totally backfired.

Instead of a promotion, the boys have earned themselves a shift in

the tasting kitchen.

Breaking off prawn heads and sucking out the juices

to check the quality of different batches.

This is probably the worst thing I've been asked in my life.

It's horrible.

All right then, come on, let's follow Nani. Thank you.

-It's not funny, Oliver.

-Your wish come true.

We went in all guns blazing, and yeah...

..it didn't go according to plan.

So the boys outrage didn't last very long.

Nani was firm, but fair, and she did explain that the task

they have now been set, because they have been demoted, is even worse.

This job is the worst job in the factory,

but it's also one of the most important.

If a prawn tastes sweet, the batch is good.

If it's sour, the batch is bad.

And the boys must record the results.

-You happy with that? Confident?

-Yeah.

Prawn-lover Olly seems positive,

but Michael is looking a bit green around the gills.

Michael, what do you reckon?

I can't do this because I can't even look at them.

It's just really sickening.

Guys, you have a lot of batches to try, so you can start now.

Sweet or sour?

Sweet.

Sweet.

Sweet.

It's really horrible.

You can just see the vibration of the stuff going into your mouth.

It's horrible. This has put me off prawns

I'm going to be sick for him. It's horrible.

So the boys are still on the first batch of the taste test.

Olly is really going for it. He is pulling the craziest faces,

but he's looking like he is not giving up.

Michael however, still hasn't touched one

While the boys are busy tasting,

back at the village, I have got a surprise for the girls.

They all seemed impressed with 17-year-old Rachel.

So, girls, come and have look over here.

So now I am going to give them a chance to be a bit more like her.

These ladies sit here every single day throughout the entire day

and wash everybody else's clothes.

So I thought you could wash the boys' clothes.

The boys need their pants washing.

I do not want to wash Michael's pants at all.

First it's a quick lesson from washing expert Elena.

I'll do the top, you can do underpants.

Then it's down to business.

Don't get me wet.

You can't not get wet.

This is disgusting.

You're only doing a top!

I'm going to leave the girls to it.

I think this is a perfect chance for them

to prove they really meant what they said last night.

The girls are definitely getting stuck in.

But then it all starts to go a bit wrong.

This is 40, yeah?

Does that mean wash it in 40 degrees?

The girls are struggling with labels.

"Do not print iron on whilst damp."

And even nature is turning against them.

I was like, "That's a scorpion!"

That's a scorpion and I was just sat there.

-It's a praying mantis, I think.

-They're laughing at us.

Washing is so hard.

I couldn't cope with this everyday, having to do this.

Over at the factory, Michael is facing his fear.

And Olly continues to tough it out.

But finally even he loses his appetite for the job.

I won't be able to do any more batches after this.

Olly really did give it everything he had

and at the end he really just couldn't take it any more.

I think Nani really appreciates that he put a lot of effort in

and even Michael at the end got round to touching a prawn.

-I'm very happy that you tried.

-Olly, well done

-Thank you.

Back at the river, washing expert Elana isn't looking impressed.

-TRANSLATION:

-It's dirty.

I'm not very good at washing.

And even the youngest villagers seem to be doing a better job.

That little boy is washing his clothes and he's like, three.

I feel really...

..ashamed that I can't do it

and a little boy who is three can do it and we can't do it properly.

It's been an eye-opener for the girls.

Maybe when I get back I will think about these ladies

and maybe help my mum a bit more.

That is the first time ever that I have ever washed my own clothes.

Children over here do it to help out their parents

and I want my house to be like that now.

The group have been reunited back at the factory for one final challenge.

This is a special task we have for you.

So far they have beheaded, cleaned and sucked prawns.

Now they have to remove the vein.

And that's the polite term.

That's the poo. Go out with a bang.

That is the last job ever in the prawn factory.

It's heads down for our five.

There could be a wage riding on this.

It's the trickiest task yet.

I can't get it out.

I don't know where you get it out from.

I'm struggling with everything

apart from pulling the prawn's head off.

And boss Nani is watching their every move.

If they are smiling, you did well.

If they are frowning, you know you have to re-do it.

But for the first time everyone's sticking at it.

Ah-ha!

I am talented.

You've all been working like troopers. I've been watching you.

You haven't stopped.

And the whole team finishes the task on song.

# We love you, prawns

# We do

# Oh, prawns, we love you. #

-MICHAEL:

-I hate prawns.

It's time to find out how they have done.

Will anyone have earned a wage today?

Hello.

Nani, there is so much care and attention

that goes into this one prawn.

In the end, it is something that you are going to eat,

so you have to be careful.

I thought it was done by more machinery than actual hands,

people do it every day, and I didn't realise that at all.

I think we all just assumed that it would be easier than that.

Well, as you know, Nani

and all the other managers have been keeping a very close eye on you.

So, Nani, if these five move to Brazil, who would you employ?

Who would you give a job? Rhianna?

No.

I think with her attitude she wouldn't be able to work here.

You really struggled yesterday.

It was so repetitive and it was really boring for me.

I do regret messing about.

I should have got my act together sooner

What about Mali?

-Yes.

-You would?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Kassia?

Yes, she could work here.

-Move to Brazil, Kassia?

-Why not?

And, Nani, what do you think about our Olly?

I think the whole letter situation...was interesting.

I think he came back from that, he was trying so hard at that task

when he had to suck the heads off the prawns.

-Yeah, he was very brave.

-Would you employ Olly?

No.

Michael?

No. I just think you should try a bit harder.

So, we have got wages, Mali and Kassia. Well done, Kassia.

Done. Your time at the prawn factory is over.

I think maybe me and Olly

should have been a little nicer in our letter.

Next time on Show Me What You're Made Of -

they're in the Amazon, can they live in it?

Have people ever been swallowed by snakes here?

It happens.

At the huge gadget factory, can they work at it?

You cannot talk to each other.

You just need to follow the rules

-Or will they lose it?

-I am fuming.

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