Sex, Stags and Prague Stacey Dooley Investigates

Every year, millions of young Brits head abroad to party.

SHOUTING

So I'm travelling to some of our most notorious holiday

destinations to find out what really happens when the sun goes down.

It's quite deep, actually. That's quite a lot of blood.

Tonight I'm in Prague.

It's one of the most beautiful

cities in Europe, but that's not why thousands of stag parties come here.

CHANTING

They're here for the cheap beer and the beautiful women.

But how much do we really know about this top stag weekend destination?

-What happens in Prague stays in Prague.

-Oh, OK.

I want to discover what life is really like for the thousands

of girls paid to entertain the stags.

He wants to eat me.

He wants to eat you, I bet he does.

Alien? Who wants to have sex with a girl who's dressed up like an alien?

I join the authorities trying to keep the stags out of trouble.

They don't even look like marijuana to me.

Oh, my God, it smells a bit funky in here.

'Get the low-down from those who clean up after them.'

-Semen on the ceiling?

-Semen on the ceiling, yeah.

'Track down the criminals who prey on them.'

My, God, you've got my passport.

And find out what really goes on, on a man's last night of freedom.

She was saying that so many guys want to have sex with girls

who have got STIs, who have got, you know, who are HIV positive.

It's like a thrill. It's like a bungee jump for them.

There are girls watching this in England.

If their fiance says he's,

"Oh, I'm going to Prague with the boys", she'll say,

"No, you're not. You're not going anywhere. I know what happens."

A short hop on a plane from the UK has brought me to the

capital of the Czech Republic.

Since the fall of communism and the rise of budget airlines,

thousands of British men are lured every year to

Eastern Europe for their stag weekend.

Obviously, this is my first time here in Prague, erm,

and I know very little about the city as a whole,

but I do know loads of lads from back home that have been here.

I want to see why this beautiful city still remains

a mecca for no-holds-barred stag partying.

First impressions, this place is utterly beautiful, no?

Millions of people come here every year, the place is mobbed

with tourists, but I've not seen a fancy dress yet. No stag in sight.

But when night falls it's a different story,

as packs of stags take over the city for a different type of sightseeing.

Huge numbers of bars have sprung up to cash in,

offering them cheap beer and even cheaper thrills.

And no self-respecting stag party would be complete without

fancy dress costumes and a check list of forfeits for the stag.

Tonight's night is about shit shirts.

Who's got the shittest shirt?

You can start it off, yeah?

# I saw a mouse. Where?

# There on the stair

# Where on the stair. Right there. #

-Photographs with a man-gina.

-What's a man-gina?

ALL SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

-This is a man-gina.

-SHE SCREAMS

ALL LAUGH

Come here a second.

You've shaved it all off.

-You've shaved it!

-It's called Veet, pet.

Arriving with hundreds of pounds in their pockets,

groups stagger from bar to bar whilst swarms of persistent

touts try to part them from their cash.

Where are you off to now?

Away from this bloke here.

He wants to lead us towards a debauched lifestyle.

Is it your job to get these boys into the bar?

-Yes.

-He gets ten crown for every person he gets in the bar.

OK. And did he approach you or did you approach him?

-No, he pestered the

-BLEEP

-out of us.

-Yeah. Is there a few of them trying to get you into their bars?

-Oh, hundreds, yeah.

But it's not just bars trying to entice the guys to spend.

Thousands of British stags come to Prague all the time to

experience the strip clubs and the lap dancing bars,

so I can't come here and not see what it's all about for myself.

It looks like this is the real reason many lads have

travelled hundreds of miles away from home.

I can't cope with this.

A standard lap dance here will set you back 35 quid,

but unlike in Britain, you can pay more for extras.

These girls are totally, totally making out...

and the guys are absolutely mesmerised.

This is the quietest I've seen the club since I've been here.

I want to know why the strippers put up with working with

a load of boozed-up Brits every night.

So, I make my way back stage to speak to Theresa,

who's worked here for three years.

Tell me exactly what the rules are.

So you can dance on the guys, get your boobs out,

your fanny out, but they can't touch?

OK. And it's good money here?

Say like a shop assistant and a stripper.

OK, right. So if I can look at it like that,

-it's like three times, or maybe four times more.

-Really?

-Right, yeah.

-OK.

-Definitely.

And do you ever have sex with the boys?

-No, no, no, no, that's impossible.

-So sex is completely off the cards?

No, it's impossible.

I've got to say my impression of the girls that work at that

particular club, they were saying to me

that they've got the upper hand. You know, they're earning,

three, four, five times more than they would

perhaps do in a regular job.

The girl I was round the back with said she's made up

and she wants to do it for a couple more years.

Having had the taste of the typical stag

evening in Prague, I want to see what it's like for those who

have to look after the lads when they come back from the clubs.

So I've come to meet the staff at one of the busiest stag hotels.

During her time managing the hotel, Barbetta has seen it all.

They make incredible mess sometimes.

We were really surprised when we had some big guys and,

when they checked out, in each room there was

a massive pink dildo and it just makes you wonder what blokes...

-What you been doing up there with the dildos?

-Yeah.

-Lots of sperm.

-Sperm?

-Yeah.

Loads of semen in the beds, nice.

-Yeah, yeah. Not only in the beds as well. Yeah sometimes.

-Where else?

Err, on the ceiling. We've had it on the ceiling, yeah, yeah.

On the ceiling? What are they doing?

It makes you wonder. Oh, they're just really...

-Semen on the ceiling?

-Semen on the ceiling, yeah.

I'm joining receptionist Suzanna on her daily check of the dorm

rooms, she's also seen some sights.

There was a guy who, he came in the morning to me,

-he was covered like with blood.

-Blood?

Everywhere, like on his shoes, hands, like everywhere

and he told me that he lost everything or somebody stole

everything from him, keys, wallet everything.

So I open the door for him and when I opened it,

there was another guy completely naked just in front of me,

starting at me. I was staring at him and I was just like...

Excellent(!) Perfect pair(!)

-One's covered in blood and one's completely naked.

-Yes.

See, it's another...

Oh, my God, it smells a bit funky in here.

It smells like boys.

'Thankfully this room hasn't been trashed,

'but so many rooms are, Barbetta has had to put in place a special

'policy for dealing with stags.'

You've started taking deposits for stag parties, why do you do that?

Well, let me give you an example. About three weeks ago,

we had a group that stayed and they got so pissed

they kicked the door. And they didn't kick the door,

they completely wrecked the whole door frame,

-so we had to replace the whole door frame.

-The door frame came off?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-And they were British stags?

-They were British stags, yeah.

-Of course they were.

They're the worst. They're the worst.

-They're the worst?

-Yeah.

It's been a busy weekend for the hotel with problems as usual.

If you look in the corner over there, you see a guy in a pink

shirt, and that's the guy that caused a lot of trouble yesterday

in the bar. He tipped the beer on the floor in front of everyone.

Wankers!

Yeah.

-You're saying what everyone's thinking.

-Yeah.

How do the Czech people react to the British being sick,

having a wee on their streets?

If you're an intelligent human being then you know that they bring

money and tourism is important.

So I think, on one hand, people hate it because obviously you don't

like seeing people weeing and puking and being undressed on the streets.

But, on the other hand, they do spend money and the economy needs it.

It's not just the hotels that have to deal with trouble from stags.

I've come to the police CCTV control centre,

which monitors the whole of Prague.

Hello.

'Jan and his colleagues survey the city 24/7, and I've asked him

'to show me some of the footage he's seen as tourists behaving badly.'

This man decided he wanted to take home a souvenir

from Prague's historical clock.

-And this is one of the most famous clocks in Europe.

-Yes, yes.

And, sadly, this is far from an isolated incident.

OK.

What a plonker.

Oh, this is in the square.

How did he get up there? It's so high.

So he ignored the help.

God, that's awful.

The locals, people who live in Prague,

must think, "Why are these tourists behaving so stupidly?"

Every tourist destination has its problems, that's standard.

You know, us Brits, we save up all year for our holidays,

we work hard and we just want to have the best time possible

and the stags are no exception.

It's his last night of freedom.

They've sometimes only got a weekend to get completely carried away,

so they're just going for it.

They're not necessarily thinking about the impact that we can have

on the local people and their home.

Although stag parties can cause trouble,

they bring a massive boost to the economy.

On average, each stag can spend £500 during their time in Prague,

and in the last ten years a whole host of specialist agencies

have sprung up, hoping to grab a slice of the action.

This agency does exactly what it says on the T-shirt.

Sergei, Zuska and Veronica work for a company that arrange booze tours,

excursions and pick-ups from the airport.

Explain to me what your job entails. What do you have to do?

Well, basically, meet the group, explain to them

how it goes in here, tell them some stuff they should avoid of,

where they should be a bit dodgy, yeah, and have fun with them.

Of course, it's always depends on their programme

and what they've all booked.

And have you ever found stags the next morning with

the strippers from the night before?

If it happened then it happened.

-What happens in Prague stays in Prague, so...

-Oh, OK.

We're meeting Dean and his 20 mates, one of the dozens of stag

groups flying into Prague every weekend during the summer.

-Oh, my God, is this them?

-It might be them, it might be not.

-Oh, my God.

-That might be them, actually.

Are they real monks or are they dressed up?

-They saw the shirts, so...

-Oh, no, they're real.

Hello, I'm Dean.

Hi. Hello, Dean, nice to meet you.

Ready for your weekend? This is Veronica.

These are the girls that are going to be helping you.

'Before Dean's group have even left the airport, guide Sergei is

'warning them about potential dangers they could face over the weekend.'

We do have a lot of small crime,

like really a lot of pickpockets.

You can see them in the clubs, yeah.

Some of the clubs, you can see them.

I don't know, on the streets all the time,

so if you have your wallet in here, the back right pocket,

that's probably the worst place, ever, ever.

But danger is the last thing on the lads' minds.

Please don't let any cops see you, thank you!

-So, listen, you've all got girls sat at home.

-Yeah, yeah.

What do you think you're going to be doing this weekend?

Mainly hooking up with prostitutes.

ALL LAUGH

-You think you're going to be doing that, Toby?

-We like...

There are four guys in relationships and in one Toby statement

we're now all single.

And what are you most looking forward to?

Just having the lads all together, just having a good laugh, really.

-Erm, and hopefully...

-Be honest with me, Toby.

I want to see some women.

I want to see some hot women and I want them to get their tits out.

They're very, very beautiful, Toby.

You're going to be blown away when you get out the car.

I'm hoping I'll be blown a lot.

ALL LAUGH

I'm keen to find out just how much of this talk

is classic male bravado.

But, for now, I'm leaving Dean

and his mates for what they say will be a few quiet pints.

The next day, I'm wondering just how wild things have gotten.

Hi.

-ALL:

-Hello.

Dean, you've never looked so beautiful.

I have my doubts.

Does it fit you?

No! Look at the back!

Tell me about last night, what happened?

Nothing. We, we, we took in some sights.

I read a very good book.

-Amazing book, 50 Shades Of Grey.

-50 Shades Of Prostitutes.

Toby, did you get lucky last night?

No, no, no and apparently there's a language barrier.

She wanted to snog,

I wanted to have sex with her,

so we met in the middle and decided to go our separate ways.

How is that meeting in the middle?

CHANTING

The lads have invited me along for the local stag speciality,

a slap-up steak dinner with a saucy side order.

They've got their steak,

so now the lads are baying for the other item on the menu.

Tits! Tits! We want some tits, tits, tits! We want some tits.

I've read that almost three quarters of men at stag parties admit

to lying to their partners about what they did

when they are away and I'm beginning to see why.

After all of their bravado, it seems that the point of this strip

show is simply to embarrass and humiliate

stag Dean as much as possible in front of friends and family.

Dean may be dying of embarrassment

but I want to find out how stripper Andrea feels about it all.

How many stag parties do you do every weekend?

What's the worst thing about your job?

And, ordinarily, people behave quite well or sometimes do

you have people trying to grope you or be aggressive?

The whole atmosphere was really harmless, like I didn't feel intimated.

I didn't feel like they stepped too, you know, across the line.

I don't feel like they got too carried away.

It was a bit boyish, bit boisterous, bit sort of caveman,

loads of sort of chanting and all that jazz. But, to be honest, I spoke

to the girls for a while and they said to me that they love their job.

They said they don't feel exploited.

The wouldn't do it if they didn't want to do it and,

actually, one of them was particularly feisty

and there's no mucking about with her.

So, erm, they all seem reasonably happy with the set up.

It may all be innocent fun for Dean and his mates,

but I'm keen to see where some men go when they want more than a strip.

This morning, I've arranged to go

and meet a guy who manages a gentleman's club and I'm pretty

sure that sex does go on here,

but prostitution in Prague is a tricky one. It's quite a grey area.

Bits of it are legal and bits of it are totally illegal,

so I need to have a chat with him and find out what's what.

Prostitution may be legal in the Czech Republic, but running

a brothel is not, so establishments avoid getting into trouble

by thinly disguising themselves as strip joints and massage parlours.

But they run the danger of being shut down by the police

and the managers imprisoned.

-Hello.

-Hello, Stacey.

-Fabio?

-Yeah, that's me.

How's things? Really, really nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too and welcome to K5. Relax.

Thank you. I'm feeling very relaxed.

And tell me very simply what it is that,

that happens here in this place?

Er, people come here just to have fun, er, in the club, to relax

and many, many rooms where the customer can enjoy with the girls.

-Have sex?

-No, no.

Fabio?

-We cannot say it like this.

-What's the matter with you?

So there's rooms here that the girls can take the gentleman into to

-enjoy themselves?

-Yeah, to enjoy. Let's say enjoy, please,

because it doesn't work when they know something else.

What happens there, we never know.

-We never know.

-Never.

Scrabble, Monopoly...

Poker, poker.

-Oh, poker.

-Chess.

-Chess.

-Excellent, OK, so we won't say they have sex.

-No.

-OK.

You can see here we have a guest book.

-There are a lot of British people that have signed it.

-OK.

All satisfied customers.

Basically, yes. I mean, when they sign here, they are always satisfied.

Oh, he's very satisfied. "I just had sex. Will definitely be back.

-"I will be back."

-Mmm, yes.

-Ahhhh.

It can be, I know.

You can show me the club, that's possible?

-So I can see what you mean?

-Yeah, yeah, we can go.

Concerned, manager Fabio is keen to reiterate his point.

-You don't have to speak about sex, Stacey.

-What?

No, because it's illegal here.

Here we are. And this is the cocktail bar. We have here...

In the downstairs cocktail bar, Fabio introduces me

to a group of waiting girls

he still insists they aren't there to have sex with the customers.

And the last one is Paula, she's Brazilian, already prepared.

Oh, Paula, you look beautiful. Hello, love, how are you?

Fine.

For stag dos you do this?

Yes.

-They like it?

-Yes.

The English stags, how do they react when they see you like this?

He wants to eat you, I bet he does. Yes.

Why can't you do this job in Brazil?

You don't like.

Oh, OK. OK.

So you can't do this job in Brazil

because then your family might find out what you do?

OK.

There isn't just a choice of girls on offer,

Fabio provides a hi-tech way of customising the whole experience.

This touch screen gives you the chance to make a virtual

tour of our club.

So it shows you what rooms are here and where you can go.

-So every customer...

-That's amazing.

..can basically choose the room he likes. We have the green one.

-Jungle room.

-Yeah, the jungle.

Oh, my God, I can't think of anything worse.

-OK. That's the jungle room. Space room?

-Yeah.

These rooms all exist in this place?

Yeah, sure, sure. We don't give any fake.

So they can pick a themed room, they can pick a girl,

they can pick what the girl wears, they can pick everything. Alien?

Who wants to have sex with a girl who's dressed up like an alien?

They pick alien in the space room, so everything is...

Of course they do. So what makes this perfectly legal?

I mean, we don't... We just give to our customers chance to

go in a private room with our girls for basically massage,

so normally we don't know what is going on in that room.

-And that's perfectly legal, isn't it?

-I mean, this is...

It's tolerated.

And, Fabio, tell me how lucrative a business this is

because, everywhere I go in Prague, I see so many strip bars,

lap dancing clubs, brothels, gentleman's clubs. It's a big deal?

Yeah, it's a big deal. Why it's a big deal?

Because...

There are so many countries that don't permit this kind of stuff.

OK.

With management maintaining that no sex goes on here, maybe Lara,

one of the girls, will give me an honest answer.

OK. So welcome to our igloo room. SHE LAUGHS

Brilliant. Brilliant.

Well, this is the first room I've ever seen like this in all my life,

I've got to say.

It's a bit weird, isn't it? If you're trying to go for it,

and then you look up and there's a polar bear stating at you.

Formerly a porn star, 33-year-old Lara has worked here for four years.

Are they quite open about what they want? Are they quite transparent?

Yeah.

They say, "I want you to give me a blow job"

-"I want you to have normal sex with me, different positions."

-Yeah.

What percentage of the guys don't want to use condoms, would you say?

30% maybe.

For me, no. I think maybe they can choose some girl

and maybe the girls say yes.

But from my friends that I sit with them,

I think nobody from them do this.

So when the English stag dos come over, if there are ten of them,

how many of them will end up sleeping with one of you girls?

Mostly the one who will get married later.

From ten, like five go...

-Wow! OK. So half but nearly always the stag?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

For sure, this one, always.

Uh-oh.

The girls watching this in England,

if their fiance says, "Oh, I'm going to Prague with the boys", she'll

say, "No, you're not.

"You're not going anywhere. I know what happens." He'll be in trouble.

You know, it would be unfair for me to suggest that every single

stag party that comes to visit Prague are using

the prostitutes that are sat in the brothels - that's not the case.

And I'm not saying that, but I've spoken to prostitutes who have told

me that some stags are their best customers, you know, that is fact.

There could be around 3,000 prostitutes in over 70

brothels here in Prague, and it's very easy to see how

competition can be rife amongst the girls.

You know, some of them

might feel obliged to do things that the other girls won't necessarily

do, like have sex without condoms and lower their prices.

After Lara's alarming claim that even in a high-end

establishment, a third of all customers ask for unprotected sex,

I'm checking online to see for myself

if this is really what many of the British guys visiting here want.

I'm actually quite surprised, having a look at this internet forum.

There's guys here saying exactly what

they want from the girls in Prague.

There's loads of people giving them loads of recommendations,

It's like, "I want to have sex with this type of girl.

"I want her to do this. I want her to look like that.

"I want her to be this close to that hotel."

I mean, it's almost like a trip advisor for sex in Prague.

It's... It's nuts.

And there's so many posts.

There's hundreds and hundreds of posts.

Massively derogatory like towards the girls.

There's the hottest girls and then he says where you can find them, but

then he says there's some minging ones.

There's disgusting girls you wouldn't go near.

I'm sure he obviously looks like Brad Pitt(!)

And there is one enquiry that comes up time and time again.

A lot of people are still willing to pay extra to convince a girl

that a condom is not necessary.

It's kind of like Russian Roulette, eh?

It seems like there's a real appetite

for these guys to have sex without a condom.

Erm, loads of them are asking other guys,

"Do you know anyone who will do it without?

"Do you know anyone who will give bareback blow jobs?

"Who will let me do them up the arse?

"Who will they let me have sex without nothing?"

And then listing the names of girls who they've done

it with in the past, unprotected.

I'd be devastated if my boyfriend came to Prague on a stag do,

or came out here with his boys, got carried away, found himself

having sex with a prostitute unprotected,

came home and then had sex with me and gave me any kind of STD.

It's not...

It's not a joke.

With such an obvious health risk, both for the British guys

and the girls here,

I'm keen to meet an organisation that is addressing this.

Bliss Without Risk tries to prevent the spread of sexually

transmitted diseases amongst Prague's prostitutes.

-Hello?

-Hello, Stacey.

-Are you Hannah?

-Yes, I am Hannah. I am waiting for you.

Nice to meet you.

Hannah Malanova set up the organisation

25 years ago, initially responding to the need

to test traffic prostitutes who were not able to leave their brothels.

We call it Mobile Mountain.

When Mohammed doesn't come to mountain, the mountain...

-The mountain goes to Mohammed, yes.

-..goes to Mohammed.

Now every week their ambulance visits brothels around the city,

carrying out rapid tests for HIV and other STIs.

How many clients ask the girls to have sex without a condom

because a lot do, don't they?

A lot try it. Many of them, they try it.

That's insane. That's a really crazy thought that loads of British

tourists are asking for sex without a condom. I don't understand.

If the girl tell him that she is HIV positive, yes?

Yeah.

He wants sex without condom.

Why? Why?

-They have no brain.

-Obviously!

That's ridiculous.

So if she says "I've got HIV. I'm HIV positive."

-And the customer still says, "I want to have unprotected sex."

-Yes.

Why do you think anyone would be that stupid?

It's like bungee jumping.

Like a thrill?

-"Will I or won't I catch it?"

-Yes.

This evening, Hannah

and her team are testing all of the prostitutes who work at this

brothel for a number of STIs, including HIV and syphilis.

I hate having my blood taken. I'm such a wimp but I can't look.

-Whenever I get my blood taken, I cry.

-Yeah?

Yeah?

THEY LAUGH

Is it important for you to get tested frequently

because of the job you do?

And Hannah was telling me that lots of customers ask for sex

without a condom, do they ask you for this a lot?

It's very, very wise.

So many guys want to have sex with girls who have got STIs,

who have got, you know, who are HIV-positive, it's like a thrill,

it's like a bungee jump for them,

which I just cannot get my head around that mentality at all.

The girls are always asked to have sex without a condom,

fair amount of the time.

Hello, it's cold today.

How do they try and tempt you into having sex without anything?

Do they offer more money?

They offer money.

How much more?

That's like 40 quid. 30, 40 quid.

Are you ever tempted?

No, never.

Thank God services like this exist, because when you've got

so much sex going on, in such a small area,

it's inevitable that massive problems are going to occur.

# Feeling my way through the darkness

# Guided by a beating heart

# I can't tell where the journey will end

# But I know where to start... #

Back in the old town

and groups of British stags are carrying on their 48-hour party.

So what did you do last night?

What did you do last night?

THEY SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

We can't talk about that.

They may not want to reveal what they got up to last night,

but some groups are happy to share their less-than-positive experiences.

We came here for a good laugh, a piss-up, a great stag do

and unfortunately what we found was there's loads of groups,

I don't know where they're from,

groups in here trying to pressure us into taking drugs.

And if the stags can't be persuaded to part with their cash,

it seems that it can be easily taken from them.

So you lost money last night?

Aye, 500...crabs

Crowns. 500 crowns.

It was in his back pocket and these guys were doing all this,

"All right, how are you? Have you got a lighter?" All that stuff.

So they're looking like they're after a lighter,

and he's taking all your money out of your pocket.

So how much did she take, how much do we think she took?

150 euros down and he thinks it was the prostitute that approached him?

Yeah.

MUSIC: "Swimming Pools (Drank)" by Kendrick Lamar

Most stag parties start their evening in the Old Town area

and gradually migrate to the strip bars around Wenceslas Square.

-# Pour up

-# Drank

-# Head shot

-# Drank

-# Sit down

-# Drank... #

Often drunk on cheap beer, this makes them

easy targets for a host of petty criminals.

'I'm interested to know what the police are doing to protect them,

'so I'm joining officers Sandra, Jada and John on their nightly patrol.'

-Jada.

-Jada?

-Jada.

-I'm Stacey.

'From May to September, over 20% more officers are taken

'from other areas and deployed on the streets of central Prague

'to help look after the tourists and stags.'

How much of your time

and your efforts are spent looking after policing and protecting stags?

At the night-time, most of our time, especially through the weekends.

Most of the time you know we have to go and help them out,

especially when they, erm, meet with some bad people,

they are like, erm, prey, prey for the night creatures, I would say.

'It's not long before the officers spot someone they suspect

'as preying on the tourists by trying to sell them drugs.'

Is that weed?

'But all is not as it seems.'

He is trying to sell this to the tourist, it's the fake one.

This is not marijuana, it's a pine tree, actually,

They just look like a drug and that's what he's selling.

It's legal to have a little bit of a drug on you,

like for your personal use,

so that's what he is showing to the potential buyer

and actually this is what the people really get.

They don't even look like marijuana to me

and how many British tourists buy this off of you?

Every day?

So you say we're the fish, the tourists are the fish,

you put your line out

and then if you've made a beeline for that tourist

and someone else comes in, "No, no, no, get away, I saw them first."

Because it isn't actually drugs, is he OK to just go on his way?

Can you do anything physically?

No, no, because he didn't break any law, he's not selling any drugs,

he doesn't have the amount of drugs which is illegal,

so he's free to go. He didn't do basically nothing and cheating,

you know we can't charge him, it's not a felony unfortunately.

That's good news for you.

'Sandra tells me it's when the stags leave the bars

'and clubs that the real problems can occur.'

'They are often the victims of thieves pretending to be prostitutes.'

They usually drug them, you know, put the sleeping pills,

they usually don't like any sex with them,

they just try to rob them, that's the purpose, you know.

'And amazingly, the worst offenders are well known to the police.'

You see the small one?

So the lady with the fag in her mouth, the erm, the cigarette.

Yes, that's her.

She's well known for putting Rohypnol into guy's drinks

and the guy in the green, er, chequered, he is the protection.

That's insane.

'The police can't do anything without any firm evidence,

'even it seems when known criminals will admit all.'

Tell me what you're doing out there this evening.

SANDRA TRANSLATES

Prostitution, we're talking?

OK. Do you pickpocket?

No(!)

Come and talk to me.

That's how you justify it.

What's the highest amount that you've been able to pickpocket

from a British tourist?

SANDRA: She said around something between 20-30,000 Czech crowns,

so we're talking about 1,000 euros.

-1,200 euros.

-Yeah.

One person you've taken that amount off?

Yeah, she's good.

And I mean you're the police, and you've got a lady standing

here blatantly saying that she's pickpocketing from lots

and lots and lots of British tourist, how can you not arrest her?

Because she is just saying it. She doesn't have the money on her,

we don't have the victim who will say, "Yeah, that was her

"and I lost this, this, this."

You know, if we don't have a victim, we can't charge her

just on something she was saying, her lawyer would eat us alive.

And I guess as well, you know

a British tourist who's had sex or had a blow job off this lady

is not going to be coming forward to quickly admit that even if

he has been robbed, he'd be too embarrassed.

Sounds to me like there's so many laws that aren't adhered to,

there's so many rules that you can just break and get away with here.

Mm-hm. That's correct, that's true.

So does that send out a signal to tourists,

to stags to bachelors that you can pretty much do as you please

-in Prague and there's no consequences?

-It does, it does.

It's ridiculous! It's like all these laws are in place, but actually

you're not well equipped enough to even make sure the law is...

Yeah, they do not support us.

-I'll see you soon, yeah?

-OK.

-Bye, thank you.

-Bye.

I've definitely learnt a lot tonight. There's

so much police presence out here, the tourists would be

forgiven for thinking that they're probably very safe and

they're being taken care of, but actually when you get speaking

to the police and you spend a lot of time with them, you see that the

powers they have are actually quite limited and the laws have stripped

them from doing so many things, that perhaps they should be doing.

It's clear that pickpocketing in the centre of Prague is rife,

so I want to talk to some thieves the law has caught up with,

to try and understand why stag groups make such easy targets.

I'm in Pankrac Prison, home to over 800 prisoners

including convicted pickpockets who are happy to talk to me.

28-year-old Simon is six months into his six-year sentence.

And who teaches you?

And why do you always go to the tourists?

Simon's story is a common one in this prison.

Miskov also started his life of crime when he was a child.

How long had you been pickpocketing in total, years?

-Six years old?

-Yes.

-Wow and how old are you now?

And the way the British stag parties behave,

does that make it easy for you?

So you've got a bag here and then you put your hand over the back.

Oh, my God, you've got my passport!

It's because you've been doing it since you were six!

And how much is enough for you in a day?

2,000 euros or 2,000 crown? 2,000 euros?!

What do you need 2,000 euros a day for?

No-one earns that kind of money, that's just greedy, no?

Can you see how some people...?

Cars, the list continues.

S500 Mercedes.

-Mercedes?

-Yes.

-You were driving around in a Mercedes?

S500, the biggest one.

-The biggest one?

-Yes, limousine.

Limousine. Course you were, brilliant(!)

The guys in there are very open, they're very honest, erm,

they'll say, "We look at British stags as walking open wallets.

"They've got loads of money, they bring money out with them

"every night, it's easy, it's no issue for us."

None of them say it's difficult, none of them

say it's a hard thing to do, they say it takes one or two seconds,

couple of hundred euros and on to the next one.

After hearing the startling confessions from the pickpockets,

I want to see what the authorities have to say.

So I've come to question the mayor of central Prague,

to see if he knows what's going on and what he plans to do about it.

Really nice to meet you, and thank you so much for your time.

-Sit down, please.

-When I spent time with the police, they pointed out

lots of different things to me that was supposed to be illegal,

so brothels exist, but they're supposed to be illegal.

They pointed out drug dealers

that they categorically knew were drug dealers,

but unless they saw them physically taking the money and giving

the drugs, they were powerless. That needs to change, surely?

Sure, the system must be more

and more hard with this level of criminality.

I think the issue from the outside looking in,

is that there's too many grey areas,

there's no definites.

You feel it exactly.

We must find some stronger rules,

it's criminal, it's not criminal,

it is possible, it is not possible,

it is legal, it is not illegal, it's our problem, I do think clearly.

-That's a problem that needs addressing.

-Yeah.

When do you think that will happen?

We are sending every day some offers to Czech Parliament

to change some rules.

It's our every-day job.

Tell me how you feel about the fact that there are

so many brothels in Prague?

We would like to get out from the centre of the city,

show some place out from Prague.

Say, yes, in this place, it's open area

for this activity, but we would like not to be in the centre of the city.

-That's interesting. So you're thinking about designing...

-Yeah.

..almost, an area in Prague, away from the centre.

Because it's my problem in the centre of Prague to a little

bit shifted to do other areas and not in the centre.

Well, yeah, I think to just shift a problem,

is quite irresponsible, you have to try and tackle it, surely?

Why put it in one place,

the sex tourists, with other tourists?

Because I feel that we are not er, powerful to stop it absolutely.

I feel like if you're happy to welcome

so many tourists into your part of the city, you need to make sure

they're well looked after. The mayor says he wants to do that,

he thinks that the laws need to change,

they need to be a lot clearer.

So you hope he means what he says

and you hope that in the future

we ARE less of a target.

The policy that the mayor seems most committed to is to move

the illegal brothels to the edge of the city.

One company has already made the move away from the tourist centre,

and with cheaper overheads, it has been able to take adult

entertainment to a whole new level.

I'm outside Prague's biggest sex club,

and I've got to say I can't quite believe the enormity of it,

it's absolutely massive. It's a bit like a retail park,

but for girls and sex.

I'm looking forward to getting inside,

speaking to the girls that work there and find out what goes on.

At this venue, up to 50 girls work seven days a week.

Like a recreation centre, this.

The girls can expect to earn over £300 a night here

when the average Czech only takes home £800 a month.

One of the young women has agreed to talk to me

before she starts her shift.

Hello! Lucy?

-Yes.

-Lucy, I'm Stacey.

-Nice to meet you, Stacey.

Lovely to meet you too and I'm going to have a bit of a tour with you,

-you're going to show me where you work today?

-Yeah.

-Shall we go now?

-Yeah, follow me, yeah.

-OK so this is my friend, Suzy.

-How long are you working for today?

-Today, all night.

-All night!

-Yeah.

What time will you finish?

6:00, 6:00 in the morning.

-6am?!

-Yes.

-That's a long shift, 18 hours?

-Yes.

-Ooh!

OK, going to be a busy night?

OK.

Lucy takes me into the room she'll spend the next 18 hours in.

-OK and we're OK to come in here?

-Yes.

But the management here insists

on monitoring our conversation the whole time.

How old are you Lucy, what age are you?

I can't believe you're 19,

you're so young and so beautiful.

You're the same age as my baby sister, she's 19.

-Really?

-Uh-huh.

Wow.

How long have you worked here, at Show Park?

-Six months.

-Six months.

And you're enjoying it, you like it?

TRANSLATION:

What is it that you don't enjoy, what don't you like?

TRANSLATION OF MAN'S VOICE:

And how have you found yourself here?

So you're in debt, is that right?

OK, so were you homeless at one point?

'I'd hoped to find out more about Lucy's experiences

'of living and working here,

'but the management are unhappy with my questions.'

TRANSLATION OF WOMAN'S VOICE

This is actually showing

that if it wasn't for this place,

if it wasn't for this employment,

she would not be able to survive, so it's...

She's able to earn a lot of money, it's giving lots of employment.

It's not dark, it's truthful, it's honest, that she's got the hump.

My chat with Lucy comes to an end,

leaving me massively frustrated that I am unable to ask what I want.

I think Lucy's really sweet,

you know, she's the same age as my baby sister,

she doesn't like it here, she's not happy.

She's here solely for the money, her family are in debt.

And I'm sure some girls are happy here,

you know, they do enjoy this kind of work,

but I get the feeling it's not Lucy's scene.

I'm not giving up, though,

so I've asked if I can chat to Lucy outside of work.

I feel like in Show Park I was just so restricted

and I wasn't able to ask hardly any of the questions I really wanted to.

So I've arranged to meet up with her today privately,

fingers crossed that I'm able to have a decent chat with her.

But after waiting for over an hour,

it's clear that Lucy won't be showing up.

I personally think

if she comes to talk to me

and it's honest and it's open

about how rubbish things were for her,

she'll be in the doghouse, she'll be in trouble.

And she's living at Show Park,

don't forget that, she's living there,

because her family are 100 kilometres away.

So she's got nowhere else to live in Prague,

so if she rubs them up the wrong way, noises them up,

she's homeless again.

She could do so many amazing things, but...

luck hasn't been on her side, so she's thinking,

you know what, I've just got to get the money,

I've got to pay off this debt,

let me just go and do a couple of months in this Show Park.

She doesn't want to be there.

Lucy may have gotten cold feet,

but one of the women that I've met in Prague

is willing to talk openly, so I've come to meet Lara at home.

-Hey, hello,

-love. Hello, Stacey.

-How are you, love?

-Very well.

Nice to see you again.

I know, thank you so much for allowing me to come round.

Nice house. So this is your home?

This is my bedroom.

Nice, big wardrobe for all your clothes and dresses - for work.

And who stays here - you and...?

Boyfriend. You and your boyfriend. How long have you been together?

-Three years.

-Hoo! OK.

Nice.

-This is my son's...room.

-This is your son's room?

-Yes.

'Lara also lives here with her 12-year-old son.'

And this is your son?

Yeah.

Does he know what you do for a living?

-No.

-No.

-No.

-What does he think you do?

I work in restaurant with the bar.

Uh-huh.

And all the other girls that work at K5,

all your friends, have they got kids as well?

M-hm. Yeah.

Yeah.

And do you think everybody keeps it a secret from their children?

Yeah.

Is it important that he never finds out?

If he will be like 18, 19, I don't care, because he will be big.

But I think he don't... be angry of this.

And if you weren't working in K5,

would you be able to afford this lovely house,

or would it be a struggle?

I think no, because it's so expensive,

I have to stay in some very small flat, yeah.

If you make work, maybe with kids or some office,

it's... It's not so big money.

Mm.

'Lara has been in the sex industry for over a decade,

'but now at 33 she has begun to plan

'for a different kind of future.'

I am looking for some work one week ago,

so maybe I can have, for the start, two works,

and then I finish and have the new one only.

Oh, really?! Change your job?

Yeah.

And your boyfriend will be happy about that, or...?

Yeah, I think he will be.

-He don't say, but I think yes.

-Yeah.

'Having seen Lara in her,

'you know, in a domestic environment,'

erm, I think it definitely hammers home

that she's just the same as everyone else in so many ways.

You know, she's thinking about the rent,

she's thinking that her boy needs football boots and games

and, you know, really mundane things.

So I'd be interested to know

if the guys that use prostitutes when they come over here

are watching this and thinking,

"Actually she is just a woman, she is somebody's girlfriend,

"she is somebody's mother."

With the stag parties all packed up and gone,

the streets of Prague return to normal...

until next weekend's onslaught.

Having survived my first stag weekend, erm,

I've got to say I've definitely learnt a lot, for sure.

I think some of it is what I expected,

you know, it's harmless fun, boys coming over here

and celebrating their pal's last night of freedom.

But there's this other side that I massively underestimated

and I knew very little about,

you know, the brothels - the amount of brothels.

The amount of prostitutes, the seriousness of the pickpocketing,

how often it happens, how frequent it is.

And the drugs. How easy it is to pick up, often, fake drugs.

It's very, very obvious that British stags coming over here

is great for their economy

and people I've spoken to are benefiting financially from them,

including all of the girls.

But with this increasing competition for business

amongst all the prostitutes, all the strippers, all the lap-dancers,

you do worry how far they're going to be forced to go

to make sure that they're the one that gets the customer.

'Next time, I travel to the spring-break destination of Cancun.'

Loads of fit Americans!

'But how much do we really know about this party paradise?'

-Army?

-Marines, there you go, there you go.

Oh, my God, that's so strange to see on holiday.

'I uncover the side of Mexico spring-breakers don't get to see.'

TRANSLATION FROM SPANISH:

The crime here is like nowhere else in the world I've ever seen.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd