Filenews 10 January 2026 - by Stelios Marathovouniotis
A documentary by the British channel Channel 4 brings to the surface reports of sexual harassment and illegal working and housing conditions faced by young British female workers in Ayia Napa.
The documentary will be shown by Channel 4 on its website and YouTube from next Tuesday, January 13. Journalist Tir Dhondy travelled to Cyprus and posed as a hairdresser to investigate reports from her compatriots.
Sexual harassment
According to a report in the Irish Sun, the documentary records some nightclub owners boasting about sexual assaults against employees.
Dhondy reports that a few hours after arriving in Ayia Napa, a bar owner told her, "If I want to see your breasts, I'll tell you. In the footage of the documentary, the bar manager can be seen adding: "I think what he wants to say is, 'I can see your breasts'"?
The discussion progresses with employers wanting her to do sexual favours in exchange for hiring her.
"A lot of the girls who come for a season are 16 or 17 years old, they're still in school, they're too young," Dhondy adds.
Her research focused on a specific company that offers work and accommodation packages in European destinations. A summer package from the company promises four weeks of employment along with accommodation in Ayia Napa for 399 pounds.
Accommodation conditions
In the documentary, other workers stated that during their stay in Cyprus they lived in dangerous accommodation with broken security systems, mould and insects. British woman Isobel reports that she woke up one night to find a drunken stranger standing above her bed. "I woke up in the middle of the night and saw an unknown guy standing and looking at me." "Anything could happen. When I think about it now, I feel sick."
Dhondy was given a room on the ground floor of a building behind garbage cans, with a broken window, four small beds crammed together, and soiled sheets. Another worker, Carmen, said her apartment had no running water "90% of the time" and contained dirty mattresses, no air conditioning, broken toilet lids and cockroaches.
According to an earlier report by The Sun published last August, poor living conditions do not only concern this company. Danish tourist Emilie Polusen, 25, says she was offered accommodation in a room with cockroaches and mould after paying £600 through a different company in 2021.
"We arrived and there were cockroaches everywhere on the balcony, some even inside the room," Polusen said. "We had dirty sheets and a lot of mould in the bathroom that smelled really bad. It was disgusting, even the representative who was watching over us didn't want to touch the covers."
She and her friend Emma moved in but found the new accommodation equally unsuitable. "They put our beds in a kitchen that didn't even have air conditioning," Polusen claimed.
When Dhondy's research workers complained, company representatives threatened to kick them out. "We were told that we were on vacation and we should just be grateful and enjoy it, and that they would kick us out if we complained again," Carmen explained. "We were afraid of the representatives. They were very aggressive and threatened anyone who had a question or concern."
Hidden costs have exacerbated their exploitation, they say. After paying the initial package, employees were charged an additional €150 on arrival – including €50 damage deposit, €40 for bills, €10 for blankets and €50 resort fee. Many never got their guarantees back.
These extra fees bring €90,000 to the company every summer, a representative told Dhondy. "I pull all the pressure but not the money, if I got a percentage I would be rich," she said.
Dhondy says she was paid five pounds an hour to bring customers to a nightclub. "I calculated that it translates to £800 a month, but you have to pay £400 for the stay, so you basically only have £400 left to live on."
Isobel, who was hired to sell tickets to a bar, said her employers required her to work seven days a week from 11 a.m. to between 5 and 8 a.m. "They didn't pay me, they still owe me money: €200-300," she said.
"They didn't give us what they promised," Polusen told The Sun. "A lot of people didn't get anything and left where they were put in the beginning. We ended up going home because we couldn't find a job and there was no support."
The person in charge of Dhondy, Nick, admitted that they were both working illegally without licenses and would be paid black. After Brexit, British citizens must obtain a work permit to work in EU countries.
"They didn't make it clear to me when I signed up, even when I asked if I needed to do anything," Dhondy explained.
Carmen said the workers realized too late that they were working illegally. "Until we realized we were working illegally, we didn't have the money to book a ticket home," he said. "We had already spent the money on the package and thought that if we don't do these illegal shifts we won't have anything to eat."
Also, at a party, Dhondy reports that a company representative offered her a fee to sell balloons with nitrous oxide (laughing gas), even though the substance has been banned in Cyprus since 2022.
Modern slavery
The UK Home Office issued warnings last year that young adults working as PR in destinations such as Ibiza and Mallorca face incidents of exploitation, which correspond to modern slavery.
Andrew Wallis, chief executive of anti-slavery organisation UNSEEN, said young British workers were being lured into exploitation and criminal activities. "When they arrive, they discover that the opportunity is not as advertised," he told the Irish Sun. "They may be arrested for illegal work. This means that they will have a criminal record against them. And that destroys the rest of people's lives."
Wallis argued that packages that offer accommodation and work leave workers trapped. "Accommodation is always below standard and very often the cost of accommodation eliminates what they may earn. Very quickly they feel trapped. Then they have more control over you, you have put yourself in the hands of people who want to take advantage of you."
