WAGs film BBC South Africa documentary

A group of WAGs have filmed a BBC Three documentary about poverty in South Africa.

The Guardian reports that the five women visited the country's slums to report on HIV, the orphan crisis and social breakdown before the World Cup starts next month.

Emile Heskey's partner Chantelle Tagoe and Matthew Upson's girlfriend Ellie Darby were among the group. Big Brother 7 star Imogen Thomas, who previously dated Jermain Defoe, also flew to South Africa along with Frank Lampard's former partner Elen Rivas and Jermaine Pennant's ex-girlfriend Amii Grove.

The women took part in various community projects including joining sex workers trying to educate prostitutes and helping out at a church and a children's home. They stayed at the projects overnight instead of sleeping in hotels and have also agreed to star in a half-hour documentary focusing on their "glamorous" lives in the UK.

"We were making a documentary for our core audience of 16- to 24-year-olds who are probably aware of the World Cup but not of the underbelly of South Africa," a BBC spokesperson said. "Because they are interested in WAGs, they might watch and learn something."

She added that the women were chosen because of their "emotional and physical" readiness, explaining: "There was a really wide selection process and it was fairly clear that these were the ones that were best suited to doing that sort of project in terms of stamina and interest levels."

WAGs, Kids and World Cup Dreams starts on Sunday at 9pm on BBC Three.