SO you think your job is bad?

Well spare a thought for Jack Taylor, aged 22, whose back-breaking work involved him waking up at 4am six days a week to shear sheep in a barn in scorching temperatures in New Zealand.

Jack is one of the stars of a new BBC Three show being aired tonight called the World's Toughest Jobs — and admits that it literally was the most difficult month of his working life.

Mr Taylor, from Breightmet, said: "What I liked about doing the show is after all the benefits-style programmes which follow people who do not want to work, this shows young people who are willing to do anything they can to earn money.

"I won't lie, it was the most difficult thing I've had to do. Some days were really tough and we'd get told off if we didn't keep up. We were up at 4am six days a week and often didn't get back till 8pm. We slept in a barn and the food wasn't great.

"We were told that you could make good money by shearing 300 sheep a day, but there were some days I only did seven because they were so heavy and hard to control while you sheared them."

"It smelled so bad and if we weren't shearing we were literally preparing the manure with our bare hands, which was absolutely disgusting. I couldn't get that smell away from me.

He applied after he lost his job with Ticketline when the office in Manchester city centre burned down last year and hoped it would help his gain new skills and earn a bit of money to help bring him out of debt.

Each episode in the series follows three young people who are desperate to sort out their lives and their finances and leave the UK to take on one of the world's toughest jobs, including lobster fishing, which features in the first episode.

It's billed as back-breaking, repetitive and dangerous work under a scorching sun and in treacherous seas. But there is one major perk – money.

Mr Taylor, who now works in a department for the government, said: "We did quite well. I think we made about three thousand New Zealand dollars, which translates to about £1,400. I didn't rake it in but I am so glad I did it. It was an amazing experience — so much so that I plan to do more travelling later this year."

World's Toughest Jobs airs on Tuesday, February 24, at 9pm on BBC Three.