IT'S a long way from LA for the stars of Ireland's answer to The Hills. The four female members of Fade Street must pay their own rent and bills and receive only a minimal payment as "contributors" – a far cry from the $63,000 which was reportedly paid per episode to the lead girls in the hit MTV show.

The show is based on four Irish girls leaving home and moving into a flat on Dublin's Fade Street and centres around their working and personal lives. They each moved into the flat during filming but paid contributions to make up the rent and bills. By contrast, the LA girls lived at the exclusive Palazzo East Villas complex in west Los Angeles at a cost of $3,000 a month.

Cici Cavanagh, Dani Robinson, Vogue Williams and Louise Johnston also all have several part-time jobs, unlike the extremely privileged lives of their American counterparts, who spent most of their time debating their personal crises.

Williams works as a model, DJ and actress; Johnston is an economics student who also works in the Grafton Lounge; Cavanagh is a fine art student, DJ and club promoter; and Robinson is a model and body piercer.

A spokeswoman for RTÉ declined to comment on how much each of the girls were paid for their appearances.

"The cast were paid a basic per diem when filming, as contributors, not as actors. Any payments by employers were discussed directly between them and their employers."

The cast members have already bemoaned the effects of the recession, with Johnston saying: "People our age just didn't realise that it was going to come to this ? the recession, people actually having to pay for things themselves and these people having loans and having to pay them back."

Cici Cavanagh has also said her bank statements show her to "be broke" while Robinson has denied that they are all stereotypically wealthy, saying each of the cast would sooner drink cans under a bridge and "shop in Penneys" than drink champagne in top nightspot Krystle.

TV critics mostly panned the first show and viewers seem to agree with them. The second show on Thursday was watched by almost 117,000 people, a decrease of 40,000 on week one.