WHEN a couple of 20-somethings step into their new homes on Tuesday they will have just three things: a phone, a phone book and £1,500.

They will have uninterrupted views of their surroundings and be surrounded by lots of high street name shops and eateries.

They will also be snooped on by thousands of passers-by and have their daily lives broadcast on the radio.

Ruth Harrison and Jenny Ryan will spend five days living in a perspex box in Halle Square, in Manchester's Arndale Centre.

They will be wearing just T-shirts and shorts and the box will be empty.

It will be up to them to transform the box into their home -- and get some clothes -- by using the phone book to find the suppliers, the phone to ring them and the cash to make the purchases.

Ruth, aged 24, and Jenny, aged 22, both from Horwich -- although they did not know each other --were picked from hundreds of entrants to take part in a stunt which has visions of illusionist David Blaine's attempt to live in a perspex box dangled over the River Thames.

Their stay will be broadcast on radio station Century 105.4, whose listeners will be setting the girls a few challenges.

And for the woman deemed to have completed the tasks to her best ability, the prize will be to keep everything she has bought during the week. The loser will be asked to hand the lot to charity.

Former Rivington and Blackroad School pupil Ruth, an ex-estate agent who recently returned from a football scholarship in America, said: "It is going to be a bit scary but I am really looking forward to it."

University of Leeds graduate and ex-Thornleigh pupil Jenny said: "I am so eager to do it and I don't mind people staring at me."

The event is organised by telecommunications giant BT. The voting lines open on the same day with listeners texting either Ruth or Jenny to the text shortcode number 81054.