TV Reality show mimics Lord of the Flies
A REALITY TV show in which children as young as eight are left to fend for themselves for a fortnight in a Big Brother-style house has created uproar.
The British series Boys and Girls Alone shows children sobbing and begging to be allowed to go home.
The program's makers said it was intended to test whether today's "cotton wool kids" could survive alone for a fortnight, or whether modern society had forced them to grow up too quickly.
Child welfare groups have urged Britain's Culture Secretary to rein in Channel 4, which aired the show.
The first hour-long episode of the four-part series shows 10 boys and 10 girls, all aged 8-12, moving into six isolated stone cottages in Cornwall.
They were filmed as they coped with day-to-day problems. Violence erupted between the boys, including one who pointed a knife at another.
And one is also seen launching a flying karate-style kick at another's head.
When the boys try to discipline a nine-year-old, an adult chaperone has to break them up after two housemates, one armed with a rake, corner the boy.
Within 24 hours of moving into their houses several of the girls have been reduced to tears by bullying.
Maddie, 8, sobs after older girls daub the walls of a house with bloody handmarks and "ghost messages", including: "If I'm dead, you're next."
Parents watched the filming on CCTV cameras in a nearby house and were told they could take their children out of the program at any time.
Matthew, 9, beat his head on a wall when his parents refused to let him quit.
Sid, 9, went home after three days. He struggled to cook for himself and resorted to noodles made with cold water.
The girls managed better and cooked three meals a day.
But their arguments developed into screaming rows and left Sophia, 8, sobbing: "I came to get away from parents and have fun but it's not fun at all. It's like a living nightmare."
Liz Carnell, of charity Bullying UK, said: "If parents left their children alone in houses for two weeks, social services would be around. I'm quite surprised they haven't intervened in this."
Michele Eliot, of Kidscape, said: "Exploiting children for ratings is a new low for Channel 4."
The parents were not paid but were compensated for expenses.
- DAILY MAIL
