LOS ANGELES, CA (August 24, 2007) - The CBS reality show where 40 children aged 8 to 15 were dropped off in a New Mexico ghost town to try and create an adult free society continues to raise eyebrows. The series is still weeks away from it’s September 19th premiere date but already has prompted complaints from one of the children’s parents, and may have skirted New Mexico’s child protection laws.
While parents and children made available by CBS praised the production as safe, well supervised and a learning experience, one mother has told authorities the conditions warrant an abuse investigation.
Janis Miles of Fayetteville, Ga., said in a letter that her 12-year-old daughter, Divad, was spattered on her face with grease while cooking potatoes on a wood stove, and that four other children required medical attention after they accidentally drank bleach.
Her daughter also had a rash that had caused scarring, and a sunburn on her face and hands, Miles wrote. Miles declined to talk to a reporter, referring calls to CBS.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, the show’s Executive Producer, Tom Forman, confirmed the on set accidents but called them minor incidents, “There was everything from twisted ankles to kitchen burns. The kids received immediate medical attention where they needed it. Nothing serious and no effects afterwards.”
Forman believes the accidents were so minor they may not even be worked into the episodes, “The truth is it didn’t really happen all that often. It wasn’t all that interesting.”
After dropping their kids off at the New Mexico set their parents were sent home. Forman says adults were present at all times during the production including paramedics, security guards, pediatricians, psychologists, wilderness experts, animal wranglers and producers.
According to Forman, producers contacted each of the children’s parents every third day with status updates. Though the children had no contact with their parents, after the initial drop off, Forman says they were free to leave at any point and were constantly asked by producers, “if this was something they wanted to continue to participate in and if they didn’t, we called their parents. Their parents flew out and we got them home.”
CBS declined to comment on how many children chose to leave but Forman told Access it was mostly due to homesickness.
At the time of filming, the state of New Mexico did not have the same restrictive child labor laws as states such as California and New York prompting questions about conditions on set. When questioned by Access about whether the hours could be considering too long for children, Forman claims it was their own choice, “These kids took part in an experience and they created a world. They did whatever they want, they set their own time to wake up. They set their own time to go to sleep. They prepared some meals. They made some decisions. They did whatever 40 kids would do if there weren’t adults around telling them what to do every minute and we filmed what happened.”
Forman is distressed that all this negative attention is being focused on what he claims most kids would call an amazing experience, “In the last few days people have used phrases like child abuse, I’m horrified by that because I know it’s just not true. And I think it frankly, it’s an insult to the production team. But more importantly to the kids that spent 40 days out there and did something pretty incredible. They’re independent kids who wanted the chance to be on their own who wanted to prove something to adults and I think they did that. I think nobody would be more upset to hear people think these kids were exploited then the kids themselves who really went there had a wonderful time and proved something at the same time.”
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