Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: Channel 4, Entertainment, Film and TV, UK News, Parenting
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Channel 4, Entertainment, Film and TV, UK News, Parenting
A social experiment decided to test what happens when you leave 10 children in a house all by themselves for five days - and it's not pretty.
Television in the early 2000s just hit different. The ideas? Wild. The fact channels actually went through with the ideas? Even more wild. And Boys and Girls Alone was certainly no exception.
For the documentary, Channel 4 took 10 boys and 10 girls - aged between 11 and 12 - to live in a huge home in the English countryside for five days with a camera crew. What could possibly go wrong?
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Now, don't panic, it wasn't quite a Lord of the Flies situation, with the house and garden kitted out with toys, books and games.
Oh, and the kids also had the choice between ingredients for healthy, substantial meals or the option of junk food - I think you can guess how that one turned out.
The group of 10 boys went first and then the group of 10 girls and the differences between the two experiments were vast.
First airing in 2002, the episode featuring the boys revealed they decided to split into groups and destroy everything within the house, living off fizzy pop and snacks.
One boy, Michael, was tied to a chair in the garden at one point - so, maybe a bit more Lord of the Flies than first hoped.
In the follow-up episode, the group of girls were the epitome of organised chaos.
Some of the girls took it upon themselves to be the cooks and cleaners of the house, while others would organise fashion shows and nightly entertainment.
Even though it was an intriguing - and sometimes amusing - watch, a lot of people were furious about allowing a group of kids to live alone for this length of time, including some of the parents whose children participated.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2009, Ruth Lewis, a mum of one of the boys named Sam, spoke out about Channel 4’s choice to try another type of show.
She said: "That show was awful. If I had my time again I would say no to allowing him on the show. It was just chaos and mayhem.
"Watching this new show, I did think I can't believe I did that to my son. It was horrible watching it again. It's an awful lot for a child to go through at that age."
Sam, then 19, added: "Any boy would say yes to an opportunity like that, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. I'd never missed my mum more in my life.
"It was mayhem and became depressing as the house divided into the two gangs and war broke out.
"The place was trashed and I'm ashamed to say that I even turned into a bit of a hooligan."