CBS might have broken child labor laws and housing requirements during the filming of their upcoming reality series "Kid Nation".

The premise behind the show is to set 40 kids (between the ages of 8 and 15) loose in a ghost town for 40 days with the goal of creating a functional society without input or assistance from adults. Unlike other reality series, there would be no weekly eliminations and the children could go home at any time. Kids completing the entire series would be paid $5,000 with a $20,000 bonus to be awarded the child voted the best participant of every episode. Critics have likened the show to William Golding's, Lord of the Flies.

One parent told state officials that the children were working 14 hours or longer a day. According to The New York Times, who got a copy of the contract signed by both the child and the parents, participants were required to do whatever told by the show's producers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or risk expulsion. The contract also used legalese to say that even though the kids were getting compensation, they weren't really employees, so child labor laws were not applicable.

During filming, four children required medical attention for accidentally drinking bleach stored in an unlabeled container and one child's face was burned with hot grease while she was working unsupervised in a kitchen.

I've never been a fan of "reality" television and the whole premise of forcing people into artificial situations and activating primal behavior by dangling large amounts of cash in front of people and calling it entertainment.

In any other situation, an 8 year old with a form stating an outside party could not be held responsible for "emotional distress, illness, sexually transmitted diseases, H.I.V. and pregnancy" that might occur if the child "chooses to enter into an intimate relationship of any nature with another participant or any other person" would raise alarms and hackles. But this disclaimer was part of the 22 page contract signed by all the participating children in "Kid Nation" as well as their parents.

For the low price of $5,000 and the possibility of television fame, there were people willing to hand over their children to CBS for forty days and to sign away blame if anything happened.

That, to me, is unreal.