With access to former ‘Kid Nation’ contestants, their families, and the show’s creators, culture journalist Josh Gwynn uncovers how this cult TV show became a lightning rod for an ongoing debate about the ethics of reality TV. After the chaos of the first few weeks life in Bonanza City stabilizes – but that doesn’t make for great TV. The former pioneers say that as the show wore on, the drama became more contrived, with plot-lines that saw kids portrayed as gambling addicts and anarchists, looting the town stores. It leaves us wondering whether Kid Nation could ever have lived up to its utopian premise. How do the former pioneers feel about it now?