Not trying to sound like a know-it-all, because I honestly (and obviously) don't know everything. But this show is a great way to permanently stunt someone's development when they're in a sensitive stage of cognitive development, or fuck them up for life/bring out (and possibly instill) behaviors or conditions they would have never displayed due to their environment and peers (via things like negative scaffolding and environmental stressors, which are all there, potentially triggering a recessive gene to take dominance, which often happens during these ages of development/puberty. This happens more than you think - this is partially and sometimes the sole reason why neurological conditions among others, as well as mental illnesses appear during adolescent/young adult years). This "show" literally has all the makings of a psychological research study/experiment.

However, this shit would never get approved as a study in mainstream academia; the number one rule in research is to do no harm, and if you're not sure whether you're putting a participant(s) at risk of harm or not, you don't do it if you even have to question. We've learned a lot about human nature and development through experiments we now consider barbaric (and for good reason; they caused permanent cognitive and developmental damage on the individual, giving them a permanent lowered quality of life), which is why this type of shit is not allowed in mainstream academia anymore.

As interesting as this is, it would never fly in academia because of the lasting potential damage it could have on the kids (and probably did have on some of them). How the fuck they made it into a TV show that lasted 3+ seasons is beyond me.