'Lord of the Flies' it was not. But after all the hype, 'Kid Nation', with Bermudian Blaine Wise, was fairly tame family fun.

The CBS reality series, which debuted on Wednesday night, saw 40 kids aged eight to 15 dropped in an abandoned New Mexico town.

They will spend 40 days 'roughing it' while they try and succeed where adults have failed and create a sharing and caring society.

But don't worry – there is root beer on tap and a great selection of candy on hand.

For months the hype and controversy surrounding 'Kid Nation' made the show sound like it would be a scandalous, exploitative and therefore interesting reality show.

First it came under fire for possibly skirting child-labour laws by subjecting the young cast to 14-hour shooting days. Then news leaked that four children accidentally drank bleach and one girl received burns to her face while cooking with hot grease. "Where was the adult supervision?" pundits screamed.

And then there was the waiver parents signed, which essentially said the price of reality show fame was your kid's life. It absolved the network of any legal blame should the participants die, get sick, injured or need therapy after their stay in Bonanza City.

So the stage was set for a pretty explosive premiere, and the fact that a Bermudian teenager was one of the 40 brave kids made it even better. Unfortunately the hype was more fun than the show.

After the kids were dropped into the abandoned town, which is a dead ringer for a Wild West set, they were split into four teams, with Blaine joining the blue team. Chaos ensued.

Remember those rainy school days when everyone was stuck in the classroom, running around screaming, while a prefect yelled 'Quiet everyone' at the front of the room?

Well, the town hall meetings mirror that horrendous experience.

The only difference is one suffer-type philosopher, 14-year-old Michael from Washington, stood up at each meeting and gave a rather heartwarming little speech about democracy and the potential of today's youth.

The bulk of the first episode saw the kids set about creating their society, cooking, cleaning, fighting, crying and playing with one another.

Like any reality show there was also a challenge and rewards. The kids competed to see who got the new town's best jobs and who got stuck with cleaning the outhouse.

Blaine's team came second which means they will be merchants, one of the cushier jobs going. A gold star, worth $20,000, was also handed out to the kid who helped out the town the most.

Unfortunately for Bermuda, Blaine got a lot of camera time, for being the sidekick to 15-year-old Greg from Nevada, also known as the town's bully.

First there was the shot of Greg pushing a ten-year-old, before slinking off to sit with Blaine.

Then Blaine and Greg were seen vandalising (with chalk) other bunk houses by writing "Go Blue" on the doors. It seemed that wherever Greg was there was Blaine.

Basically they were the kids you used to walk across the street to avoid and roll your eyes at because their bullying was kind of sad.

Luckily Blaine did make a few positive contributions to his new community when he recommended they forgo a TV after winning a challenge because it would encourage people to be lazy.

And there is hope yet, it seems Blaine will not be under Greg's influence for long. In an interview with The Royal Gazette before the show premiered Blaine said his best friend on the cast was Michael (the surfing philosopher) not Greg.

While the show was sweet it lacked the guilty voyeurism that reality shows normally have because, in the end, the participants were kids.

Unlike 'Survivor' or 'The Real World' you don't really want to pick apart a ten-year-old's leadership flaws because well, that's just mean. After all, no one wants to kick a kid while he's down.

Despite all the buzz 'Kid Nation' won't have any water cooler moments but the show does provide parents with the opportunity to start a family discussion about the perils of bullying and the importance of fair leadership with their kids.

And, maybe, with all the reality TV shows and consumerism kids today are watching, a little family discussion could be the best medicine to help create a better society?

The show airs on CBS at 9 p.m. Bermuda time.