Kid For Sale! Fine, Healthy Kid For Sale!

Would you sign your kid up for child labour?

Okay, so there's a chance for your kid to appear on TV--Yay!
If the kid gets on TV, there'll be a $5,000 stipend--Yay, too!
If your kid wins the "contest" then there will be $20,000 extra--Triple Yay!

Right? Well, not exactly.

Parents signing their kids up for the CBS show "Kid Nation" signed a contract that specified that the show was dangerous, and that they were not allowed to sue for anything that happened to their kids.

Up to and including death.

Oh, and just for the final $#!7s-and-giggles: Parents were told that they would forfeit a $5 million fine for violating the confidentiality clause included in this deal-with-the-devil contract if they told anyone about it. Worked pretty well, didn't it? Given that CBS executives are not, in fact being properly burned in effigy or hauled into OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) hearings.

Reports say that the kids worked up to 14 hours a day for as many as 40 days.

"Well," said one satisfied parent "It's training him for a life in the Wal-Mart world." (*)

(*) Okay--I made that quote up. I'm just trying to imagine how these parents think.