10 boys vs 10 girls were left unsupervised in house and result was absolute chaos

Sometimes reality shows where you put a bunch of people in a place and let them figure it out go pretty well, and sometimes they don't.

Get a load of people together, stick them in an isolated location where they make their own rules and let the cameras do the rest, except perhaps that one show, Eden, where people lived on an island for a year, but the ratings were so low that the show was canned after four episodes and they did a special about how it all went wrong.

Then there's Boys and Girls Alone, the show which lived up to its name as it put 10 boys and 10 girls in houses without adult supervision and let them get on with it.

Channel 4 had experimented with the formula, as in 2002, they tried Boys Alone and then followed it up with Girls Alone, then in 2009, they combined the formats to make Boys and Girls Alone.

Naturally, the results were chaotic.

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It was up to the children to sort out their own food and look after themselves, and after a while, the boys' and girls' houses were merged to further chaotic results.

In Boys Alone, they largely lived off cereal and fizzy drinks, pretty much destroyed the house they were living in and split into two further groups while they tied one boy to a chair in the garden.

The girls did a little bit better as some of them designated themselves as cooks and cleaners to keep on top of things, and they actually did manage to work together.

The show was criticised, and the mum of one of the boys later spoke out to say she would not have let him go on it if she had the choice again, and when the boy had turned 19, he spoke out and said 'any boy would say yes to an opportunity like that' but in hindsight, he would not go on it.

The boys wrecked the house they were given to live in and largely ate cereal and fizzy drinks (Channel 4 / Boys and Girls Alone)

When Boys and Girls Alone was put together, there was a serious backlash from many, including children's author Michael Morpurgo, who signed a letter accusing the show of 'child abuse and cruelty'.

Channel 4 said the welfare of the children was their 'first priority' and there were chaperones on hand to step in and stop anything from getting too dangerous.

Meanwhile, some of the children's parents spoke in defence of the show, with one mother saying that 'the idea that the children have been traumatised by taking part in the series is ridiculous' (via The Guardian).

The 2009 show went ahead, which was about as chaotic as they had been in previous versions of the show. It also led the UK government to review child employment laws.

The show's format has not been revived.