‘Kid Nation’ a Ratings Success! Plus: Jimmy Speaks!

The numbers are in, and Wednesday’s Kid Nation premiere tied for first place with Fox’s sitcom Back to You and restaurant-makeover show Kitchen Nightmares, each earning an impressive 3.1 rating among adults 18 to 49.

But while we’re pleased with the results, and certainly don’t wish to accuse anyone of foul play, we would like to point out there’s a high probability that some viewers intending to watch Kid Nation might’ve tuned into Kitchen Nightmares by mistake expecting to see unsupervised children frying their faces on a stove. We’re just saying.

Also, departed Nation contestant Jimmy now regrets his decision to quit the show after just one episode. The Boston Herald caught up with the Salem, Massachusetts, 8-year-old who told them, “After the [team] challenge, everyone understood why I wanted to go home because it was brutal.” Still, he says, “If I had known about the gold star, I would have stayed a lot longer because I wanted to win that much money.” (Winners of gold stars receive $20,000.)

“As far as I knew, he was going on a big adventure. It sounded like he was going to a summer camp. I didn’t know until much later that there was a gold star,” said Jimmy’s mom, Brenda, who teaches high school in Salem. Translation: “I, too, wish that Jimmy had stayed until he’d won that $20,000.”

Photo Finish for ‘Kid Nation’ and ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ in Reality Premiere Battle [TV Week]
‘Nation’ Kid: I Wanted to Go Home Because It Was Brutal [Boston Herald]
Earlier: ’Kid Nation’: And Then There Were 39
Ten Annoying Child Actors We’d Love to Send to ‘Kid Nation’