Reality TV just got a whole lot younger — thanks to children chopping broccoli! They’re doing battle on Fox’s MasterChef Junior, a cooking-competition show that offers no end of potential hazards for little ‘uns, and we don’t even mean host Gordon Ramsay’s (toned-down) signature criticism. High shelves with giant KitchenAid mixers! Heavy pans filled with hot oil! It’s enough to make you worry for those crafty tykes’ safety — and to dose you with a soupçon of déja vù. The last time reality-show producers threw a bunch of children in front of the cameras and left them to fend for themselves, the result was Kid Nation, the short-lived, controversial, but nonetheless beloved 2007 CBS competition program that rewarded its tiny participants with gold stars and punished them with a bottle of unmarked bleach and bullying. So how closely do these two flyweight contenders match up? Let’s check out the tale of tape.
 Kid Nation |
 MasterChef Junior |
|
|---|---|---|
| The Setting | Bonanza City | The MasterChef kitchen |
| The Players | kids, from 8 to 15 years old | kids, from 8 to 13 years old |
| The Father Figure | Host Jonathan Karsh | Chefs and judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot |
| The Grand Prize | Actual gold stars worth anywhere from $20,000–$50,000 each | $100,000 and the MasterChef Junior trophy |
| The Inspiration | Lord of the Flies | Kid Nation |
| The Length | 40 days | Unverified, but appears to be one full day (they wear the same clothes every episode) |
| The Hardest Task | Overcoming homesickness | Reaching the mixer |
| The Mean Girl | Taylor | Alexander |
| The Popular One | Sophia | Roen |
| The Jock | Greg | Troy |
| The Runt | Jimmy | Sarah |
| The Stoner | Blaine | Roen |
| The Geek | Jared | Tommy |
| The Danger | Bullying | Overseasoning |
| The Actual Danger | A pan filled with hot oil | A pan filled with hot oil |
