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Ten boys vs ten girls were left unsupervised in house for a week and the results are absolute chaos

This would not fly today.

Daisy Phillipson

Ten boys and ten girls were left unsupervised in a house for a week as part of a controversial social experiment and the results were frankly chaotic.

You can watch segments from the experiment below:

Back in the early 2000s, producers from Channel 4's Cutting Edge decided to put together a documentary titled Boys Alone.

The episode pretty much does what it says on the tin - ten boys aged 11 to 12 were sent to live in a beautiful home in Hertfordshire for five days.

No parents, no adults (aside from those behind the camera), and none of them had met each other beforehand.

The house and garden were stocked with toys, paints, books and games, as well as a kitchen full of food.

The episode aired in 2002, only to be shortly followed by another in which the exact same experiment was conduced, only this time with a group of ten girls.

It was a modern-day Lord of the Flies situation, and while thankfully no one died, it didn't take long for things to descend into chaos.

In the case of the boys, they split into groups and almost everything in the house was destroyed.

Despite the variety of food on offer, they mostly lived off sugary cereal and fizzy drinks.

One of the boys named Michael was made to be a scapegoat by much of the group, and was even tied to a chair in the garden at one point.

When it came to the girls, chaos also ensued, no doubt due to the excitement of having no adults around.

But there was more organisation, with a couple of the girls taking it upon themselves to cook meals and clean up.

In the footage above, they can be seen eating one of the meals together at the table before another two girls organise a fashion show as a form of entertainment for the group.

Although the documentaries proved an interesting watch for viewers back at home, there was some controversy at the ethics of allowing a bunch of kids to live alone for this length of time - and have it broadcasted on national telly.

Speaking to the Mirror in 2009, when Channel 4 organised a similar social experiment for a documentary, Ruth Lewis, a mum of one of the boys named Sam, spoke out and said she regretted allowing him to take part.

"That show was awful. If I had my time again I would say no to allowing him on the show. It was just chaos and mayhem," she said .

"Watching this new show, I did think I can't believe I did that to my son. It was horrible watching it again. It's an awful lot for a child to go through at that age."

Sam, who was 19 years old at the time of the interview, added: "Any boy would say yes to an opportunity like that, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. I'd never missed my mum more in my life.

"It was mayhem and became depressing as the house divided into the two gangs and war broke out.

"The place was trashed and I'm ashamed to say that I even turned into a bit of a hooligan."

Topics:  UK News , Channel 4 , Documentaries

Daisy graduated from Kingston University with a degree in Magazine Journalism, writing a thesis on the move from print to digital publishing. Continuing this theme, she has written for a range of online publications including Digital Spy and Little White Lies, with a particular passion for TV and film. Contact her on [email protected]

@ DaisyWebb77

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Why ‘the social dilemma’ on netflix is such an important film.

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There’s a girl staring into a mirror.

She has a bland expression on her face, but something's not quite right.

She keeps touching her hair as if she wants to push her ears in. Earlier that day, someone shared an elephant emoji on one of her social media posts. “Can your ears be any bigger?” the person asked in a comment. Maybe it didn’t register at first.

It does now. Looking into the mirror, she pushes her ear in again as a tear drops down her face. You feel the pain she’s experiencing from what was probably meant as a joke.

Sadly, it’s not a joke. This is a scene from the documentary film called The Social Dilemma on Netflix and it’s one of the most important movies the company has ever released, especially if you have kids. When I watched it, I took furious notes about who was speaking and what they said. That’s partly because I’m currently working on a book about good and bad habits, but mostly because it’s a riveting expose.

Look, I know how this all works. Watching the movie, I couldn’t help but think how all of this constant clicking, swiping, and liking has impacted our lives. I’ve covered social media since about 2008 when these apps debuted on mobile devices. 

I wrote about the dangers even back then. My own journey had a major false start. I created a Twitter account in about 2007 and posted a few article links, then noticed someone kept bashing my work over and over. I deleted that Twitter account and started over about six months later. It’s one reason my only option was @jmbrandonbb and not something a bit easier to find. Honestly, I didn’t want my full, real name to appear in the username after that initial foray.

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I’m quite a bit older than the middle schooler who appears in that documentary, and that scene is a re-creation that runs throughout the film as a way to depict what life is like now. Some people seem to hate it . To me, it’s spot on. The girl is an actor but I couldn’t help but wonder if the tears were genuine and based on real experiences. We’re all human. In one segment, the brilliant ethicist Tristan Harris notes that we were not really meant to receive feedback on what we do and say every five minutes.

The documentary is exposing some hard truths. It uses terms like surveillance capitalism and positive intermittent reinforcement that, quite honestly, if you don’t already know what they mean then you might already be lulled into the honeytrap. You might already be stuck in one.

“Social media isn’t a tool that’s just waiting to be used,” says Harris. “It has its own goals and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your own psychology against you.”

In other words: The tool is alive. It knows you. It’s feeding you information you think you want and need but in reality is eliciting action and clicks as a way to fuel advertising.

The documentary does not soften any punches. It refers to us as lab rats in a way that is not meant to be funny anymore. We’re all rats at this point. We think it’s all about getting cheese as a reward and it’s harmless, but there is a lot more at stake. Not sure if you know this, but most lab rats don’t live a long and fruitful life.

I learned several other terms. Dopamine deficit state. A pleasure-pain balance. It’s like I’m being pulled out of the matrix, although I’ve known about the allure for some time. Most of us like the matrix, mostly because of the juicy steak .

Tools that are alive are the most dangerous. My view is that it’s time to start viewing digital media and other apps as part of the vast experiment that the movie is describing and to do something about it. There are quite a few methods to combat the allure of social media, but there is one you can do right now after reading this.

We know we’re clicking too much. We know it’s captivating. One simple step to consider: Grab your phone right now and look over your apps. Which one is capturing all of your attention right now? For the techies out there, you can actually find out. On an iPhone, for example, long-press on Settings, go to Battery, and scroll down to see your most used apps. This is not easy to admit, but lately mine has been Instagram. I’ve been documenting the book-writing process but I’m going to delete it for a month.

I’ll report back later on how this all went. If you deleted an app you have been using too much, that has been pulling you away from real life, drop me an email and explain why you use it so much. Let me know if you really did delete it, and what you hope to gain from this exercise. Let’s compare notes on our findings.

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Netflix's We Are the Wave Is Inspired By an Infamous '60s High School Experiment on Nazi Germany

The series about a group of rebellious teens is inspired by an infamous, real-life lesson about fascism.

The german series We Are the Wave, available on Netflix, is more than a drama about teenage rebellion. The series has historical roots that draw loosely from Morton Rhue’s novel The Wave, which fictionalized the true account of a '60s high school social experiment gone-wrong that re-enacted the roots of Nazi Germany. For those of you impassioned by wave logos spray-painted on high school facades (aren’t we all?), here’s the gist.

What Is the Netflix Show About?

We Are the Wave follows Tristan, a scruffy new kid from juvy, as he sparks a friendship with some unlikely cohorts: prim straight-A student Lea, a skater named Rahim, meek Zazie moonlighting as the mean girls’ favorite punching bag, and Hagen, the bungling recluse. Each of them faces their own daily battles. There’s the biohazardous paper factory that polluted Hagen’s family land, the right-wing extremists that target Rahim on a daily basis, and the very students that perpetuate a climate of racism and exclusion in their high school. Tristan, with his devil-may-care attitude, incites his new friends to fight back against a system that proves eternally demoralizing.

The protests start out relatively harmless. They parade around a supermarket enrobed in the plastic packaging of the merchandize and steal from fashion retailers who burn rather than donate unsold garments so the needy won’t don designer clothes. But as more people join The Wave, their symbolic protests against unbridled capitalism and environmental hazards take a dark turn. Suddenly they’re smashing neo-nazis’ cars, destroying paper factories, and poisoning the leader of the extreme right.

What Was The Real Third Wave?

It began at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High School in 1967 when a student asked his history teacher how the Germans were able to accept the Nazi regime. Ron Jones was a beloved sophomore history teacher known for his unorthodox teaching methods. He invited controversial guest speakers like klansmen and communists, made the mostly-white students use different toilets in simulations of Apartheid, and he directed his students to come up with ten arguments for and against the Vietnam War. And so when Jones promised his students that they would all get A’s if they followed a new exercise, they embraced the game wholeheartedly.

It wasn’t until Ron Jones published an account of his experience a few years later that the experiment reached the public eye. According to Jones, what started out as a one day exercise with him writing “Strength Through Discipline” on the board and explaining the importance of straight posture unraveled into a community with its own salute, insignia, banners, and a dog-eat-dog culture of intimidation. According to the 2010 documentary Lesson Plan , which gathered former students’ accounts of the experiment, an atmosphere of exclusion, hubris, and fear took hold. Those who didn’t join feared being shunned or called out by their fellow classmates. Students from multiple grades and two nearby schools began cutting class to attend Mr. Jones's meetings until his classroom overflowed. “ The Third Wave ,” which had started out as a game amongst less than 30 sophomores, metastasized into a movement with at least 200 students across the city.

On the fifth day of the exercise, Mr. Jones gathered students in a rally where they awaited the announcement of their party leader on nationalized TV. He unveiled the gimmick by playing footage of Hitler and the Nuremberg Rally instead. It should not come as a surprise that our dear Mr. Jones was also an actor, with a refined taste for theatrics. “You are no better or worse,” he claims to have said, “than the German Nazis we have been studying." Because of the controversial—though effective—teaching method, Jones was fired, and never able to find a teaching job in the U.S., according to the documentary.

Despite its unorthodox execution, The Third Wave had significant impact on various students. Former student Nancy West said she found the experiment ‘enlightening’ because it made her realize that anyone could have done what the Germans did, while Mark Hancock finds himself since then wary of anyone overzealous about a cause or a charismatic leader. The Third Wave experiment brought to light our creepy reverence for authority, shedding harrowing Milgram -esque insight into how easily we assuage moral conflict and diffuse responsibility when we’re commanded to “follow orders.” It also showcased our intrinsic desire to conform and belong, lest we be a lone wolf withering in an un-sexy solitude.

How Does the Netflix Series Incorporate the Real Experiment?

Netflix’s We Are The Wave approaches these themes of Jones's experiment from a different light. The color-penciled sea wave insignia that graced Cumberly’s halls is spray-painted all over the fictitious german city of Meppersfeld. Tristan and co. escape their discontent through one another in their quest to belong and find an overarching purpose. Even though they explore liberalism in lieu of Nazi-esque fascism, the results of any extreme movement prove equally disastrous. In their left-wing quest to save the environment, eschew discrimination, and mitigate capitalism, they become their own enemy as they resort to equal or more violent acts of destruction.

Netflix also adds a physical layer to the experiment’s exploration of groupthink and conformity, introducing facemasks that visualize how actions are fueled through anonymity. Just like in The Third Wave and Nazi Germany, responsibility is diffused through group mentality that thaws individuals into members of a whole where violent acts are normalized by the encouragement or acceptance of your peers. The series illustrates the dangers inherent to social movements, however positive the underlying motives may be, and reminds us that certain circumstances breed behavior we would have never thought ourselves capable of.

It makes sense that Todd Strasser’s book The Wave , inspired by this experiment, is required reading in Germany. Maybe knowing that we’re susceptible to the very events we criticize will keep us from one day drawing cute little wave doodles and proliferating an extremist political insignia.

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Netflix viewers praise new series of real-life social experiment as 'best doc they have ever released'

"hope there will be a second season".

Stefania Sarrubba

Netflix viewers have been heaping praise upon a new series that focuses on an absolutely wild social experiment, and many can't believe it's real.

Netflix long reigns as the King of docu-series , and this one certainly adds to the streaming giant's golden track record.

Titled Unlocked: A Jail Experiment , the docuseries manages to bring a TV crew into the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, following a group of detainees who were given unprecedented freedom and authority over their unit, Block H.

Consisting of eight episodes, the series is the brainchild of Sheriff Eric Higgins, a Democrat who supports prison reform and rehabilitative programmes for inmates.

His aim was to improve the way the facility is run, whilst empowering inmates and holding them accountable for their actions .

The ambitious idea was implemented over a period of six weeks in 2023.

That's when the deputies were removed from the unit, with the intention to give detainees more control over their daily routines, hoping this would eventually lead to a more community-oriented approach to life in prison.

In addition to moving the deputy station out of the unit, the staff installed monitors to ensure outside supervision and safety.

Meanwhile, the men who chose to participate were also briefed about taking part in a docuseries, with those accused or previously convicted of sexual violence excluded from the project.

Speaking about the series, Higgins insisted that the goal was also to discourage people from re-offending.

In order to ensure this, the experiment entailed a tier-based structure mirrored after a re-entry unit elsewhere in the facility. According to this system, detainees who demonstrated consistent good behaviour would receive more benefits.

"They stepped up. They recognized that they can improve their environment. And the majority of the people in the unit did the right thing from Day 1," Higgins shared with Tudum .

The series documented both the positive and negative experiences for inmates involved in the project, with viewers responding well and contributing making Unlocked Number 2 in Netflix's Top 10 after just one week on the streaming platform.

"Unlocked: a jail experiment on netflix is one of the best docus they have ever released," one person noted on X.

"That was an effing good show, Netflix! Hope there will be a second season!" another fan of Unlocked wrote. "I hope that the ex-inmates stay focus and on the road."

While some have voiced their shock at the revelations the inmates made about their backstories prior to serving time, more and more people are asking for a second instalment of Unlocked , proving that Higgins' novel experiment doesn't just give more power to the inmates, but also makes for compelling TV and helps challenge prejudices.

"In this country, we have a certain perception of someone who goes to jail — the assumption being that they’re guilty," Higgins said.

"But they deserve dignity. These individuals, they're fathers, they're uncles, they're sons. People care about them… they're not just a number. I believe that if you treat people right, and you hold them accountable… I think they take that with them when they walk out of this facility. I think we have proven that people will rise to the expectation."

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment is streaming now on Netflix.

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How to 'fake' your way to fame: New HBO documentary exposes the truth about influencers

Fake Famous , an HBO documentary that aired Tuesday night, took a deep dive into the world of influencers, and their obsession with fame, as journalist and first-time director Nick Bilton conducted a social experiment to find out if he could turn three unknown people, with nearly no followings, into famous influencers using a few social media tricks.

First, Bilton held a casting call for the experiment's participants. Chosen were aspiring actress Dominique Druckman, fashion designer Chris Bailey and real estate assistant Wylie Heiner. Bilton then purchased fake followers and bots to like and comment on all three participants' Instagram profiles. Next, the content.

Bilton set up completely fake photoshoots for the participants, a ploy that apparently many influencers use. "We're simply doing what so many other influencers do. We're faking it," said Bilton.

One of the documentary's experts, social media manager Hana Hussein stated, "So much of it is so contrived and fake. I've worked with influencers for projects where, you know, you select them off of their Instagram, and their images, and then you ask them to come in and do a shoot or an interview, and they will refuse to take photos, because they highly edit their own images and they won't be comfortable with whatever we shoot."

"People fake private gym trainings so that, later, they can go and get a free training at a private gym. These fake photos quickly become a currency that you can use to get free real experiences, products, and sponsorships," explained Bilton.

"They fake all-expense-paid camping trips so that later, they can get a free all-expense-paid camping trip. They fake hikes in the redwoods so that they can try and get free hiking gear and sponsorships. They fake free upgrades to first class or trips on private jets, and all you really need to do that is a $12 toilet seat," shared Bilton as he held up a toilet seat over a scenic background on the television to make it look like Druckman was flying 35,000 feet in the air.

During one scene, Bailey learned that there is a fake private jet set that can be rented out for $50 an hour, for influencers to take pictures pretending like they are on a private luxury flight. The kicker — it is completely booked around the clock.

While each participant had very different experiences during this social experiment (both Bailey and Heiner ultimately decided the experiment wasn't for them), Druckman thrived and, within a few months, had well over 100K followers — most of which were bots, but some were actually real.

"We had assumed that we would have to reach out to places and brands in order to get these free experiences. But instead they started to find her," said Bilton.

Bilton also shared, "It got to a point where Dom could simply tag a brand in a photo and they'd be the ones reaching out, asking her to take their products for free."

Meanwhile, Druckman's newfound IG fame led to a career boost. Druckman shared, "I've been getting so many more auditions and callbacks. My agent, he's like, 'Yeah, your Instagram has, like, blown up, and that's definitely helped you get into the doors of, like, a lot of casting offices.'"

It was on an all-expense paid trip for VIP influencers, where Druckman realized just how fake influencer marketing is, as she shared, "A lot of the girls are like, 'I don't even know if I can use these photos.' I'm like, 'These are incredible photos. What are you talking about?'"

Five months into the experiment, Bilton purchased even more bots for Druckman, and took her following up to 250,000 followers. Soon after, Druckman was given the opportunity to experience the "hallmark of influencer fame: a free all-expense-paid vacation, which includes a free hotel suite for Dom and a friend, a $1,000 shopping spree, bottle service at a club, dinner at a five-star restaurant, and spa treatment. What does Dom have to do for all this? Just post the whole experience on Instagram, tag the hotels and spa, and make sure that her hundreds of thousands of followers see it." Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic hit.

"We've been copying these influencers by faking it just like them, and throughout this whole process, as we peeled back layer after layer of what really happens behind the scenes, I kept wondering if any of it was real, if anything these influencers did was actually authentic," said Bilton.

While Bilton continued to dig deeper to find out if anything influencers did was actually authentic, ultimately, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, when reports surfaced of influencers using the protests to stage photo opportunities that, to him, solidified his answer.

Bilton stated, "We instantly went into quarantine as a global pandemic started to kill hundreds of thousands of people. And yet what was so strange was, when you scrolled through Instagram, all those influencers we were trying to emulate, they were still posting photos of themselves as if everything was perfectly normal. They were posting pictures of themselves on the beach, even though the beaches were closed."

"It's not just about the fake followers and the fake photos and the fake fame that's so troubling here. At the end of the day, they don't make you feel better about yourself. The entire concept of influencing is to make you feel worse. It's to say, 'Look at this lavish life I live, look at these amazing vacations I go on and these wonderful products I use.' Even if, in reality, it's not that wonderful."

Druckman concluded, "Seeing what all of these girls do, like, behind the scenes and then what they put on their feed and how the world perceives them is just so sad, but I think I'm in that boat, too, 'cause people think I'm an influencer and definitely treat me differently once they see how many followers I have. People think so differently of you."

Fake Famous aired February 2 at 9 p.m. on HBO .

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The surreal, sad story behind the acclaimed new doc ‘Three Identical Strangers’

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When they were first reunited at age 19, the triplets quickly discovered how much they shared in common. Though they’d been separated at birth, David Kellman, Bobby Shafran and Eddy Galland had all individually grown up loving many of the same things: Marlboro cigarettes, wrestling, the same type of woman.

Decades later, at 56, the brothers are still learning about their commonalities. As boys, Kellman and Shafran shared the same vision problem: Amblyopia, a condition in which the brain and eye are out of sync, resulting in a lazy eye. But only Kellman was treated for the ailment — a fact that infuriates the siblings.

The brothers have spent the past few years, in fact, working through rage — anger toward the fate that befell them. What began as a miraculous fairy tale — three long-lost brothers stumble upon one another through sheer happenstance! — has since devolved into a dark tale of deception and inhumanity. It’s the story at the heart of “Three Identical Strangers,” a just-released documentary that premiered to jaw-on-the-floor reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January. (It debuted to impressive ticket sales in its very limited release over the weekend.)

The movie, directed by British filmmaker Tim Wardle, tracks how the triplets randomly found one another in 1980 and instantly became media darlings. They were interviewed by Tom Brokaw and Phil Donahue, wearing matching outfits and answering questions eerily in sync. The trio formed a bond so fast that it was almost as if they hadn’t been raised by three different adoptive families. They moved into an apartment together in New York City, later opening a SoHo restaurant called — what else? — Triplet’s, which attracted scores of tourists.

Slowly, however, the bloom came off the rose. In 1995, after a struggle with mental illness, Galland committed suicide. That same year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright published an article in the New Yorker shedding light on a disturbing psychological study. The scientific inquiry, masterminded by prominent psychologist Dr. Peter Neubauer and his Child Development Center, set out to answer the fundamental question of nature vs. nurture. Through the now-defunct Louise Wise adoption agency, an unknown number of twins and triplets were placed in different homes and secretly observed for years by researchers who diligently made home visits. (Parents were told these visits were standard, to track the adoptive children’s progress.)

Kellman, Shafran and Galland were part of the study, each strategically placed in a blue-collar, middle-class and wealthy home. The disclosure is at the crux of “Three Identical Strangers,” which unfolds like a thrilling, macabre mystery.

“It’s beyond anger,” Shafran said, describing his emotional state after the revelation came to light. “We’ve been called ‘subjects.’ We’re victims. There’s a big difference. I don’t want to play off like we’re horribly injured people now as adults — we have families, we have children — we’re relatively normal people. But they treated us like lab rats. Nothing more. And we’re human beings.”

He was sitting with his brother, Kellman, and the film’s director in Park City, Utah, earlier this year, a few hours after the documentary had first played for the public. The experience, the siblings said, had been moving. Kellman heard many audience members crying, and said a number of people approached him post-screening to offer him hugs.

“A couple came over to us and said, ‘On behalf of all the research psychologists in the world, we’re sorry,’” he recalled.

Though the festival experience proved cathartic, both brothers were extremely hesitant about partaking in the documentary; it took four years for Wardle to convince them to participate.

“If you see what’s happened to these guys in their lives, it’s not surprising that they’re initially wary when people approach them,” said the filmmaker. “We’re British people coming in and saying ‘We want to tell your life story.’ And they’ve been messed around a lot by the media. I would be suspicious of people.”

Kellman agrees: “After all this time, they were so excited about our story and we wondered what they really had in mind.”

A teaser Wardle created to help raise additional funding for the project early on didn’t help. When the brothers saw it, they had second thoughts about moving forward. Even Wardle acknowledges that the sizzle reel was “quite tabloid” and “a bit sensationalist” for selling purposes.

“For every talk show we were on, every snapshot we were promised — no one ever sent us anything. It felt like everyone was making money on us but us,” Shafran said. “This wasn’t about money — it was just that if we were going to tell our story, we wanted to tell it truthfully.”

Despite the teaser misstep, Kellman said he and his brother decided to take a “leap of faith” and move forward with Wardle. And as a result of their participation in the film, a slew of new information has come to light. Because of the filmmaking team’s persistence, thousands of pages from the Neubauer study have been released to the brothers.

When Neubauer died in 2008, he went to his grave having never spoken publicly about his findings. He left his research at Yale University, where it is to be sealed until 2065 — presumably so that any subject of his study would be dead before they could access it.

Access to the papers at Yale is controlled by the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. An earlier incarnation of the 150-year-old nonprofit was called the Jewish Board of Guardians, and that organization was one of two that helped establish Neubauer’s Child Development Center in 1947.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Jewish Board said the group does “not endorse the Neubauer study, and we deeply regret that it took place. We recognize the great courage of the individuals who participated in the film, and we are appreciative that this film has created an opportunity for a public discourse about the study. For many years, The Jewish Board has been, and will continue to be, committed to providing people who were involved with the Neubauer study access to their records in a timely and transparent manner.”

Indeed, after Wardle got involved, The Jewish Board did give Kellman and Shafran access to about 10,000 pages from the study. There were some interesting findings — such as the Amblyopia revelation — but most of the pages were heavily redacted and none reported formal conclusions.

“The data was collected but the results were never published, and we’re getting to a point where we’re pretty sure that nothing was ever done with it,” said Shafran, a lawyer who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children. “And then what was the whole point of this, right? All this observation, collecting all this data, and no conclusions?”

When the brothers initially learned about the study, they consulted an attorney but were told that the statute of limitations might prove to be an issue in the case. Shafran found the explanation ludicrous: “It’s not like someone left a scalpel in someone’s belly button. How many cases like this do you have to compare it to? What they did to us wasn’t a question of law. These people were entrusted with God-like power and decisions.”

Since “Three Identical Strangers” — which will air on CNN in early 2019 — Kellman and Shafran have begun to reconsider their legal options.

Though their participation in the documentary has led to the stirring of painful memories, it has also led to tangible movement in the case. And it’s given the two brothers “a reason to spend more time together and work harder on our relationship,” said Kellman, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children and works as an insurance agent.

Wardle said he was extremely cognizant of the effect his movie could have on the brothers.

“Because of their background, it threw up a lot of ethical considerations for us,” he admitted. “Normally on a documentary like this when people are talking about painful memories from their past, we would probably expect them to speak to a psychologist beforehand and have a talk and make sure they were comfortable and happy with it. And we offered them that. But it’s their decision whether they take it up or not. We’re certainly not going to press it on them, because they’ve been through quite a hard time psychologically.”

Shafran shook his head and offered a nervous laugh.

“I mean,” he said, “how little could they do for someone like me?”

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'Three Identical Strangers' Tells The Astounding Story Of Triplets Separated At Birth

David Edelstein

Tim Wardle's new knockout documentary starts out as a Parent Trap -like lark about three young men who, by chance, realize that they are triplets, but ultimately takes a more devastating turn.

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Full Cast of Unlocked: A Jail Experiment Netflix: Meet the People & Inmates In New Reality Series (Photos)

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment gives an overview of what prison life is really like in the new Netflix docuseries. 

The eight-part series explores an unprecedented experiment where unit cells are unlocked for six weeks to allow detainees to create a sense of community within the confines of prison. 

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment premiered on Netflix on April 10. 

Every Main Cast Member of Unlocked: A Jail Experiment

Arkansas sheriff eric higgins.

Sheriff Eric Higgins serves as the man behind the idea of transforming Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas into a community anchored by the detainees. 

The goal of this endeavor is to find out whether giving detainees more autonomy and responsibility would lead to a peaceful jail community. 

Speaking with TUDUM , Higgins revealed that they talked to everyone involved about all the possibilities and the expected behavior of the inmates, noting, "We didn't automatically open the doors:"

"We talked to them about the possibilities, and about behavior. We gave them a list of responsibilities and [made] personnel available to them to ask more detailed questions [before filming began]."

Tiny, whose real name is Krisna Pino Clarke, is one of the inmates of the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility. 

Tiny's nickname comes from the fact that he's the smallest person (5'3) in any crew he's in. He was charged with aggravated robbery and 1st-degree robbery. 

Having been in and out of jail since 19 years old, Tiny admitted that being locked up in Pulaski has been hard because they were only given one hour of free time every day, which is why tensions were always rising. 

Chief Hendricks

Chief Hendricks runs the sheriff office's detention section says in the confessional that he was a "little bit concerned" about Chief Higgins' plan due to the serious nature of the cases of the inmates. 

Capt. Calvin

One of the attendees of the meeting before opening the jail doors of the detention center is Captain Calvin. 

She said that the inmates need several pod bosses if the goal is to make a peaceful community set within the confines of the detention center, noting, "Somebody is [going to] take control."

Lt. Freeman

Lieutenant Freeman, another attendee, suggested that they should have makeshift shanks since the deputies would be outside and the detainees would be left alone. 

Freeman pointed out that the shanks are needed "to kind of keep them on their toes." Similar to Hendricks, he appears to be not a fan of what Chief Higgins is trying to do with the inmates: 

"It's kind of scary. They could create some type of riot situation."

28-year-old Eastside (John McCallister) is another inmate taking part in the experiment. He has been in jail for 14 times ever since he was 19 years old. 

He was charged with possession of drugs with a firearm. The Nebraska native said in the confessional that he loves the "adrenaline-rush high, knowing you could get caught."

Randy Randall

Randy Randall, 46, is the assigned cleanup inmate responsible for helping the deputy to make sure that everything is tidy in the detention center. 

Randall works hard to run over the trays, wash the tables, and get the laundry on Saturdays. 

He was charged with domestic assault and possession of drugs and he was in jail for nine times. 

He supports what Chief Higgins is trying to do and he wants his fellow inmates to feel the same. Randall, the de facto leader of the group, is the peacemaker of the group, pointing out that he does not like confrontations.

Deputy Wainwright

Deputy Wainwright is the one who assigned Randy Randall as the cleanup guy of the H unit in Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility. She trusts Randy to do the right thing since he makes her job easy inside the facility. 

She also gave an overview of how cleanup works in the H unit. 

Tyler is one of the inmates who made a scene in Episode 1 after disrespecting Deputy Wainwright over an argument about what not to do with leftovers. 

The fact that Tyler disrespected Wainwright in front of everybody didn't sit well with Randall, and this is why he called him out publicly about his misdeeds.

Tyler also doesn't like the idea that another inmate is telling him what to do, citing the fact that "it pushes [his] buttons."

William Lovelace

One of the inmates who confronted Chief Higgins during the initial announcement of his experiment is William Lovelace. 

Lovelace said that Higgins should focus on programs that help people get out of jail instead of being comfortable in jail. 

He mentioned that he doesn't want to be inside and be pacified. Instead, he wants go to back to his family and start fresh.

Higgins responded by saying that the experiment's ultimate goal is to do just that. 

Crooks has mixed reactions over what Chief Higgins is trying to, telling the confessional, "There's no way that you can possibly let criminals govern theirselves."

Parkinson is happy with what Chief Higgins is trying to do for the H unit, with him saying that it's about time that their situation gets acknowledged. 

He mentioned that he'll believe it will work once he sees that it will not turn into chaos. 

Once the older generation of inmates try to take the charge in building a community, Parkinson appears to be not a fan of this move since he believes that the younger ones need to serve as leaders. 

Don Don thinks that he can handle the fact that the guards are outside. 

However, he believes that it will take one person to mess all of it up for the inmates. 

Mayham (Mason Abraham) is a firm believer that the experiment will work if his fellow inmates follow the basic rules and don't start petty fights. 

Despite that, he is not a fan of older guys leading the unit as opposed to younger ones.

Mayham,21, was charged with capital murder. He hopes to get out of prison so that he can be reunited with his daughter.

Part of Randy's inner circle is his fellow inmate, Squirrel. Despite being hot headed, Squirrel only wants to be respected by his peers inside the unit and fix everyone's problems. 

Randy wants Squirrel to align himself with his plan to build a sensible community within the confines of the prison, and it starts by voting fellow inmates to act as leaders during the experiment. 

David Miller

David Miller is a former nightshift manager at Wingstop who was charged with domestic battery. 

The other inmates, such as Crooks and Ty, is annoyed by some of David's antics and hurtful jokes inside the unit. Ty even described him as "a fucking alien from a different planet."

Wutzke, one of the older generations in the unit, thinks that the experiment will work if everyone will simply try to get along. 

If not, then "you get your ass whooped" and a brawl will begin. 

Lieutenant Atwood 

Lieutenant Atwood is one of the deputies at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility who wants to keep the inmates in check despite the freedom given to them. 

In Episode 3, Atwood, alongside Lt. Freeman, pays a surprise visit inside the H Unit to remind them that they can see everything outside and warns them not to do some hidden brawls inside the cells.

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment is now streaming on Netflix.

Read more about other Netflix shows:

What Jennifer Did Netflix Cast: Meet the Real People In New Documentary (Photos)

Yuba County Five Updates: Is the Case Solved In 2024? Netflix's Unexplained Mystery Speculation

Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer Cast: The People in Netflix's New Documentary Series (Photos)

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The Robbers Cave Experiment: The Psychological Study Of Unsupervised Boys That Inspired Lord Of The Flies

In an effort to test one of his theories on social behavior, psychologist muzafer sherif released 22 twelve-year-old boys into a sparsely supervised wilderness camp — and then covertly provoked them to fight each other..

The British Psychological Society /University of Akron Some of 22 12-year-old boys unknowingly en route to participate in Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment.

In the summer of 1954, world-renowned social psychologist Muzafer Sherif toted 22 boys to the foothills of the San Bois Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. There, in Robbers Cave State Park, he intended to conduct an unprecedented social experiment that involved pitting sparsely supervised 12-year-old boys against each other in the Oklahoma wilderness.

This was the Robbers Cave experiment, and its startling outcome would inspire the harrowing book Lord of the Flies just a year later. Nearly six decades since, experts dub the experiment unethical as it appears to have left lasting mental damage on its subjects.

The First Experiment: Camp Middle Grove

Muzafer Sherif was born in the Ottoman Empire and won a slot to study psychology at Harvard. He quickly realized that lab research on rats was too confining and he wanted a more complex subject: humans.

Fascination with social psychology had, with reason, reached a peak following WWII, and so Sherif was able to secure a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. 

His initial experiment required that 11-year-old boys be sent under the guise of a summer camp to Middle Grove park in upstate New York. There Sherif would split the boys into teams, pit them against each other for prizes, and then try to reunite them using a series of frustrating and life-threatening events — like a forest fire. Neither the parents nor the boys, obviously, knew this was a study.

The Robbers Cave experiment, then, was the second of Sherif’s, as his study at Middle Grove in the summer of 1953 had in his mind not accomplished the outcome he had hoped for. He was looking for confirmation of his “ Realistic Conflict Theory “, which stated that groups would compete for limited resources even against their friends and allies, but come together in the face of a common disaster regardless of those alliances.

The boys at Middle Grove had not cooperated with this theory. They stayed friends despite all hardships, even when Sherif had his staffers steal their clothes, raze their tents, and smash their toys all the while framing other campers.

The experiment ended in a drunken brawl between one of the leading social psychologists in the world, Muzafer Sherif, and his research assistants as his experiment had not cooperated with him.

Sherif resolved to try again with the Robbers Cave experiment.

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The Robbers Cave Experimental Camp

Scientific American Blog A group of boys explore a cliff which overlooks their campsite.

Sherif still had money from the grant for the first study but after his failure, felt that his reputation was at risk. This time he would keep the boys separated from the beginning so that they couldn’t form the pesky friendships which had thwarted the study at Middle Grove. The groups were the Rattlers and the Eagles.

The two groups were unaware of each other for the first two days. They bonded with their own group through standard camp activities like hiking and swimming.

Once the groups seemed to be solidly formed, Sherif and his team instituted the ‘competition phase’ of the Robbers Cave experiment. The groups were introduced to each other and a series of rivalrous activities were scheduled. There would be a tug-of-war, baseball and so forth. Prizes would also be awarded, trophies at stake, and there would be no consolation prizes for the losers. The Rattlers declared they would be the winners and monopolized the baseball field in order to practice.

They put their flag up on the field and told the Eagles they had better not touch it.

The Conflict

Competition is apparent on this haughty flag.

The staffers began to interfere more aggressively in the Robbers Cave experiment. They deliberately caused conflict and once arranged for one group to be late for lunch so that the other group would eat all the food.

At first, the conflict between the boys was verbal with just taunts and name-calling. But under the careful guidance of Sherif and his staff, it soon became physical. The Eagles were supplied with matches and they burned their rival’s flag. The Rattlers retaliated, invaded the Eagles’ cabin, and wrecked it and stole their belongings.

The conflict escalated to violence so that the groups had to be separated for two days.

Now that the kids hated each other, Sherif decided it was time to vindicate his theory and bring them back together. So he shut off the drinking water.

The Rattlers and Eagles set off to find the water tank which was on a mountain. The only water they had was what was in their canteens. When they arrived at the tank, hot and thirsty, the groups had already begun to merge.

Resolution and Legacy Of The Robbers Cave Experiment

The campers found the valve to the tank but it was covered with rocks, so they joined together and removed the rocks as quickly as possible. This pleased Sherif immensely as it was in direct agreement with his theory: the groups would fight over limited resources but band together when faced with a common threat.

Nevermind that the experiment was ethically and procedurally dubious, as Sherif had gotten the results that he wanted and his theory, along with the study itself, garnered great publicity. But even professionals who used the study in their textbooks doubted its value.

Six decades of development in the field have led modern psychologists to criticize the study. Sherif conducted his experiment under the belief that it was meant to showcase his theory, not either prove or disprove it. In this way, he could very easily and in many ways did, finagle the outcome he desired.

Further, the boys were all middle-class and white, and all shared a Protestant, two-parent background. The study in this way was not reflective of real-life and was considered limited. There was also the ethical issue surrounding the participants’ deception: neither the children nor their parents knew what they had consented to, and the boys were in many cases left unattended or in danger of harm.

Regardless of these qualms, the Robbers Cave experiment has left a legacy — particularly on the participants.

Now-grown camper Doug Griset recalls ironically: “I’m not traumatized by the experiment, but I don’t like lakes, camps, cabins or tents.”

If you enjoyed this article about the Robbers Cave experiment, then read about how the Stanford Prison Experiment ended in disaster or cringe at this list of the most evil scientific experiments ever performed.

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This Intense New Drama-Thriller Is Based on a Heartbreaking True Story—and It Stars 2 Mega-Famous Singers

And i spoke to the film's breakout star, jay will.

I can honestly say it’s been a long time since a movie genuinely made me cry, but Rob Peace did exactly that when I watched it over the weekend. I must admit, I was on the fence about this film at first. I looked up the story of the real-life Rob Peace and I saw his was one of heartbreak and tragedy, and as an  African- American , I’ve seen more than my fair share of traumatic stories with horrible endings (as is the case with many of us). Fortunately, I was fully convinced to see the film after chatting exclusively with the film's star, none other than rising musician and actor  Jay Will , who portrays Peace. Here, the reasons I'm so glad I made this my  weekend watch  (and why you should too).

What Is Rob Peace About?

Rob Peace is about a brilliant young man (Will) who puts everything to the side to free his imprisoned father (who he believes is innocent) serving a life sentence for double murder. Peace is able to use his genius to get him out on a technicality…but for only about a week before the state appeals and sends him right back to prison. Not to spoil the story in its entirety, things go downhill from there. 

I Got an Educational Experience

Perhaps I should have, but I didn't know the full story of Rob Peace before watching this film. I wasn't alone, however, because Will, apparently, wasn't too familiar either before taking the role. "Similar to you, I didn’t know who Rob Peace was," he says. "Once I got into the script, I felt like I knew this guy. This is my cousin, my uncle and my brother—I know this guy." I felt the same way when watching as Will brought a certain relatability to the role. He made me realize that Rob Peace is my cousin, uncle and brother as well. It was also an educational experience because as I just said, I had no prior knowledge of Peace’s story prior to this weekend. While he only lived to the age of 30, there was a lot packed into those years that made it a full journey.

I'm in Love with Chiwetel Ejiofor's Directing

Chiwetel Ejiofor is as good of a director as he is an actor (he directs and stars in this film), which is saying something. The way the shots and dialogue are captured make it feel as though you are right there in the room with the actors, and that adds to its presentation. "Chiwetel motivated me to just keep going further and further," Will recalls. “He asked a lot of questions and made sure I stayed curious."

Rob Peace’s Story Deserves to Be Told

There are two sides to this coin. While Will acknowledges the very real concerns about tragic experiences with the African American community, he also makes the point that Rob Peace’s story is one that deserves to be told, referring to it as a love story. "On the positive side, just to put it out there…he was brilliant," Will challenges, adding, "He was so smart, gave back to his community and everything. There is a lot of love there, but it’s tainted with the systematic stuff that caused his downfall. The duality of that combined with the spiritual elements is something that can cause heavy pressure. There is the social conditioning of not wanting to see movies like this, but that isn’t this movie.  The inner workings of what I did just to make sure his mom was content with this—this isn’t some story about a Black boy that got caught up in the streets and took a wrong turn. It’s about how we can overcome these inner demons."

PureWow Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jay Will’s performance is a gripping one, with just the right amount of passion and emotion. Some of the most intense scenes are the ones that showcase the back-and-forth banter between Peace and his mother (portrayed by famous singer Mary J. Blige), in which Will says he lost himself. Another big name musician Camila Cabello does her part in in bringing the romance with her character Naya Vazquez, who tries to help Peace with his inner turmoil, but even she can only do so much unfortunately.  If you’re looking for powerful performances that check the emotional intensity box, this is a film that delivers.

Rob Peace is officially in select theaters now.

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Blake Lively’s New Movie Is About to Be the Biggest Film in America (Even if Her Costar Steals the Show)

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