In E4’s latest reality series, six teenagers are attempting to live independently to prove to their parents, and themselves, that they really are as grown-up as they think.

But halfway through the six weeks and having to work, shop, cook, clean, and get along with each other is proving a real struggle for some.

This week, the house receives a new guest. Rachel from Barnsley has joined the others in a bid to overcome her shyness and improve her sociability. At first she struggles, but after getting a job, she helps the others out by using her wages to buy her hungry housemates food.

But when it comes to deciding whether Rachel is going to stay, will she have done enough to win their friendship, or will it be a harsh life lesson? But before the housemates can gather to decide Rachel’s fate, Elliott drops a bombshell…

Stop Treating Me Like A Kid can be seen on E4 on Tuesday 14 November 2006

Blyth Wansbeck Today reports

A TEENAGER fed up with being classed as a spoilt, blonde bimbo, agreed to take part in a new reality TV show to prove she can survive on her own.

Sixteen-year-old Amy Fenwick joined seven other teens in a house in Devon and was forced to cook, clean, pay bills, find a job, and carry out all the duties a mature adult is expected to carry out, albeit in front of the full glare of the television spotlight.

The group was filmed and the six-part fly-on-the-wall documentary is now being screened on Tuesday evenings on E4.
Stop Treating Me Like A Kid challenges the teenagers to behave like adults and manage their own independence.
And Amy, of High Market, Ashington, said it was surprisingly hard work but she still managed to stay in the house for the full six weeks.

Amy admits that she did not carry out any household chores before the filming (that is what her mum is for), she owns 50 pairs of shoes, idolises Jordan, and was worried about annoying the other housemates for being a vain chatterbox.

“I feel that I really learned a lot taking part in this show,� she said.

“It was a great experience.

“I felt that I had to prove that I could look after myself, but it was also an enjoyable experience.�

Mother Rosie said her daughter has changed drastically since the show was filmed.

“I didn’t believe that she had it in her but she wanted to prove that she could get a job, look after herself and act like an independent adult,� said mum.

“She lasted the full six weeks and I’m very proud of her.

“She was fed up of simply being classed as a blonde bimbo and managed to impress a lot of people.

“The change I have noticed in her since she has came back has been remarkable.�

Amy left Ashington High School with ten GCSEs, including eight graded C or above, and is now hoping to go on to study at Newcastle College.

E4s much hyped new show ‘Stop Treating Me Like A Kid’ launched on Tuesday of this week and people have very clear opinions on the show already.

One of the best blog posts I’ve came across about the show is over at RPG’s Blogfest. Rpg believes that the show producers have managed to capture every part of teenage society with their choice of subjects. He goes on to say:

Fashion girl,
Emo lad,
Dumb blonde girl,
Posh Blairite girl,
Manc Chav lad,
Mouthy black lass,
Essex ‘rudeboy’.

The one I feel sorry for the most is the Manc chav, despite being only 14 or something and clearly having a drinking problem he’s quite pleasant when not at the family home and really wants to change his life. It became abundantly clear why he is like he is though when his mum did her piece to camera and started with “I knew Johnny would never amount to anything� and generally bad mouthing him. He’s just got a job on the show as a farming hand, so I’m quite interested now if he actually turns his life around from this, or he goes back into old habits over time.

Although, I think the funniest one in the show is the “home schooled� posh lass. Her hero is Tony Blair and covets a signed photograph of him… ohhh dearrr…

What did you all think of the show? Feel free to leave your comments here.

What are teenagers supposed to do?

Politicans think they’re workshy hoodies, while the experts are worried they’re being forced to grow up too quickly. But no-one seems to have bothered to ask teenagers themselves.

So E4 decided to find out if a group of teenagers have what it takes to tackle adulthood. For six weeks a diverse group of teenagers from across the country will move into a house in a Devon village.

For the first time in their lives they are completely independent. In the first episode, the teenagers move into the house and try to find jobs. And they soon discover that getting on – in work and with one another – isn’t as easy as it first appears.

Stop Treating me Like A Kid Airs Tonight (Tues 24th October) on E4.

STOP TREATING ME LIKE A KID
What are teenagers like? What are they capable of? Are we right to demonise them as being irresponsible, feckless hoodlums, or should we give them the independence they demand and stop mollycoddling them?

Stop Treating Me Like a Kid takes an in-depth look at what it’s like to be a teenager on the verge of adulthood. How will teenagers who struggle with the routine and structure of school cope with the responsibilities of adult life? How will a group of kids who are craving independence cope with the demands of employers, neighbours and each other? How will they choose to run their home? What will they choose to eat and what kind of social group will they create?

This six part series for E4 follows a group of teenagers on a rite of passage – over the course of six weeks, we take eight teenage kids and put them in a house in the middle of the English countryside. Total independence is the order of the day. For the first time in their lives, there are no adults telling them what to do – the only demand placed upon them is that they have to pay their own rent and bills, and buy their own food.

Over the course of the summer, we see them finding local jobs, losing their jobs, and going in search of new ones. We follow them as they come to terms with living in a rural community where they have to take responsibility for their own actions and behaviour. And we look at their relationships with one another.

The series is shot as an observational documentary following the kids’ individual stories and the development of the group as a whole. There are triumphs and disasters over the course of the summer. This is a series which is able to look at a tremendously diverse range of issues that affect our teenagers – we hear Johnny talking to his employer about the knife culture at home in Manchester, we see dizzy blonde Amy having to cope without handouts from her mum, we see Jade talk about how she needs her “attitude� to deal with life in her home city.

There are format elements, as each week a new teenager arrives who has the potential to replace one of the house-mates. After a nomination process, the teenagers vote on whether to retain the original house-mate, or to adopt the guest permanently. As a result, we see a girl who has dominated the house being forced to leave – with explosive results.

The series takes an honest and unfiltered look at teenage life – it’s by turns funny, disturbing and raw as we see our teenagers grapple with the realities of adult life. They often fall flat on their faces, but learn to stand back up. Over the course of the six weeks, it becomes clear that a dose of independence has done these teenagers the world of good;“bad boy� Johnny has found purpose in his work, Amy has a new sense of self-reliance, Eliot’s dad respects his son for the first time.

This is not only a series about independence, but an in-depth look at what is going on in the lives of our teenagers.