‘Adults Talk Dirty’: Chicago Fire’s Daniel Kyri Reflects on His Experience on Controversial Reality Show Kid Nation
Reality TV is as popular today as it ever was, from role-playing scenarios like Survivor to talent competitions like AGT. Years ago, there was a reality TV show that put a lot of pressure on a group of naive kids to form their own society without their parents. Called Kid Nation, the show put 40 of its young contestants through the writing process in front of the cameras, and former contestant Daniel Kyri — who now stars on NBC’s Chicago Fire as a series regular — was one of those who opened up about the experience on Vice TV’s Dark Side of Reality TV.
If you missed Kid Nation when it aired in 2007, the show is set like a Lord of the Flies 2.0, with a group of 40 kids between the ages of 8 and 15 on their own in the New Mexico desert. Anyone who has read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies or seen the film adaptation of the book will likely be skeptical of the premise from the start, and it certainly wasn’t okay with the kids during filming or when the episodes actually aired on CBS for all to see.
In an exclusive clip (see above) from the Dark Side of Reality TV episode about Kid Nation that aired on September 17th during the 2024 TV schedule, Daniel Kyri talks about the moment he was ready to give up the competition and go home. That certainly wasn’t all he had to say on the subject, however, as he went on to share with CinemaBlend: The 15 minutes of fame that followed the show really changed my life, especially being in a place like Chicago while the show was airing. The experience of walking downtown with my mom when I was 14 and seeing a bunch of kids start pointing and whispering and asking for pictures… that was really shocking to me.
Just because 2007 was before TikTok and Twitter/X became what we know today doesn’t mean Daniel Kyri didn’t suffer the infamy of Kid Nation. Unfortunately for the then-teenager, kids weren’t the only ones who targeted him for criticism during those 15 minutes of fame. He continued: Also, I think the general public’s reaction surprised me in a lot of ways. I remember reading stuff online about myself and the other people involved. A lot of it is really unkind, which is crazy because these are grown adults talking down to a group of kids who may or may not appear in a less-than-ideal light in the final edit of the show that airs on air.air.
The “reality” of some reality shows being distorted by editing is seen as a problem by fans and competitors in the genre today, nearly twenty years after Kid Nation aired thirteen episodes. In fact, just this year, contestants on Love is Blind started an online petition about the Netflix dating show’s editing, and a contestant on Survivor 46 criticized the show. 2007 was just a different time for reality TV, network TV, and backlash.
Fortunately for Daniel Kyri, the “life-changing” consequences of Kid Nation as a teenager didn’t make him a bad guy on the small screen as an adult. He joined the cast of Chicago Fire in 2018 and has since not only been credited in over 100 episodes of that show, but has also appeared in Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. In fact, you can soon see him back in his CFD suit as Darren Ritter in the Season 13 premiere of Chicago Fire on Wednesday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
To learn more about Kyri’s story as a contestant on Kid Nation (as well as the experiences of other kids who were chosen to be on the Lord of the Flies-like show), tune in to Vice TV on Tuesday, September 17 at 9 p.m. ET for the Dark Side of Reality TV episode about the controversial series.
