I saw another episode last night where they were given a rubber raft and told to make it to a specific location. Their only challenge was to get there and survive. What they didn't know is that Les specifically chose a river where the water level was down and the possibility of them wrecking on the rocks or projectile hidden branches was very real. Predicatablly the raft deflated, they kids were dumped in the water and everything got wet but they managed by getting to shore, lighting a fire to dry out and hike to the location. And NONE of them quit after the episode.

I remember a show a couple years ago about some at-risk kids (Boot Camp) being taken out in the bush and living out their for 3-4 months with counsellors and psychologists trying to get them straightened out. These kids were all urbanites and just being away from a cell-phone was major PAIN for these kids. I think the majority of them eventually got the life back on track.

The kids in Survive This seems to mostly have their heads on their shoulders, some better screwed on better than others as you have noted but a far cry from these at-risk kids.