It seems to me that it was important to have them dressed up in their Amish clothes when they first arrived at the house, but maybe people reacted badly to that. Of course, plenty of people were freaking out before they even saw the show.

And they continue to freak out, even though they still have not seen a single episode. A lot of people have speculated incorrectly about the clothes they wore at the door. All of the Amish kids who were in the house brought the clothes that they own, that they wear sometimes when they go to church but don't wear so often now because they're in rumspringa. We told them that their roommates did not know that they would have Amish roommates, and we said, "It's up to you, but if you want to make it clear that that's who you are, then obviously wearing your clothes would be a good way to do that, but you don't have to wear them." And in fact, Jonas, one of them, chose not to. But we said, "We're never going to tell you you have to or can't wear your clothes the entire time that you're in the house. That's totally up to you." So four of the five wore them. They actually thought it was really funny that the other kids didn't know that they would have Amish roommates, and they're very proud of their Amish heritage, so they wanted to do that.

I wonder what exploitation means in terms of a reality show. What would be an example of someone being exploited?

Well, there was great potential in a situation like this for these people, who were not as familiar with television or reality television, to be taken advantage of. So we were incredibly diligent about having long conversations with them about what the show was, what we intended to do, what the reaction could be from their communities and from the public after it was all over. We really tried to educate them as well as we could. Amish people who are in rumspringa have seen television, they may have seen a little bit of "The Real World." It's not a regular part of what they do, but they have seen it. It's just something they choose not to partake in. If we had pulled people right off the farm who had never been in a car, who had never seen television, and thrown them on a show without any warning, I think that would've been exploitive.

I think that if you talk to any of those five individuals, they're glad they had the opportunity to do this, because so few Amish young people on rumspringa have these kinds of chances.

Do we find out at the end of the show whether the Amish kids are going to go back to Amish life or not?

All 11 of the kids have decisions that they make. The six city people were selected because they're at a crossroads in their own lives. And there are varying levels of resolution for each of the 11 that range from incredibly satisfying to a small change that's a step in one direction.

In other words, some of them have made up their minds and others land somewhere in between.

Yes. This experience has certainly had an impact on their decision-making process, and it has pointed them in a direction, but there are issues outstanding that need to be resolved before they reach a final conclusion. Who knows? Maybe there'll be a "Where are they now?" follow-up show where we can get an update on that. But obviously we would never put them in a situation where, on their last day we say...

"All right, what's it gonna be? Modern life or Amish life? Roll camera!"

Or, "According to the contract with this show, you are required to make a decision on the rest of your life." That's not the way we looked at it. Certainly, though, they knew going in that we wanted to know what their intent was when they left the show, and they were all very good about making clear what they felt their next step was.

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