The little boy was hiding in the attic. He says he was hiding there because of the show.
I'm thinking it was a publicity stunt that the dad conjured up.
That family was on Wife Swap and silly me, YES, I watched that episode and the guy is a lunatic! He was just off the wall "acting" for the cameras.
A child doesn't say something like that if he wasn't told why to do something. A child will say they are hiding because they are mad at mom and dad or they did something wrong and knew they would get into trouble. A small child is not going to say they did something for the show. That's what you hear him say.....I did it because of the show.