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Amazingly, America didn't think of this first

I never knew that the Dutch were the most hard core on the reality show circuit..

Quote:

Guradian article
A Dutch reality television show in which a terminally ill woman is to select one of three contestants to receive her kidneys when she dies is to air this week despite criticism that it pushes the boundaries of the format too far.

The government has called for De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor show) to be dropped because it is "unethical" and "wretched" but the broadcaster BNN said it would go ahead to highlight the difficulties of searching for kidney donors.

In the show, due to be broadcast on Friday, a woman identified only as Lisa, 37, will select a recipient based on their history, profile and conversations with their families and friends. Throughout the 80-minute show, viewers will be invited to send Lisa text messages to advise her.

The ruling coalition parties the Christian Democrats and the Christian Union have condemned the show.

But BNN's chairman, Laurens Drillich, said the show would increase by a third the participants' chances of getting a new kidney. "The chance for a kidney for the contestants is 33%," he said. "This is much higher than that for people on a waiting list. You would expect it to be better, but it is worse."

BNN said it wanted to focus on the plight of kidney sufferers as a tribute to its founder, Bart de Graaff, who died of kidney failure five years ago in spite of several transplants.

There is evidence that an increasing number of Dutch viewers have been turning away from reality TV, of which the Netherlands is a pioneer, because they believe the subject matter too risque. One show to come under the spotlight is Spuiten en Slikken (Shooting and Swallowing) in which the presenters experiment with drugs and a range of sexual exploits.

Patty's Fort celebrated colonic irrigation, with the scatological remains shown in full on screen.

But attempts in 2005 to launch a sperm donor show, in which a woman was to select a father for her baby in front of the cameras, collapsed following a huge public outcry.

you're not much, if you're not dutch..,

i like the angle of doing it to spotlight the difficulties of finding kidney donors and honoring the BNN founder....

and hopefully make a shitton of money...

There was another Dutch show about dropping a group of fat kids in the wilderness and expecting them to survive without any aid.

Or another premise of a show involving horribly-disfigured people that are looking for a mate in life from a beautiful participant. I think the working title was 'Monster Love'.

Yeah, heard about all these shows on the local morning radio talk show. :p

One of the biggest producers and exporters of Reality Formats is a Dutch company called Endemol. They are very big in the industry.

Some of Endemol's Titles:

Fear Factor
Deal or No Deal
Big Brother
Extreme Makeover
Who Wants to be a Millionaire

No one forces these people to be on the show.

EDIT: to jorgelito: I know no one is forcing them. But c'mon. This woman is dying... and I'm inclined to think she's on a power trip here. How is she qualified to decide who needs her organs the most? What kind of insanity do you have to have to plan on who gets your kidneys when you die? As for the possible recipients... I just feel bad for them. They're desperate. They'll take any salvation offered to live... you would too.

Look, those other shows are pretty gross, and I don't find them entertaining in the slightest. But this is about organ donation. I hear there's a major shortage in the Netherlands for organs. There's a organ shortage crisis here too. But there's a reason you can't sell your organs - or in this case, the organ publicity. It politicizes and otherwise harms what should be an impartial process. In the US, recipients are rated on a need basis - who needs it most? Not on a "who's going to be the most sympathetic on TV" basis. And frankly, I doubt the dying woman is all that qualified to make a decision like this. This is disgusting, no matter their supposed reasons - this show will generate the PRODUCERS income. Unless they are donating all proceeds, I don't think I can be convinced otherwise.

Good points JJ. I would agree; I too find it disgusting, but then again I find most tv and human behavior in general to be disgusting. But again, these people all made choices. Many people also go on shows because they "really need the money" for whatever reasons. EX: American Idol contestant goes on because she is a single mom and "needs" the money

As for the old lady.... it's her body. She should absolutely have a choice and say in who gets what. In my DNR I have designated who gets my organs. There are certain people in my life I would want to have my organs and have designated as such and others I would not want to have my organs.

Since you and I both agree that this is disgusting, we don't have to watch, or support the show's advertisers.

I don't know if I would watch it if it was available to me to watch. BUT, I think it's kinda neat that the dying lady is at peace enough to televise her demise (woo-hoo random rhyme!). I don't think it's horrible or anything, it's not like they're having a contest to see who can kill the lady and remove her kidney with their bare hands and eat it or something. I dunno, if she wants to participate and people want to watch, why not? If it's not illegal, why not I guess? The good thing would be bringing more awareness to the importance of organ donation.

Having people compete on who will receive an organ donation and televising it seems to be in very poor taste. It's not a documentary trying to raise awarness about organ donation. They're attempting to extract entertainment from this situation; allowing viewers to text in advice. The whole thing seems morbid.

Don't most reality and game show concepts originate elsewhere?

I believe Big Brother, American Idol, Who want's to be a millionaire, Iron Chef, and Nanny 911 all have their roots overseas.

It depends how this show will be presented. It could be presented tastefully if done documentary style with intimtate portraits of those involved. If it's done like a flashy gameshow, then good grief.

I wonder if there will ever be an American version of Britain's Channel 4 show Virgin School: http://www.channel4.com/health/micro...ns/school.html

Taking things a little to far - for sure.

it's pretty bad, yes. I'm getting really sick of these reality show! make a game show but keep the reality away. it's not needed. Whenever i check on any of the new channels on my tv, I only see reality. and this one isn't too far from the rest of the crap being put out by the US.

Update!!!

Quote:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A television show in which a woman would donate a kidney to a contestants was revealed as a hoax Friday, with presenters saying they were trying to pressure the government into reforming organ donation laws.
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Shortly before the controversial program was to air, Patrick Lodiers of the "Big Donor Show" said the woman was not actually dying of a brain tumor and the entire exercise was intended to put pressure on the government and raise awareness of the need for organs.

The three prospective recipients were real patients in need of transplants and had been in on the hoax, the show said.

Whole article here....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/...nds_organ_show

they got ya..............!!!!

xoxoxoo