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Latest from the makers of Big Brother: win a kidney
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2591577.eceA terminally-ill Dutch woman will select a recipient for one of her kidneys in the latest production from Endemol, makers of Big Brother.
The Big Donor Show will be shown in the Netherlands on Friday despite calls from the Dutch Government for it to be scrapped, according to Newspaper De Telegraaf.
Broadcaster BNN said the programme would go ahead in which a 37-year-old, named only as Lisa, would choose a recipient from one of three people with kidney problems.
BNN said the programme was designed to highlight the problems facing people needing organ transplants and was also a tribute to BNN founder Bart de Graaff, who died of kidney failure five years ago, despite several transplants.
Political critics in the Netherlands have called the show "wretched" and unethical, news reports said.
How low can those cunts at Endemol stoop???
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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Comments
I'd agree its not a clear cut thing; however what I do see a problem with is the specticle of suffering that this will involve. Yes it will raise awareness but will primarily be based on morbid curiosity, and a sanitisation of suffering.
Words fail me.
And I'm sure that was the main considering for their decision to go ahead with such programme.
It is nauseating IMO.
The issue seems to be about becuase this is being made into a TV programme. Ultimately though it is only being made into a TV show because there is a demand from people who want to watch it. If people stop watching it you will see it end quickly. Programmes like this will only air if people tune in.
I know i shouldn't laugh, but couldn't help it
It would be harsh, if they use that catchphrase for the series
edit: But they've got us talking about it, so eitherway it's money for them
TBH, I think this is going too far. I think it's wrong that the public choose who out of strangers gets someone's kidney.
They said something about this on Five news earlier. Fair enough, it might raise awareness, but it really isn't a good way to go about it, imo.
We are discussing it now in a completely different country to where this programme is aired. Newspaper and TV stations around the world are reporting this story and in the process creating massive global awareness. You simply cant buy this much global publicity, sounds like a pretty good way to raise awareness really.
The 'contestants' were all in genuine need of a kidney
A Dutch TV contest which purported to show a dying woman choose a patient to receive her kidneys was a hoax.
The "donor" in the show was in fact an actress - though the three people vying for an organ were real patients in need of a kidney transplant.
The three knew that The Big Donor Show, which aired on Friday, was not real. The producers say it was made to highlight the shortage of Dutch donors.
Before the hoax was revealed, the show had attracted widespread criticism.
"We are not giving away a kidney here, that is going too far even for us," presenter Patrick Lodiers said at the moment when the fake donor was apparently about to reveal her choice of patient.
The 37-year-old "donor", identified only as Lisa, was to make her choice based on the contestants' history and profile, and conversation with their family and friends.
Earlier, Lisa had said that it felt like playing God. "Think of it as playing Santa Claus," replied the presenter.
'No losers'
Viewers were invited to send in their advice by text message during the 80-minute show.
Send us your comments
"We have only done this cry for help because we want to solve a problem that shouldn't be a problem," a producer told a news conference after the show.
Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk hailed the show as a "fantastic stunt".
Caroline Klingers, a kidney patient who was watching the programme at a treatment centre in the town of Bussum, also praised it.
"It's good for the publicity and there are no losers," she said.
Earlier in the week Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende had criticised the programme, saying it could damage the reputation of the Netherlands.
The were calls from lawmakers to ban the show and Dutch embassies received complaints about it.
But Mr Lodiers said it was "reality that was shocking" because about 200 people die each year while waiting for a kidney in the Netherlands, and the average waiting time is more than four years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6714063.stm
Looks like we all fell for this one
I suppose the point remains that nobody was willing to question the authenticity of the stunt, it was so plausible considering the current trend in distasteful/morally questionable reality TV.