A Dutch reality television show in which a supposedly dying woman had to decide one of three contestants to whom she would donate a kidney, was a hoax, the program makers said today. Foo Yun Chee reports:
Donor “Lisa” is seen on a screen in a news room of public broadcaster BNN after the announcement that she is in fact an actress, during the widely criticised “Big Donor Show” in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, June 1, 2007. REUTERS/Michael Kooren
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Very funny. I guess the producers were absent the day they were handing out brains.
- Posted by John C AbellJust saw the show on the bnn website (unfortunately there is no translation).
This show is typical for BNN- they are a rather, let’s say, “activist” channel, and they have done “shocker shows” before, although this one was much more politically charged then usual.
The situation with donor organs in the Netherlands is worse then in most other Western countries. For some reason, legislation to support donating organs has not managed to get through the Dutch parliament for years and years now, and the situation is really becoming kind of awful.
This hoax, as I see it, was not so much meant to once again put the Netherlands on the map as “The Country Where Silly Stuff Happens” (although it does and we’re proud of it
), but much more to get the Dutch themselves, especially (but definitely not exclusively!) politicians to look into the mirror, and make a change.
This is simply the way in which Dutch media sometimes communicate with the viewers: very bluntly and “In Your Face”. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Posted by Arjen‘…viewers were let in on the joke when the host looked into the camera and said, “Smile, you’re on candid camera!”, causing viewers all around the country to search their televisions for hidden cameras.’
- Posted by MellyOne part of it did in retrospect sound hoaxish - the idea that someone with a slowly progressive terminal disease could donate kidneys. Corneas, sure, but most terminal diseases make you ineligible to donate major organs, which is why most donors are accident victims.
- Posted by Charlene