Dutch kidney reality television show a hoax

BNN Network CEO Laurens Drillich poses during an interview with Reuters TV in Hilversum May 30, 2007.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch reality show in which a supposedly dying woman had to pick one of three contestants to receive her kidneys was revealed as a hoax on Friday.

Identified only as "Lisa", the 37-year-old woman turned out to be a healthy actress but the three candidates were genuine kidney patients, details the show's producers revealed in the last minutes of the "The Big Donorshow".

"Their life is bitter reality," the presenter said, after revealing the deception at the moment when Lisa was to have made her life-saving choice.

The show, co-produced by makers of "Big Brother" Endemol, had said its aim was to focus attention on a chronic need for donor organs but it was condemned by the Dutch prime minister ahead of transmission and sparked controversy worldwide.

"I think you can make a show like this one once. Nobody else can do a show like this," said Paul Roemer, head of Endemol Netherlands. "For me, it already worked. Tonight, we had 12,000 applications for donor cards."

Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk hailed the show as a "fantastic stunt" and an intelligent way to draw attention to the shortage of organs.

However Kuik Bas, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said: "This is not the proper way to get more donors."

The Netherlands has one of the lowest donor rates in Europe, according to data compiled by the country's Health Council.

About 40,000 patients are waiting for an organ transplant across the EU. The mortality rate while waiting for a heart, liver or lung transplant is between 15 and 30 percent.

HEATED DEBATE EXPECTED

The show is expected to set off heated debate between those who believe reality television has gone too far and others who believe the publicity was generated for a good cause.

Program makers apologized to viewers and said they hoped "outrage" over the show would turn into anger over the lack of organs for transplant.

Viewers in the Netherlands were asked to give advice via text messages in the 80-minute show which started at 1830 GMT, and appeals ran throughout for people to donate their organs.

Early in the show Lisa was shown selecting three people from 25 candidate profiles who matched her blood group. "It feels like playing God," said the fraught-looking actress.

The announcement that it was a hoax was met with stunned silence by the audience but this later turned to laughter as clips of condemnation were shown.

The show had set off a storm of criticism, both at home and abroad, though some kidney patients said ahead of the show that they approved of it because it drew attention to their plight.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende had said the show was detrimental to the whole business of organ donation and it would do the reputation of the Netherlands no good abroad. Dutch embassies abroad got complaints.

"Money has never been part of this thing and no money will be made from this," said BNN channel chairman Laurans Drillich.

In January, "Celebrity Big Brother" triggered a racism row in Britain when Indian Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty faced abuse from fellow contestants.

Britain's media regulator said last week the broadcaster, Channel Four, was guilty of "serious editorial misjudgment" over its handling of the row.

(Additional reporting by Svebor Kranjc, Sabine Fiedler and Reed Stevenson in Amsterdam and Peter Henderson in Los Angeles. Writing by Alexandra Hudson)