Posted May 30, 200718 yr Endemol makes kidney competition show Wednesday, May 30 2007, 10:03 BST http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/realitytv/a584...ition-show.html By Dave West Endemol is making a television show in which three young patients will compete to win a kidney transplant. The new programme from the Big Brother producer, which launches in Holland on Friday, will see a dying woman pick which of the competitors to give it to. The woman has terminal cancer and has been named only as Lisa. The Big Donor Show contestants all currently receive dialysis treatment for renal problems. The show will also allow viewers to tell Lisa who they think she should pick with text messages. The broadcaster which is airing the programme, BNN, has insisted it will highlight the shortage of organ donors and encourage people to come forward. But Reiner Hofmann, from the Dutch Transplant Foundation, said it was “a scandal”. He declared: “It is no better than selling organs — they are taking advantage of people in a desperate situation for entertainment.” The new show is reportedly an idea from John de Mol, a founder of Endemol who sold it in 2000 but recently bought part of it back.
May 30, 200718 yr I also think it's just very very cruel. Not at all entertaining, ideas like this shouldn't even be allowed. It's taking advantage of people in very desperate and saddening circumstances which is absolutely disgusting. It's giving hope to however many contestants when at the end of the day only one will benefit and the rest are back to square one and left feeling like if only they had done more to win. The woman with terminal cancer should be left to make such a decision in private, not on a television show. Matters or life and death like this shouldn't be aired to the public. It really is sick.
May 30, 200718 yr Viewers tell this person who should have the actual kidney? Suppose it is rejected, who will pay the inevitable compensation to the devastated family? Also this person "Lisa" has cancer, suppose it has spread to the kidneys that are "available" for transplant by the time the show is aired? I agree with Natalie, it shouldn't be aired. It is not a game.
May 30, 200718 yr In a way i think it is good that a person who might die is being saved.. so it's not all bad and it raises awareness... the other 2 people on the show will then prob get given kidneys by people watching the tv show
May 30, 200718 yr Author sure awareness is ok...but making a game out of other people's suffering is beyond horrible its twisted that they wanna make people compete for their lives just so the viewers at home can get some nightly entertainment <_<
May 30, 200718 yr In a way i think it is good that a person who might die is being saved.. Yes this is true, but surely it would be nicer if they made a documentary about a kidney transplant rather than turn in into a gameshow?
May 30, 200718 yr turning life and death into a game show is just sick beyond words!! its just so undiginified parading this woman on tv but what do we expect with endemol the worst production company in the world they have no shame and no morals they don't give a sh!t about people their motto is use them and abuse them, they will show anything to get viewers and your money!
May 30, 200718 yr Yes this is true, but surely it would be nicer if they made a documentary about a kidney transplant rather than turn in into a gameshow? Yes but REALISTICALLY how many people would watch a documentary in comparison to a gameshow?
May 30, 200718 yr It doesn't matter ... this is a matter of life and death for these four people, TV ratings shouldn't come into it.
May 30, 200718 yr I think a lot of people liked the BBC One Life series and the Channel 4 Bodyshock and such. I don't think this should be about ratings it should be about dignity and morals (plus who would watch a gameshow as sick as this one?!). Not exploiting people in such a situation as needing a transplant in such a cruel way. Giving the public access to such a delicate decision as who to give your kidney to after you pass, it just doesn't bear thinking about. Allowing people to text in aswell is going to cause a lot of guilt to a women who is probably in quite a fragile state... I just don't see how people even comprehend turning anything like this into a gameshow of all things. Edited May 30, 200718 yr by NatalieMT
May 30, 200718 yr Oh don't get me wrong I still think it's SICK AS, I'm just saying from a TV producer's point of view it's ALL about $$$. Regardless of the cause.
May 30, 200718 yr Yes but REALISTICALLY how many people would watch a documentary in comparison to a gameshow? yeah, i agree
May 31, 200718 yr i saw this on the news last night - it's just WRONG! REALLY FREAKIN WRONG! i mean thgats just... argh! i wont comment anymor, but i 1000000000000000000000000% do NOT agree with the show!
May 31, 200718 yr This is just a few short steps away from "Snuff TV" or televised executions if you ask me... I cant even begin to guess the mentality of the people who would actually come up with the concept, or indeed the mentality of those who would choose to watch this programme.....
June 2, 200718 yr Kidney Transplant TV Show Is a Hoax By TOBY STERLING Associated Press Writer Published June 1, 2007, 6:44 PM CDT 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. 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. The program concept had received widespread criticism for being tasteless and unethical. But Lodiers said that it was "reality that was shocking" because around 200 people die annually in the Netherlands while waiting for a kidney, and the average waiting time is more than four years. Under Dutch rules, donors must be friends, or preferably, family of the recipient. Meeting on a TV show wouldn't qualify. "I thought it was brilliant, really," said Caroline Klingers, a kidney patient who was watching the show at a kidney treatment center in Bussum, Netherlands. "I know these transplant doctors, and I thought they'll never go and actually do it. But it's good for the publicity and there are no losers." During the show, 25 kidney patients were vetted by "Lisa," and most were quickly dismissed for being too old, too young, smokers, ex-smokers or unemployed. Contestants gave moving pleas for why they should receive the organ. "It really hurt watching that," said Tim Duyst, whose wife is awaiting a transplant and cannot work. "You're dismissed in a wave of the hand." Viewers were called on to express an opinion or vote for their favorite candidate by SMS text message for 47 cents. The show was produced by Endemol, which created "Big Brother" in 1999. The Royal Netherlands Medical Association, known by its Dutch acronym KNM, had urged its members not to participate and questioned whether the program might just be a publicity stunt. "Given the large medical, psychological, and legal uncertainties around this case, the KNMG considers the chance extremely small that it will ever come to an organ transplant," it said. All seven of the country's transplant centers had said they not cooperating with the program, KNMG spokeswoman Saskia van der Ree. Earlier in the week, the Cabinet declined suggestions from lawmakers to ban the program, saying that would amount to censorship. Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press
June 2, 200718 yr I'd have to say, that's a FAR better resolution seeing as the patients knew it was a hoax all along, this way it actually DOES highlight their plight rather than turning it into some sort of sickening gameshow.
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