Last month, the Dutch government reported that there was a spike in the registration of organ donor registration following a fake television game show involving a kidney donation. Normally, the donor registry there receives between 3,000 and 4,000 forms a month to be an organ donor. In the month after the show aired, the registry received 12,000 organ donors forms. The producers described the show as a hoax to raise awareness about organ donation – and clearly the stunt worked.

In June, it was reported that a new Dutch reality show, called the Big Donor Show, which was going to give away a donated kidney as a prize. It was very controversial because it supposedly featured a 37-year old woman who wanted to give away one of her kidneys before she dies of an inoperable brain tumor. The show had contestants who where patients with kidney failure actually competing to be the one that will receive her kidney. However, just before the show was to be aired, it was revealed that the show was a fake and the “donor” was not actually dying of cancer. Although the contestants were real patients in need of transplants, they were reportedly in on the hoax. The producers said it was their intention to draw attention to the shortage of organ donations.

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