You might have already started to hear about a new Dutch reality show, called the Big Donor Show, which is going to give away a donated kidney as a prize. It will feature a 37-year old woman, identified only as Lisa, who has an inoperable brain tumor and wants to give away one of her kidneys before she dies. The show centers around three contestants competing to be the one that will receive her kidney. Although the viewers will be able to vote for whom they think is the “most deserving”, the donor will ultimately make the decision. However, just like all those wedding reality shows, there will be no guarantee that the transplantation will occur.

This is a very controversial issue. On one hand, many consider the show in very poor taste and believe it to be a serious exploitation of the potential donor and contestants. The fact that the show is being produced by the creators of the “Big Brother” concept, one of the first to “pioneer” the reality show genre, gives this some credence. On the other hand, by being so outrageous, the show has great potential to increase public awareness about a serious shortage of donated kidneys. For example, as part of their justification for the show, the producers are emphasizing that 40,000 Europeans are current waiting for a kidney transplant and 10 patients a day die without getting one. The fact that the founder of the TV network producing it has kidney disease and has undergone an unsuccessful kidney transplant suggests that they might be sincere. Nonetheless, at the present time, the Dutch government has decided not to step in and stop the show on the grounds that it would be censorship.

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