[Archive 2007-06-02] Dutch TV kidney reality show was a hoax

Historical archive — originally published 2007-06-02. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

A Dutch reality TV show broadcast yesterday evening which was designed to show a terminally ill woman choosing a patient to receive her kidneys has been shown to be a hoax. The Big Donor Show had attracted considerable condemnation earlier in the week when outline details had been released. The producers said that the programme was made to highlight the shortage of Dutch donors.

The "donor", known only as "Lisa", was an actress, although the three individuals competing for the kidneys are real patients requiring kidney transplants. The choice was to have been made based on the history and profile of the "contestants" and conversations that the actress is indicated to have had with their families and friends. Viewers were also invited to send in their advice by text message during the programme.

At the point in the show when the choice of recipient was to have been revealed, the show's presenter Patrick Lodiers revealed that the exercise had been a hoax. "We are not giving away a kidney here, that is going too far even for us," he said.

However, speaking after the broadcast, Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk, claimed that the show was a "fantastic stunt" and kidney patient Caroline Klingers watching the programme at a treatment centre in the town of Bussum praised it saying that it would be "good for the publicity and there are no losers".

Speaking at a news conference after the programme, a producer said "We have only done this cry for help because we want to solve a problem that shouldn't be a problem", and this view was underlined by presenter Patrick Lodiers who claimed that it was "reality that was shocking" in that about 200 people die in the Netherlands each year waiting for a kidney where the average waiting time is more than four years. Bart de Graaff, the founder and former director of the TV station which broadcast the programme, died from kidney failure at the age of 35 after spending years on a transplant waiting list.

The programme was made by Endemol, the company which makes Big Brother and which is not immune from criticism. On Wednesday of this week it was required by UK regulator Ofcom to broadcast an apology for its handling of potentially racist material involving Indian actress Shilpa Shetty in the January 2007 Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. Ofcom had received a record number of 44,500 complaints.

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