To the Winner Go the Kidneys

The Big Donor Show, a game show scheduled to debut this Friday on Dutch station BNN, offers viewers a chance to see contestants rewarded with something more important than prize money or a record contract. They'll see a dying woman choose the recipient of her kidneys.

The show has drawn widespread condemnation, but the network insists that it calls attention to the nation's desperate shortage of donated organs.

The former director of TV station BNN, Bart de Graaff, died from kidney failure aged 35 after spending years on a transplant waiting list.

"The chance for a kidney for the contestants is 33%," said the station's current chairman, Laurens Drillich. "This is much higher than that for people on a waiting list."

"We think that is disastrous, so we are acting in a shocking way to bring attention to this problem."

Outcry over TV kidney competition [BBC]