The Dutch television show purporting to feature a dying woman deciding which of three candidates would receive one of her kidneys is a hoax, its presenter said during the live broadcast on Friday (local time).
"We are not giving away a kidney here, that is going too far even for us," said presenter Patrick Lodiers, just as the fake donor was about to make her choice known.
The woman, introduced as potential donor Lisa, 37, with an incurable brain tumour, was actually an actress, the BNN public channel said.
The three kidney patients who were presented as candidates were real but also in on the hoax.
The Big Donor Show, which the program makers said was intended to focus on the shortage of donor organs in the Netherlands, was condemned by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende ahead of transmission.
The publicised, original premise of the show had sparked controversy in the Netherlands and abroad with many people condemning it as unethical to make entertainment out of a life and death situation.
Journalists and television crews from all over the world had flocked to the Dutch television studio where the show was held, to report on the event. - SOURCE: © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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