Giving Away a Kidney on Reality TV, or, How I Spent My Summer Vacation

A Dutch TV contest that purported to show a dying woman choose a patient to receive her kidneys was a hoax. The "donor" in the show was in fact an actress - though the three people vying for an organ were real patients in need of a kidney transplant.

The three knew that The Big Donor Show, which aired on Friday, was not real. The producers say it was made to highlight the shortage of Dutch donors.

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"We have only done this cry for help because we want to solve a problem that shouldn't be a problem," a producer told a news conference after the show.

Dutch Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk hailed the show as a "fantastic stunt".

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Richard Taylor said it was an "excellent way to highlight the shortage of organs and the desperate plight of those who require them".

But Doug Nanaimo wrote: "That anyone believed that this was real shows how horrible, tasteless and puerile most television programming has become."

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