'The Big Donor Show' was to be a Dutch reality TV show, where desperate patients told of their need for a new kidney, in the hope that a terminally ill woman would give them her kidney over the other contenders.

Except it was a hoax - designed to raise awareness of the dire need for organ donors, or if you're of another view, a cynical stunt to boost ratings.

Criticism came from all over the world - the program generated widespread attention and was discussed everywhere. It was to be the nadir of reality TV, a gross stunt that vindicated the low esteem in which reality TV is held.

So, regardless of whether the producers were after ratings or drawing attention to a nasty issue, it was a complete success.

I for one, don't see why it can't be both - yes, the station is undoubtedly happy with the ratings boost - that doesn't mean it hasn't succeeded in drawing attention to the organ issue.

So I for one, believe it was a great idea. Perhaps the (true) stories of the patients seeking organs will encourage others to donate.

Others disagree, and believe it was a grubby act to boost ratings which shouldn't have happened.

So what are your thoughts? Was the stunt (given that no organs were actually donated) a good idea or bad?

It certainly captured my attention when it hit the news. I did wonder at the premiss of a "popularity" contest to win a transplant.
Undoubtably a publicity success, if viewer numbers/interest is the benchmark. They say all publicity is good publicity, but I feel that organ donation has been a little tainted by a certain lack of respect for the issue in this case.

Don't forget to tell your families your wishes, the final decision rests with them. It would be a shame if organs went to waste through indecision or guessing (assuming you chose to donate).

I absolutely loved it!
It was a program dedicated to the founder of that TV channel who had died of kidney disease because the waiting list was so long that he died before a kidney came available for him.

I have watched the entire program off the internet- unfortunately it's in Dutch without subtitles so not much use to put a link here.

It was a 75-90 minute program, and I must say, excellently set up. You wouldn't have known it was a hoax until the very last minute.

It started by introducing the donor (a beginning, unknown actor) who told her the reasons for donating a kidney. She was then matched with about 25 or 30 patients (real kidney patients, not actors).

The patients were not shown apart form life-size pictures and descriptions of them, e.g. age, hobbies, goal in life, job etc.
The donor was given the hard task to eliminate all but three patients who would be able to go on the Donor show.

She began to pre-select patients using a process that made sense to her, e.g. all older people (I think she said over 55) were eliminated and she gave reasons for that.
Then she eliminated the youngest group (under 18) as well, saying that it is much easier to find a match for a younger patient and she didn't have doubt that they would be matched with someone else.
Another criterion she used was smoking- she wanted her kidney to go to someone who took good care of him/herself and smokers would have more trouble to accept her kidney as well.
Her last criterion was the elimination of all people who had no job, no hobby, no voluntary work, and no goal in life. She wanted to donate her kidney to someone who loved and enjoyed life and not just sit on the sofa all day long.
The last three patients were invited to the Big Donor Show.

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At the show, the audience was introduced to the donor, then, one by one, the donor and audience were introduced to the patients (two women probably between 30 and 40 and one young 19 year old guy).

The patients were asked questions by the donor in some kind of game format. Questions were about their life, and how they coped with the dialyses etc.

Video clips were shown of the patients so she had a reasonable insight into their lives and their struggles, but also the bright side of their lives- their loves and likes, their family etc.
All in all, it was very emotional. If I hadn’t known it was a hoax, I’d have cried. Some in the audience did.

At the very end the donor was asked to give the reason for her choice for eliminating one of the three patients (who were asked to stand up) and not to name the person yet. Her reason was that she had the impression that the one she was eliminating was very strong and could cope with the difficulties of her kidney problems better than the other two. Then she named the woman who had to sit down.

Finally, she was asked to call out the winner- the one who was to have her kidney. At some time during the program there was an official with donor papers which were to be filled in on the spot straight after the show.

All throughout the program the audience at home were asked to sms for free for a donor form to be sent out to them. The home audience also could give advice for votes, much like you can vote for the Big Brother candidates.

The number of people in the audience was the same number of the people dying per year because of organ failure.

Just before the donor was to call out the name of the winner, the host stopped her, saying: "one moment please!"

continued

He then announced that this game was a hoax and that there was no real winner- that it would be cruel to play for real.

The patients had known from start and now told the motivation why they wanted to be in the TV show. Of course, because there were not enough donors and all said that they had a much bigger chance of survival if only more people were willing to donate a kidney.

Last, but not least, the donor showed a collection of statements made by government leaders and authorities while they were outraged by the idea of this Big Donor Show.
"This is inhumane!"
“What would the rest of the world think!”
"People are dying, it's cruel".
"Someone ought to do something about this!” etc

I think it was an excellent protest against a government that had made no progress in encouraging people to donate their organs. The government had been very slow and hopeless about organising an opt-out system and Dutch donors are actually decreasing in number.

The host said that he hoped that the government would take their own words into consideration and now do something about this increasing problem- people are dying of organ failure in increasing numbers.

I hope that it will prove to be a success- that the government is going to bring in an opt-out system and encourage people to donate their organs.
I am sure that many became donors that night.

Thanks for the explanation, Celivia.

Of course there are at least two things going on here: firstly it’s an attempt to get people to involve themselves with the issue of organ donation in a way that gets them personally and emotionally engaged. For most people the issue is otherwise a very abstract one.

The second is that it’s a savage satire of the reality TV format, the cult of celebrity and the value judgments we make about people based on media image making. It seems to pose important questions about how we decide who is “worthy” and who is not.

The two issues are not necessarily unrelated.

Like most effective satire we are left wondering about questions of taste or exploitation. But I’ll pay this one, on what you’ve said

TurnRightThenLeft,

I believe that if a show brings to the public's notice the plight of those desparately needing organ transplants, it is good.

Admittedly, before I heard that it was a hoax, I thought it distateful. However, even then,
I thought ... "well hopefully some people watching will offer a kidney to the losers" or at least become postmortem donars ... and I believed this would occur.

Certainly, I would feel empathy for those losing out, and want to do something ... and I have no doubts that many, many others would feel the same. I already have an organ donation card ... The only requirement being that my organs go to someone who is is jet-setter. As I haven't been able to enjoy such luxuries during my liftetime, I am definitely determined that my organs get a chance (grin).

50,000+ New donors registered since the show.

At the moment in the Netherlands, everyone who turns 18 is being sent out a donor form, but only about half of these forms are being returned.
The waiting list before the show for kidney patients was around 4.5 years. The aim is to cut that waiting list in half.

Researchers found that the main reason why people haven’t registered as donors, apart from ‘just not getting around to it’, is misunderstanding.
Many people who are on medication think they can’t be donors, or people think that they are too old.
Fear is also a reason- people fear that their organs may be taken from them when they’re not really brain dead.
If we want to see an increase in donor registrations, I suppose these misunderstandings need to be cleared up. It always seems to boil down to education.
Some people said they don’t want to decide for themselves; they want their family to decide.

The health minister is now having meetings with people from the Kidney Foundation to work on a plan.

I wonder how long the waiting list in Australia is- I read that in 2004, this was also at least 4 years and often much longer.

Snout,
I agree with you on questions raised about who is ‘worthy’. This elimination process was quite distressing, but was included in the show for the purpose of shocking people into action. I do believe that showing how very hard it is to select one donor out of so many only proved that every patient is worthy of a transplant.

I’m not sure what happens normally- whether the more urgent cases would get priority or whether it would be a matter of available organs going to the matching patient at the top of the waiting list.

Danielle,
I, too, grant my organs a very exciting life after my death- I just hope they won’t suffer from some form of organic culture shock when introduced to new places and new foods to digest. Who knows- part of me might even become famous ;+)

That was an excellent explanation Celivia. I had no idea anyone knew about it here.

I've followed an online forum in a newspaper. The last I saw it had some 197 comments. Only a very, very few were disapproving, maybe 3.

It made many feel uncomfortable at first before it was known to be a hoax. But it certainly raised awareness and put a face to those waiting. It has been classed a huge succes.

Incidentally, quite a few also felt glee at the Dutch Prime Minister, who is a conservative, making a bit of a fool of himself by making disapproving comments at the beginning before it was known to be a hoax.
But then, that's a typical Dutch thing, satisfaction when someone who behaves in a pompous manner falling flat on his face.

Would it work here? I don't know that Australians are that comfortable with being that confronted with a sensitive and controversial subject. What do you think Celivia?

Thank you, Yvonne :)

I enjoy your comments in the abortion conundrum discussion and it's a pleasant surprise to see your post here, too.

Yes, I can imagine that there were few disapproving comments in that paper (which paper was it if I may ask?)- the results are fantastic.

Even before they knew it was a hoax, people were saying that since it would be all consensual, it should be up to the patients to decide whether they wanted to be part of this show or not; the government had no right to interfere.
I am so glad that the PM and some MP's made a total fool of themselves :)))

"But then, that's a typical Dutch thing, satisfaction when someone who behaves in a pompous manner falling flat on his face."

The good old "leedvermaak" is always there when I need it most!

"Would it work here? I don't know that Australians are that comfortable with being that confronted with a sensitive and controversial subject. What do you think Celivia?"

Oh, that's a hard question. Most people I have talked to in my daily life said that it would be tasteless and cruel, that there should be a different way to ask people to donate organs.
Perhaps the government here need to start with small things first, such as allowing homosexual people the same rights as everyone else.

Perhaps if they knew how successful the show was in The Netherlands, they might be more open to it. Good news always helps.

I will keep my eye out for Australian news on the positive results. Have you actually found any positive article on the results of the show in the Australian newspapers? I have only come across ones that opposed the show, but I have't actively searched for news on the show.

I've been following it in NRC Handelsblad. It's the paper I read most often (on line). They have a topic for discussion every week or so.

It is for instance very interesting to read how different the language is, the tenor of the language, when discussion is about controversial issues we deal with here. Like multiculturalism, nationality of MP's, Islam and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Thanks Yvonne, I sometimes read that paper as well, but had never noticed the online forum.
I need to find some time to read the responses- there are so many!

Out of interest, I downloaded the donor form on
http://www.donorregister.nl/pdf/donorformulier.pdf
and I see that there are four options:

1. Yes, I will donate my organs- and you have the choice of excluding specific organs which you do not want to donate. (I can't help wondering for what reason some people would want to donate their organs except one or more, eg. their liver).

2. I don't want to donate my organs.

3. I leave it up to my surviving family/partner to decide what happens to my organs.

4. I leave it up to one specific person to decide what happens to my organs. You then fill in that person's name and other details.