Sometimes when you are doing a blog, the news changes faster than you can keep it updated. That's just the case on the television show in which a woman would donate a kidney to a contestants which was revealed as a hoax Friday. Presenters said they were trying to pressure the government into reforming organ donation laws. At the last moment, presenters of the "Big Donor Show" said the woman was not actually dying of a brain tumor as claimed and the entire exercise was intended to add pressure on the government and to raise public awareness of the need for organs.Acoroding to the people at Endemol, the producer's of Big Brother, the three prospective recipients were real patients in need of transplants and had been in on the hoax and that the woman giving the kindney was an actress. And the figures are in: 1,218,000 people watched the show. This translates to 22.5% of all TV viewers in that time slot. (or 8% of the 16 million inhabitants over here). This is in fact the highest number of viewers that day. The Netherlands has one of the lowest donor rates in Europe, according to data compiled by the country's Health Council. European Union figures show an improved supply of donor organs could save 10 lives a day across the 27 countries
Bart became so popular that he set up his own tv station BNN (Bart News Network). Bart was known for his pranks and fun, even though he knew he was very ill. During his time at the tv station he got a new kidney, but after a while it got rejected. He got a cancer and finally died at the age of 35. The Bart Foundation was setup to help terminally ill children presue their dreams, just like Bart did. Being the prankster that he was, Bart would have loved to pull our legs with a show like this one. Above the studio audience during the show, audience members could see pictures of Bart and when the hoax was revealed, laughter of Bart could be heard. Yes, I think Bart would've approved this stunt. I hope politicians all around the world learn a lesson from this and finaly take measures to solve the problem.
Indeed, the bright minds behind 'Big Brother' came up with this concept of 'deception', so BNN knew they had a winner on their hands. To quote the chairman of BNN: "We wanted to make a statement. In that we succeeded. There has been more talk about organ donation in the past seven days, than in the previous seven years. It was difficult to lie about the contents and it was hard to keep everything a secret, but it was necessary to reach our goal. However, we are not laughing because we pulled a fast one. We will start laughing when something will happen: when there will be more donor registrations, when the waiting list shrink and especially when the politics will wake up."
Keep up the good work BNN, Bart would have been proud!
