Australian Big Brother under fire
The Australian version of the TV programme Big Brother has come under criticism for deciding not to tell a contestant that her father had died.
Emma Cornell has been cut off from the outside world since entering the reality TV show’s house a month ago.
She still does not know that her father Raymond died of cancer last week.
Bet the ratings go up now too. 🙄
casa azahar 
Ungood, totally. I’d sue, in fact.
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I’ve never understood why these totally unreal situation programmes are called ‘Reality TV’.
I suppose if this woman was so selfish as to go into seclusion when her father had a terminal illness we shouldn’t feel sorry for her. Or maybe she knew that he was on death’s door when she signed up, thereby guaranteeing the sympathy vote,
Wanna bet she ‘wins’?
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I am not a betting woman, unfortunately (although I called American Idol earlier on this week, but it was a no-brainer).
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I don’t watch any of these “reality” programs. Not American Idol, not Survivor, not Big Brother. I just don’t have enough time to devote any of it to this sort of thing. I have occasionally dipped into one of them for a couple of minutes, but I find them dull, inane, pointless.
That being said, I think it is absolutely unconscionable that the producers did not tell this woman her father had died. But I’m with you , azahar. She signed up for the show knowing her father had a terminal illness, so I don’t have a lot of sympathy. She knew the rules.
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Indeed. And one of the rules that they sign up to is precisely that they are incommunicado while in the house
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The contestant in question, asked not to be told of her fathers death, until after she was out of the house, she knew the rules going in.
This is just a media beat up to generate publicity for a very bland and boring so called reality show.
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I wonder if it will backfire and instead of getting a sympathy vote from the public she’ll be the next one kicked out for coming across as selfish and cold-hearted.
Personally I’d rather watch paint dry.
Is American Idol considered to be a ‘reality show’? I thought they were shows where a bunch of tedious people get put into some totally absurd situation to make fools of themselves in front of millions of ‘lowest common denominator’ viewers.
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Here’s an interesting article from today’s Grauniad…
Why I love reality TV
The guy makes some good points, though I’m not sure I believe the claim about the ‘dying wish’.
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Gosh, this one sounds even worse than the ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ one mentioned in the previous article.
The Big Donor Show
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🙄 or 😈 or *furious* …
This is way over the limit!!! Such things make me question free speech, democracy and human rights…
I’ve got a very paternalistic view. Let the medical profession decide who’s the most suitable recipient.
Just F*CK all money and publicity greedy a**holes….
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You can relax, dq – turns out it was a hoax. Still incredibly tasteless though.
Dutch relieved but ruffled by kidney hoax
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Sometimes tasteless gets the job done.
I suspect that organ donation has had more coverage and discussion as a result of this than at any point in the last 15 to 20 years. Probably than in the last 15 to 20 years combined, to be honest.
But what would I know? I’m just one of the ‘lowest common denominator’ types who sometimes watches a bit of obvious car-crash tv. 😉
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But obviously the presumptive recipients were not a hoax.
I’m still &¤%”%!)!)/
…and still thinga would be a lot easier if people had the same opinion as one of my techs “Keep what you need, and burn the rest”
I whole heartedly agree with her. I will not need any of my bodyparts after my death. If anyone else will, please take them.
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No, the presumptive recipients are part of the huge numbers of people who are directly affected by the shortage of organ donors throughout Europe.
My sympathy for them being hoaxed is strictly limited by the fact that they were prepared to contemplate taking part in such a show.
What is desperately needed thoughout Europe is for every government to recoginize that organ donation should be ‘opt out’, not ‘opt in’.
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I agree that ‘opt out’ should be the norm. But I’m not sure that people who are desperate enough for an organ to humiliate themselves in this manner should be deemed ‘fair game’.
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To be honest., I’m not sure that they were duped. Other than the fact that they are genuinely in need of a donor organ, what do we actually know about them?
Do we know that they hadn’t agreed to take part in a hoax that would publicise their plight, and the plight of others who are at the mercy of the lack of donors?
The most interesting thing about this whole episode is how quickly people have rushed to judge. Quite revealing, on the whole.
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Actually, my understanding is that Blues is right – I think the recipients, whilst they genuinly need transplants – were aware of the true nature of the show.
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