Just kidney-ing folks...

So it was all a big hoax.

"The Big Donor," the Dutch reality TV show in which a woman who purported to be dying of a brain tumor supposedly was looking to donate one of her kidneys to a worthy person in need of one. The show drew brickbats from doctors and ethical orgs around the world for making an elimination-style gameshow out of a life-or-death medical decision. On Friday, according to the AP, "Big Donor" wrapped with the hosts revealing that the dying woman was an actress and that the whole thing had been an elaborate stunt. No matter how much producers try to wrap themselves in the justification of doing it for the lofty goal of affecting change in Dutch public policy -- forget it. The show was built around a mockery of the very serious business of organ donation, and it was done to cause a stir, draw an audience and make money. It's no surprise it came from Endemol, given that production company's track record for crass and cruel programming. You just know execs at some desperate network (or two) in this country had already reached out to Endemol about licensing it for the U.S. market.

As a certain wicked witch once said on her watery death bed...."What a world...What a world."