http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050827/ts_ ... brother_dc
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities are investigating plans by the
producers of the "Big Brother" reality television show to include a
pregnant contestant who will give birth on the show.
Talpa, the new television station launched earlier this month by the
billionaire creator of Big Brother John de Mol, will broadcast a new
series from Sunday in which a contestant is due to give birth six
weeks into the show.
A spokeswoman for the social affairs and labor ministry confirmed a
report in De Telegraaf daily on Saturday that inspectors were
examining a request by Big Brother producers for the newborn baby to
be allowed to appear on the program.
The ruling Christian Democrats have condemned the idea of a birth on
the live show, but the 27-year-old pregnant contestant identified only
as Tanja defended the idea.
"I think that my child will be proud of it later," she told De
Telegraaf.
The show's director Hummie van der Tonnekreek said Tanja would be well
looked after in the Big Brother house, where a group of 12 strangers
are locked in together and gradually voted out by the audience.
"She will get the maximum attention and care," Van der Tonnekreek
said.
Versions of the show first aired in the Netherlands in 1999 have since
been produced in dozens of countries worldwide.