A PREGNANT contestant on the Dutch TV version of Big Brother will not be allowed to give birth live on air after the Government intervened on child protection grounds. But the Dutch Social Affairs ministry ruled that the newborn baby could be kept in the Big Brother house and filmed for up to two hours a day.
With contestants having sex live on television no longer drawing audiences and outrage, the Big Brother producers went a step further by inviting a heavily pregnant woman, known only as Tanja, on to the show.
That a baby might be born and spend its first weeks under 24-hour TV surveillance caused a national furore, generating useful publicity for the Talpa TV channel, which was launched a month ago. The ruling Christian Democrats have condemned the idea of a birth on the live show, and the producers have been accused of planning to exploit a newborn baby.
As well as banning the channel from showing the birth, the Government insisted that the baby could be filmed only once a day for eight days, and must be kept the rest of the time in a room in the Big Brother house without cameras. The mother must have access to the room at all times, as will another carer for the baby, presumed to be its grandmother.
The Netherlands has strict child-protection laws, which cover appearances on film and television, which count as child labour.
A spokesman for Talpa played down the ruling, saying that “it’s the mother that’s important for us, not the baby. The pregnant woman is allowed to be on the show, and we’re allowed to film the baby if necessary. It’s not a show about birth, but about people in a social process.”
He also said that Tanja could be voted off the show before the birth, so the ruling could be redundant.
Tanja, 27, who said that she hoped to study law one day, became pregnant accidentally during an affair with a 24-year-old unemployed builder, identified only as “Shurendy”, whom she met in a bar. She has already caused outrage among the other Big Brother contestants by smoking while pregnant, and cut down to three cigarettes a day under pressure.
She justified her plans to give birth on air by saying: “I think that my child will be proud of it later.”
Source
With contestants having sex live on television no longer drawing audiences and outrage, the Big Brother producers went a step further by inviting a heavily pregnant woman, known only as Tanja, on to the show.
That a baby might be born and spend its first weeks under 24-hour TV surveillance caused a national furore, generating useful publicity for the Talpa TV channel, which was launched a month ago. The ruling Christian Democrats have condemned the idea of a birth on the live show, and the producers have been accused of planning to exploit a newborn baby.
As well as banning the channel from showing the birth, the Government insisted that the baby could be filmed only once a day for eight days, and must be kept the rest of the time in a room in the Big Brother house without cameras. The mother must have access to the room at all times, as will another carer for the baby, presumed to be its grandmother.
The Netherlands has strict child-protection laws, which cover appearances on film and television, which count as child labour.
A spokesman for Talpa played down the ruling, saying that “it’s the mother that’s important for us, not the baby. The pregnant woman is allowed to be on the show, and we’re allowed to film the baby if necessary. It’s not a show about birth, but about people in a social process.”
He also said that Tanja could be voted off the show before the birth, so the ruling could be redundant.
Tanja, 27, who said that she hoped to study law one day, became pregnant accidentally during an affair with a 24-year-old unemployed builder, identified only as “Shurendy”, whom she met in a bar. She has already caused outrage among the other Big Brother contestants by smoking while pregnant, and cut down to three cigarettes a day under pressure.
She justified her plans to give birth on air by saying: “I think that my child will be proud of it later.”
Source