Going Dutch: Are you ready for new cheese and sleaze reality TV from the Netherlands?

From phone-in votes to choose foster parents to game shows where vital organs are the prize, the latest reality shows from the country that gave us Big Brother, pictured, are more extreme than ever

The Dutch are experiencing a new Golden Age in trade: the export of TV formats.

Few may realise that global sensations such as The Voice, Deal or No Deal, Test the Nation, and most recently Splash!, were all first smash hits in The Netherlands, the home of TV behemoth Endemol and Big Brother’s creator, John de Mol. They have since sailed across the world making waves, and delivering, for some, a new form of cheese and sleaze.

Still, not all Dutch successes translate. Take De Kist (The Coffin), for example, where the presenter drives around Holland with a full-size casket on the roof of his sunshine-yellow Beetle, discussing life and death with celebrities. Even BBC3 would struggle to make that one work. It might do better with Spuiten en Slikken (er, Shoot and Swallow), where young people talk frankly about drugs and sex.

Meanwhile, Neuken Doe Je Zo! (This Is How You F**k!) goes all the way: one episode prosaically showed its teen audience going on their summer holiday how to negotiate the troublesome nightclub bog quickie. In a similar vein, Ten Ways To Turn You On was a gameshow (its giggly, gorgeous young contestants vying to impress one another curiously reminiscent of Take Me Out) ‘scientifically’ measuring men and women’s reactions to various methods of titillation.

After putting celebrities in houses, on buses, and in the jungle, the next step seems obvious, if a little cruel for those nearing the end of their 15 minutes: on benefits.  Celebrities on Welfare (De Frogers Effe Geen Cent Te Makken) did just that, putting an 80s Dutch pop star and his family on the dole for a month - apparently a platform for a poverty charity.

I Want Your Child and Nothing Else featured a woman who got to select a sperm donor on TV, but it was De Grote Donor Show (The Big Donor Show) that was a step too far even for liberal Holland. The ‘contestants’ were dialysis patients given the chance to win a dying woman’s kidney, with text votes from viewers (who lives? You decide!). It was later revealed to be a stunt to draw attention to the country’s low donor numbers, a move similar to Britain’s own Come On Down and Out, Kudos/Channel 4’s satirical gameshow featuring homeless people (in fact actors) competing for a house in front of a duped studio audience. 

Confirmed to be next on our screens is the Endemol-created I Love My Country, presumably worlds apart from Dutch public broadcaster VPRO’s Weg van Nederland (a play on words meaning both Mad About Holland and Leaving Holland). Featuring asylum seekers awaiting deportation competing in a quiz about aspects of Dutch life, this was in fact another satirical show aimed at provoking debate about the country’s increasingly conservative approach to immigration.

Next up for The Netherlands? A deal is currently being explored to produce a reality show where three foster parent families compete to be chosen by a foster child, although this has already provoked a furore in the country. Taboo-breaking, awareness-raising or plumbing new depths? You decide!

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Arts & Ents blogs

The Fall ‘Darkness Visible’ – Series 1, episode 2

There is a good many moments in the second episode of this psychological thriller that deserve refle...

‘Vicious’ – Series 1, episode 4

The opening titles squeal ‘Never Can Say Goodbye…’. Oh Lord how I wish I could heave this series off...

Game of Thrones ‘Second Sons’ – Season 3, episode 8

Even though there was a complete absence of our favourite odd couple Brienne and Jaime, we got anoth...

       
Independent
Travel Shop
India and Shimla
14 nights from only £1899pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from £199pp Find out more
4* Soreda hotel break, Malta
Seven nights all-inclusive from £399pp Find out more

ES Rentals

    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

    Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
    Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

    Plenty of sleaze

    Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
    Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

    The Freemasons’ Code

    Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

    Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death
    Stuart Hogg: Ready to climb his own Everest

    Stuart Hogg: Ready to climb his own Everest

    Lions' cub, 20, joins long line of players from Scottish borders club Hawick given opportunity to make his mark at highest level
    Carl Froch handed rare chance of revenge with dream rematch

    Steve Bunce on Boxing

    Carl Froch handed rare chance of revenge with dream rematch against Mikel Kessler
    'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

    Masculinity in crisis?

    'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'
    Have US shock jocks gone too far?

    Have US shock jocks gone too far?

    An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters
    The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

    The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

    Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North
    Heavenly Bodies

    Heavenly Bodies

    Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell