Big Brother baby
From: Reuters
From correspondents in Amsterdam
August 28, 2005
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 Netherlands has strict rules governing young children acting on television, in films or on the stage.
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.
