A controversial Dutch show will go ahead despite heavy criticism, featuring a a terminally ill woman deciding who will receive her kidney. Lisa, 37, is dying of a brain tumour and must decide which of three patients selected by the producers - aged between 18 and 40 - should receive her kidney.

The show is called The Big Donor Show and it is will be broadcast by BNN.

"BNN is done with talking, it is time for action. In the Big DonorShow a terminally ill woman will choose which one of three kidney patients will get her kidney. That is not gruesome, that is real life," BNN's website says. "Every year hundreds of people die because there are not enough donors."

The country's Minister of Health, Ab Klink, and the Minister in charge of media, Ronald Plasterk, have both condemned the donor circus as "inappropriate and unethical because of the contest element". They also said that banning the show would be censorship.

"The suffering of people should never be the object of an amusement show," the Dutch doctors' federation KNMG said in a statement.

Reportedly, the three "candidates" will try to make a case for their kidney, helped by friends and relatives. The show's viewers will also be able to cast their votes via SMS text messaging.