While a Dutch TV station claims its future reality show, in which a terminally ill woman interviews three potential recipients for her kidney, is meant to raise awareness of the ordeal of waiting for an organ donor, the show has been criticized as unethical, Reuters reported.

Made by the same company as Big Brother, the show to be broadcasted by BNN on Friday evening has triggered a storm of criticism due to its unusual subject: three people with kidney problems are to compete for a healthy one.

A 37-year-old woman identified only as "Lisa," suffering from a brain tumor, will make a choice based on the person's history and conversations with the candidates' families and friends as well as follow the audience’s advice, who will be able to write her via text messages throughout the show.

Public broadcaster BNN said the idea was to highlight the growing shortage of organ donors in the Netherlands and the show would also serve as a tribute to its founder, Bart de Graaff, who died of kidney failure five years ago despite several transplants.

The chairman of the BNN network, Laurens Drillich, has defended the program, made by Endemol, against charges of tastelessness claiming the show will not make a profit.

"I believe the program is tasteless too," he said. "But we find reality more tasteless. Waiting for an organ is just like playing the lottery."

"Bart de Graaff would have loved it," Drillich said.