editorial comment reality TV at its best. Forget The Apprentice!

The host of a new Dutch talk show plans to take heroin and LSD on the air in a program intended to reach young audiences on topics that touch their lives, producers said Wednesday.

The show, scheduled to premiere on late-night television Oct. 10, is called "Spuiten & Slikken," or "Swallow and Shoot Up."

Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed actions by presenter Filemon Wesselink are illegal, and it was unclear how authorities will respond.

The show's hostess will interview guests about drug use and abuse, while two other presenters carry out in-the-field experiments with sex and drugs.

Wesselink plans to take heroin in the form of a pill, said Ingrid Timmer, a spokeswoman for the show's producer BNN.

"It's not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects that are part of young people's lives," Timmer said.

In other segments of the show, Wesselink plans to go on a drinking binge in a series of pubs. He also will try LSD on his couch under the supervision of his mother.

The Netherlands is known for its marijuana policy, where possession and use of the drug in small quantities are not prosecuted even though technically illegal. Other drugs, including LSD, cocaine, Ecstasy and heroin are outlawed and users can be prosecuted. The legal age for the consumption of alcohol and tobacco is 16.

BNN has drawn viewer complaints for programs in the past, including a sex education program called "This Is How You Screw." One segment discussed how to have sex in a nightclub and featured life-size mannequins with sex organs.

Last month, the Dutch show "Big Brother," made by a different producer, included a pregnant woman in its cast, raising the possibility she would give birth on tv.

The Dutch Labor ministry ruled the woman, known as Tanja, would not be allowed to give birth on camera but the newborn could appear on the program for several hours.

back | to top | full article >>