Neem Je Zwemspullen Mee, which translates to "Bring Your Bathing Suit," is a new celebrity game show on Dutch TV channel NPO 3.
On Sunday, the first episode of the series featured a section called "Fat or Pregnant?". A woman stood in front of the teams, and they were asked to guess if she was fat or pregnant.
Nieuw programma op NPO3. Hier moeten vier mannen raden of deze vrouw dik of zwanger is. Leuk. Echt leuk.
“New program on NPO 3. Here four men have to guess whether this woman fat or is pregnant. Fun. Really fun."
For everyone thinking The Netherlands is great. We reached a new low yesterday night. National TV game show: "is sh… https://t.co/0UzFYUZK4x
Welcome to the Netherlands, where we apparently have a tv show where men guess if a woman's fat or pregnant. I fuck… https://t.co/9v6K85hgwC
The show also featured a section in which panelists guessed if a woman's breasts were real or fake.
Dus Kro-Ncrv heeft een show waarin 4 mannen voor de lolz minuten naar borsten vrouw staren om te bepalen of ze echt of nep zijn. Classy.
"So Kro-Ncrv has a show in which four men for the lolz stare for minutes at a woman's breasts to determine whether they are real or fake. Classy."
The section immediately caused controversy, with people expressing their outrage that the section was allowed to be broadcast.
'Zijn ze echt?' 'Is zij dik of zwanger?' Nieuwe smaakvolle show van de publieke omroep #npo3 #njzm
"'Are they real?'' 'Is she fat or pregnant?' New tasteful show of public service broadcasting #npo3 #njzm"
Er is nu een programma op NPO3 waarin mannen moeten raden of een vrouw dik of zwanger is #vanmijnbelastingcenten
"There is now a program on NPO 3 in which men have to guess if a woman is fat or is pregnant. #UsingMyTaxCents"
Een vrouw op een blok plaatsen en de vraag 'dik of zwanger?' stellen. Wtf. #neemjezwemspullenmee
"A woman is placed on a block and the question 'fat or pregnant?' is asked. WTF."
Reviews of the feature were equally scathing, labeling it "embarrassing."
A Twitter user pointed out that this wasn't the first time the show had caused controversy. During its pilot last year, there was a game in which players guessed if someone was Chinese or Japanese.
'Neem Je Zwemspullen Mee' was al vorig jaar op @NPO_3Lab met andere voorbeelden zoals: is dit een Chinees of een Ja… https://t.co/VXJ2c1nCUo
.@NPO_3Lab Laatste voorbeeld: is dit een man of een vrouw....
The controversy got worse when POW!, a production company that also works with NPO 3, re-created the “Fat or Pregnant?” skit on as a man-on-the-street segment.
View this video on YouTube
Kro-Ncrv, the production company behind the show, released a statement, saying it was intending to show "how you can go wrong if someone evaluates his or her appearance."
"In this round, there are different prejudices like: is he a criminal or business man? is he Dutch or a German, etc," it said. "Through these satirical settings, we laugh off all forms of prejudices."
It also said there had been no reaction to the pilot prior to this, which has been online for almost a year. According to the statement, the show was developed by "3Lab, the place at NPO 3 where young artists can experiment with programs for young audiences."
Because the pilot was popular online, the statement said, a TV series was commissioned.