‘Fat or pregnant?’: TV show drops segment after international outrage

A Dutch TV show is dropping a 'satirical' segment which provoked international outrage.

Contestants judged a woman on the stage, who turned out not to be pregnant. Source: NPO

A Dutch TV show has dropped a controversial segment after it made international headlines for asking contestants to guess whether a woman was pregnant or fat.

The segment on the variety game-show was intended to test stereotypes – they also asked contestants to guess whether a woman’s breasts were real or implants, whether a man was Polish or a plasterer, a criminal or a businessman, and Dutch or German.

Four male contestants sat on a couch while the individual was showcased on a revolving platform in front of them.

But after sparking backlash online and making headlines in the New York Post and Buzzfeed in the United States, the Dutch Public Broadcaster, NPO, has dropped the segment.

“With this segment, we wanted to show viewers how you can go wrong if you go off on someone's appearance, but we realise that the manner in which this is done has hurt people. That was never our intention, and we regret it,” said director Yvonne de Haan in a statement.

The show will continue to air for several more weeks on the publicly funded channel, NPO 3.