Dutch TV host Valerio Zeno prepares to take a bite of what he claims is human muscle.Facebook
An on-air stunt by two Dutch television hosts shows how desperate the ratings game has become.
Instead of, say, diving into a tank of sewage or riding on the subway naked, the daring duo ate bits of each other's flesh. In front of each other.
While there is a chance it's elaborate hoax, ABC reports otherwise.
Host Dennis Storm said a surgeon sliced into his left butt cheek to harvest the fresh meat. His co-host, Valerio Zeno, had a chunk of his abdomen carved for the grisly trade.
The flesh was cooked – by a top chef, no less – in a frying pan with sunflower oil.
"We didn't add any salt or pepper because we wanted to know what it tasted like," Mr. Storm said.
Offal meats are one thing, but this is enough to turn even a sheep-head eater's stomach.
Then there's the matter of the hosts' cavalier attitude toward cannibalism, best known as an act of war or the depraved habit of a psychopath.
The two men said they ate bites of each other out of curiosity. Their new show on BNN in the Netherlands is called Proefkonijnen or Test Rabbits.
"The punchline of the show is to get really simple answers on stupid questions, such as, 'can you shave with ketchup' or 'can you drive blind?'" Mr. Storm explained.
The promo video for the cannibalism episode, set to air in the Netherlands Wednesday, shows the hosts eating just the teensiest bit of rump and belly.
"It was just a few centimetres of meat," Mr. Storm said. "And now I have a good story about that scar."
But he didn't dish on the taste of his gruesome meal. If the "human flesh" turns out to be beef, it wouldn't be the first time audiences were duped.
In this case, one can only hope.
What do you make of this cannibalistic feat? Should there be limits to what people do on TV?