Just when you thought reality TV had fully explored the outer edges of good taste and sense (Amish Mafia or Naked and Afraid, anyone?), along comes Czech television with a new Nazi-themed show.
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Holiday in the Protectorate drops three generations of a modern Czech family into a simulation of Nazi-occupied Europe, complete with rationing, Gestapo informers and brutal German soldiers.
From period clothing to genuine currency of the era, no detail is spared to recreate to the atmosphere of 1939 Bohemia and Moravia.
The family will receive $50,000 if they can put up with two months of intimidation and starvation.
But the eight-part show has already attracted a chorus of critics, accusing it of making light of the war and disrespecting the millions who were murdered by the Nazis.
"Fortunately for the family, they will not be treated like the 82,309 Jews who lived in the Protectorate and were deported by the Nazis to concentration and death camps, or were killed by Czech collaborators," wrote The Times of Israel columnist Renee Ghert-Zand.
"What are they going to do next? Big Brother Auschwitz?" asked another critic, quoted by the UK's Daily Telegraph.
Holiday in the Protectorate director Zora Cejnkova admitted she expected the show to stir up criticism.
"When starting the project, we knew that it may provoke a discussion on how far such genre may go," she told news agency CTK. "I tried to show that period with utter seriousness and with respect for its tragic character.
"We are aware that it is controversial to return to so turbulent a period. However, we believe that it is correct to attempt to do this, providing that certain ethical rules and historical reality are observed."
