Germany plans sperm race reality show

Another day, another new reality show causes controversy.

Germany is hoping to find "the man with the fastest sperm" in a new programme from Big Brother makers Endemol, according to Ananova.

In the show, due to air later this year, twelve contestants - including two celebrities and a "health freak" - will make donations at a sperm bank. The frozen sperm will then be transported to a TV studio in Cologne where they will be simultaneously released into a test tube. The winner will be the man whose sperm first reaches a chemical substance which is identical to that emitted by the female egg in the womb.

Borris Brandt, head of Endemol in Germany, dismissed protests that the show was unethical, insisting that no human eggs would be fertilised. "The main prize in the competition is a Porsche, not a baby. It's actually a very scientific programme and the topic of fertility is massive in Germany at the moment."

He added: "The programme isn't immoral. We're only testing, we're not conceiving."