Dirk Hendrickx, a researcher here at WOW, tells us of a reality show he worked on in Belgium, called De Werf, which means construction site

De Werf has been on television in France, Russia, UK, Denmark, and Australia. The shows all have different names, but the format is the same: 12 couples build a house and every week one couple gets voted off by the other couples. At the end, two couples remain, and viewers vote for who they want to win the house, valued at 500,000 euros.

Currently on the Belgian show it’s down to two remaining couples. One couple is a stereotypical family (Peter and Lila, with cute 19-month-old twins). The other is a lesbian couple (Nele and Fanny). Het Vlaams Belang (The Flemish Interest), an extreme right-wing party in Belgium, has been asking viewers through the internet not to vote for the lesbians and to vote for family norms and values. Suddenly, Peter is rather open on the fact that his father is a member of Het Vlaams Belang. He also says he would be happy to get votes from party members and is even willing to thank them by becoming a member himself. The girls, meanwhile, are trying to get extra votes by playing the gay card. How is Belgium gonna vote? Will it be Bush or Kerry, er, Peter and Lila or Nele and Fanny? The final episode is Thursday.

The winner on the French version was – yikes! – an interracial gay couple.

– Dirk Hendrickx