Thread: Terminally-ill volunteer sought for mummification on Channel 4 A terminally-ill volun

U.K.A terminally-ill volunteer is being sought to donate their body for a reality television show backed by Channel 4 that would see them mummified and possibly placed on display in a museum.

By Aislinn Laing
Published: 7:54AM GMT 11 Jan 2010
Film production company Fulcrum TV has placed an advertisement in spiritual magazines appealing for volunteers to come forward.
According to the show's executive producer, they can expect to be filmed in the run-up to their demise so that viewers have "a proper emotional response" to them when they pass away and are mummified.
The documentary team have enlisted the help of a scientist in the North of England who claims to have discovered the secrets of the ancient Egyptian mummification process, which was popular as far back as 3300 BC and thought to help the spirit travel to the afterlife.
In common practice, the body's organs were removed and stored in jars - apart from the brain which was thought to be useless and thrown away - and the body was dried out with natron before being wrapped in cloth and placed in a sarcophagus.
The advertisement reads: “We are currently keen to talk to someone who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of ancient Egyptian embalming.”
The proposal has received development funds from Channel 4 which has backed the "fascinating" research.
Fulcrum’s TV’s executive producer, Richard Belfield, spoke about his plans to an undercover reporter from The Independent who posed as a possible volunteer.
“We would like to film with you over the next few months to understand who you are and what sort of person you are so the viewers get to know you and have a proper emotional response to you,” he said.
“It may sound rather macabre but we have mummified a large number of pigs to check that the process worked and it does. We have lined up scientists to support the project and found a place approved by the Human Tissue Authority where the mummification would take place.
“Afterwards one thought was - though this is not obligatory - to put the body in an exhibition in a proper museum so people can properly understand the mummification process. That is something we would be flexible about. But we would like to keep the body for two or three years to see that the mummification process worked. Then the normal funeral arrangements could be made.”
Fulcrum is not offering any payment for the project, other than to meet costs. "The advice from our compliance lawyers is that it would be wrong to offer payment," Mr Belfield said.
A Channel 4 spokesman told The Independent that the research into Egyptian chemical practices could have implications for modern science.
“We’re fascinated by the research that is taking place," he said. "If the scientists are able to find a willing donor we’d be interested in following the process.
"And if you were to question why we were interested we’d say ‘If the scientists have solved one of the ancient world’s most enduring mysteries [the process of mummification] it would give us a unique insight into science and Egyptian history and may well prove to have other significant benefits for medical science’.”
Terminally-ill volunteer sought for mummification on Channel 4 - Telegraph

Nothing to do with ratings.......

Unbelievable......

Originally Posted by crippen

That is something we would be flexible about. But we would like to keep the body for two or three years to see that the mummification process worked. Then the normal funeral arrangements could be made.” Fulcrum is not offering any payment for the project, other than to meet costs. "The advice from our compliance lawyers is that it would be wrong to offer payment," Mr Belfield said.

Be wrong to offer payment??
Cheap bastards will not get my old carcase for free, they full of shit if they think that.
Damn we are all terminal in one way or another, so why not pay me now and follow me around and then when I die they can do what ever they want,,, but nothing for nothing.

may send this info to my brother; solve his money worries; rec'd this email from him today (excuse spelling - expect drunk, and he's a tefl-er)

in total despair as bankrupt have resumed thjought sof leapiong off patituit so fucking SICK of mjy ficking life thes edays

Patituit is actually Paritutu, 505' rock outcrop in hometown where he's currently existing. Am not concerned, such a lazy bastard he'd never make the effort to climb up, walking to the bus about his limit.
He recently turned 60 - is this normal behaviour?
we're not close, but it was nice to hear from him again.