After smash hit The Swan, Fox is hoping to raise the shock bar in reality TV yet again. The new show, High IQ, will be all about brain transplants.

"There are a lot of pretty people who nevertheless feel their character is shallow," the show's producer Fred Gantal tells, "High IQ will help those people in somewhat drastic, yet drastically successful fashion."

In High IQ, ten contestants fight for the crown of quiz champion. In every episode, one of two previously low-IQ contestants will advance a round by answering questions in areas of nuclear physics, thermodynamics, history and engineering – areas in which they had no clue prior to the show's 8-hour operation.

Gantal stresses, "We are not simply removing brain, we are transplanting it from another body, so no harm's done. And only top thinkers are allowed to donate their brain. There are enough people around who feel immensely smart, but awkward with their current physics. People who are happy to find themselves waking up in a completely new, glamorous body."

Criticists of the show accuse Gantal and his team of the country's top neuro-surgeons of "heartless concept", "ruthless Frankenstein trickery," and "plain amorality". Yet the show was a winner last week when it aired in front of a test audience. One viewer from Chigaco told us she "never thought a little gray matter could make a big difference."

By FakeToday correspondent Philipp Lenssen (10/2/2004).