A Chinese reality show featuring medical students has sparked criticism after participants were shown guessing diagnoses, struggling to tie surgical knots, and voicing what some viewers deemed questionable ethics.
The eighth season of “An Exciting Offer,” which premiered Oct. 21 on Tencent Video, brings together 11 medical students, from undergraduates to doctoral candidates across different specialties, who compete for an internship position at Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong province.
The show, which places participants in scenarios based on real workplace situations, has previously featured aspiring lawyers, television anchors, and architects, with its first and highest-rated season receiving an 8.2 out of 10 on Chinese entertainment review platform Douban.
However, the first episode of the latest season caused viewers to question several participants’ professional competence.
Li Ziqi, a doctoral student in neurosurgery at Fujian Medical University, said he had participated in Level 4 surgery, China’s highest surgical level. But when asked whether he believed his surgical skills were strong, he replied, “during our doctoral studies, we don’t do clinical work.”
The remark prompted pushback from medical students watching the show, who noted that professional-degree doctoral students generally must undergo clinical training. Viewers also raised concerns about Li’s research record, noting that the papers he authored were not highly ranked according to the classification system of the Science Citation Index Expanded, a trusted journal database.
As questions about Li’s qualifications mounted, Fujian Medical University told domestic media that he had completed 18 months of clinical practice. The university said his remark that doctoral students did not undertake clinical work was incorrect and had caused a misunderstanding.
Li also told fellow contestants that writing medical records could be learned in just one day, and during a diagnostic assessment, said of one case, “I’m guessing that’s a craniopharyngioma,” referring to a type of brain tumor, without presenting any evidence.
One of the show mentors — an experienced doctor in several fields — told Li that diagnoses could not be based on guesswork. The scenes drew further criticism online, with viewers questioning what they saw as Li’s dismissive attitude toward clinical work and the rigors widely considered a cornerstone of medical practice.
Meanwhile, another participant who reportedly is now an intern at a renowned private hospital in Sydney appeared to need instruction on how to tie surgical knots. In addition, the show’s only undergraduate participant said she would pay out of pocket for a patient’s cosmetic suturing, prompting questions about her understanding of medical ethics.
“Medical students undergoing standardized residency training who’ve watched (the show) want to say: endless case reports and back-to-back shifts are the daily reality. This makes clinical work look far easier than it really is,” read one highly upvoted comment on Weibo by a user claiming to be a medical student.
The controversy has also raised broader questions about how the show presents medical education to the public, with viewers voicing concern that scenes emphasizing participants’ mistakes could deepen public mistrust of doctors.
Criticism has also focused on the program’s apparent failure to distinguish between China’s two types of medical postgraduate courses, whose training priorities differ: academic degrees, where students go into research, and professional degrees, in which students seek to practice clinically.
“A program that trades on the name of ‘doctors’ has turned the things that leave no room for carelessness in clinical practice — the rigors of diagnosis, of professional growth, and the boundaries of surgery — into a ‘performance’ for the camera,” a commentary by state-run media outlet People’s Daily read.
In response to the online debate, the reported Sydney hospital intern wrote that the experience was “the first time I had such a profound realization of the differences between Chinese and Western medical training,” in a post on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.
“I still have a lot to improve in terms of basic skills and hands-on experience,” she added.
The show’s production team has not issued a response to the controversy.
Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.
(Header image: A poster for the eighth season of “An Exciting Offer.” From Douban)