No live TV birth for Big Brother

Tanja has been criticised on the show for smoking

A pregnant woman on the Dutch Big Brother will not be allowed to give birth live on TV, authorities ruled.

Restrictions on the hours the baby will be able to appear on screen once it has been born have also been put in place.

Contestant Tanja joined the series seven months pregnant, and permission had to be granted for the baby to appear under child labour laws.

Show producers said: It's not a show about birth, but about people in a social process."

The ruling from the Social Affairs ministry means that the baby will only be able to be on screen once a day for eight days and must be kept in a separate room with no cameras.

"The mother of the child that stays in the Big Brother house will have free access to the baby's room," the ministry said in statement.

"The same goes for a caregiver who is not part of the show, presumably one of the (child's) grandmothers."

Under pressure

The baby will also be allowed to leave the confines of the house with a family member.

A spokesman for Talpa, which is broadcasting the show, said Tanja could still faced being voted off the show by the public so the ruling could be redundant.

Tanja and the baby will receive excellent medical care, production company Endemol said.

But the 27-year-old has been criticised by other members of the show for smoking while pregnant.