'Gana la Verde', or literally 'Win the Green', offers a slim hope to millions of mainly Latino migrants from Mexico and Puerto Rico to gain legal status in the US.
According to a report on Reuters, the show has attracted big audiences as willing contestants to jump off high-speed trucks or wash skyscraper windows. The prize is a year's legal aid in getting their much-sought-after visa or green card cases heard.
The show, which runs run five times a week on a Spanish-language television station in California and Texas, was dreamed up by Lenard Liberman, who runs independent TV and radio firm Liberman Broadcasting. It is already the number two prime-time show on Spanish-language stations in LA.
According to Liberman: "When you are in the Hispanic market, you realise that immigration and legal status is the number one issue. They want to be able to earn a living and not have the pressure of wondering if they are able to stay or not," Liberman told Reuters.
Liberman said he had considered a show with a cash prize, but in the end settled on what he thinks is the ultimate prize.
"What would be the ultimate prize for someone living in the United States as an immigrant? To have a prestigious law firm handle their case would be something invaluable," he said.
The show has been inundated with contestants and has a waiting list of those wanting to get on. Liberman says he is getting letters in the mail and thousands of phone calls with people flying in from around the US to appear.
With more than 2m immigrants in California alone, mostly Latino, and millions trying to get in, the chance of legal status for most are slim. US Immigration & Customs officials are warning that contestants should not get their hopes up.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the US Immigration agency, said: "I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on the premise of a television show except to say that they are holding out false hope to people."
She added: "You're getting people to submit to unpleasant things, holding out hope that you'll be able to change their legal status in this country, when some people are just not able to adjust their status because this is all dependent on laws. It sounds very much like exploitation."
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