A new television quiz show in the Netherlands will test the knowledge of failed asylum seekers about Dutch language, culture and history.

In the show, five would-be immigrants will show what they learned in the country they want to call home. The winner gets close to $6,000 to start a new life in his or her country of origin. The losers get consolation prizes, including a bag of tulip bulbs or a bullet-proof vest.

Among the contestants who participated in the pilot show Thursday were an aeronautical engineer from Cameroon and a Slavic languages student from Chechnya.

The candidates are mostly young and educated people, and some of them have children who were born in the Netherlands.

Critics have called the show tasteless for making fun of the plight of asylum seekers.

But supporters say the show draws attention to the fact that many people who face deportation from the Netherlands are fluent in Dutch and more at home in the Netherlands than in their country of origin.