Sydney - The Australian eccentric who sparked a worldwide craze for hugging in public places hopes to do the same for organ donation.

The 26-year-old Sydney resident, who goes by the name of Juan Mann, is offering up his own kidney to a stranger.

"I'm young, I'm fit, I'm healthy, I have two kidneys," he told the city's Sun-Herald newspaper. "I don't really drink. I don't need that second one, and someone will be able to get out of hospital."

Mann became a YouTube luminary when a video showed him embracing strangers. Two years ago, he was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey television show in the United States.

The donation process, which he expects to start with psychiatric and physical tests before the end of this year, will also be made into a video and released on the internet.

The rules for donating a kidney to a stranger are that he will never know the outcome.

"I'll never meet the (recipient), I'll never know if the transplant is a success or a failure, I'll never know if my kidney kills the person," Mann said. "Apparently once you give your kidney you will never feel whole. I'll get a cool star and apparently chicks dig scars." (dpa)