Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)

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Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK (also on S4C in Wales), and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the Big Brother House with no contact with the outside world. In recent series, the show's producers have offered celebrities money to appear on Celebrity Big Brother.

Celebrity Big Brother 2007 started on 3 January 2007,^[1] and ran for 26 days. The launch show peaked at 8.2 million viewers, making it the second most-watched launch in Big Brother history.^[2] It was the first Celebrity Big Brother series to be shown in the 16:9 widescreen format and the final Celebrity series to be held in the Elstree compound with the regular series later in the year being the final one overall.^[3].

On 16 January 2007 this series had attracted the largest ever number of public complaints to the UK broadcasting watchdog Ofcom about a Big Brother series.^[4] The complaints received detailed concerns that housemate Shilpa Shetty had been subjected to bullying, allegedly with undertones of racism.^[5] As an example, Danielle Lloyd called a fellow Indian participant "a dog" and that she should "fuck off home". This sparked widespread anger and demonstrations in India, where the alleged racism was reported on the news, and led Big Brother's main sponsor Carphone Warehouse to suspend its sponsorship of the show.^[6] As of January 19, 2007, a Channel 4 spokesman agreed that participants should be made aware of the controversy, probably explaining the recent explanations and apologies tendered by the housemates and their complete lack of surprise after learning about the latest eviction.^[7][8]

As in earlier series, Davina McCall presented the main Channel 4 show. Dermot O'Leary presented Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother and Celebrity Big Brother's Big Brain. Russell Brand presented Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth. Celebrity Big Brother Diary Room Uncut,^[9] and live streaming also returned on the Official Channel 4 website and also on E4 at selected times.

On 28 January 2007, Shetty was voted the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2007 with 63% of the final vote.^[10]

Contents 1 The House 2 Contestants 2.1 Carole Malone 2.2 Cleo Rocos 2.3 Danielle Lloyd 2.4 Dirk Benedict 2.5 Donny Tourette 2.6 Ian "H" Watkins 2.7 Jack Tweed 2.8 Jackiey Budden 2.9 Jade Goody 2.10 Jermaine Jackson 2.11 Jo O'Meara 2.12 Ken Russell 2.13 Leo Sayer 2.14 Shilpa Shetty 3 Daily summary and highlights 4 Nominations table 4.1 Notes 5 Accusations of racism and bullying 5.1 Basis of accusations 5.2 Reaction 5.2.1 Media Reaction 5.2.2 Political reaction 5.2.3 Reaction in India 5.3 Police investigation 5.4 Sponsor and corporate backlash 5.5 Big Brother intervenes in the racism controversy 5.6 Additional claims 6 Viewership 7 Post event 7.1 Shilpa Shetty 7.2 Jo O'Meara 8 References 9 External links

[edit] The House

The general layout of the House was largely untouched from the previous non-celebrity series. The living room and bedroom had no noticeable changes. There were several single beds in the same room, with one double bed, meaning that two housemates (Leo & Donny) had to share. The bathroom is much smaller than previous versions and the toilet and shower were no longer fitted with cameras. The dining room table was moved inside, and the kitchen fully equipped with modern conveniences. Outside the garden was a three-jet hot tub with a farmyard seating area. The bridge to Nowhere was still present, leading to a sitting area with heated seats and the topiary man. A workout area was situated just off the kitchen area. Inside the House there was also a fax machine built into the wall. On day 24 this was used to post viewers' questions to the housemates.^[11] Meanwhile, the Diary Room was identical to the previous summer's Big Brother, with an oversized gold chair and padded walls, the only change being the addition of yellow lights facing the walls. The House Next Door was used again, and its interior was re-designed to resemble a Victorian style kitchen, with uncomfortable beds in the bedroom, for use in the master-and-servant task.

[edit] Contestants

Eleven housemates entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on Day 1 followed by three more housemates on Day 3. This was more than any other celebrity series to date (the regular series in 2006 has had fourteen housemates enter on Day 1). The housemates in Celebrity Big Brother 2007 were (in alphabetical order by first name):

[edit] Carole Malone

Carole Malone (born 14 October 1954) is a columnist for the Sunday Mirror. She starred in the 2006 series of Celebrity Fit Club on ITV. On Day 2 Carole broke Big Brother rules by discussing nominations with Shilpa and Cleo.^[12] Carole was a servant during the Master and Servant task. Carole was put up for eviction after being unanimously chosen between her and Cleo by her fellow housemates to face the public vote as punishment for discussing nominations. Carole was evicted on Day 10. Carole has revealed that her real age is in fact 52 and not 47.^[13]

[edit] Cleo Rocos

Cleo Rocos (born July 24, 1962 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a comic actress who appeared on The Kenny Everett Television Show. Cleo has developed a maternal role in the house and tends to look after the younger housemates and do such things as cook and clean for them, which was first pointed out by Ian and Jo on Day 2.^[14] On Day 2, Cleo broke Big Brother rules by discussing nominations with Shilpa and Carole.^[12] As punishment, the rest of the housemates (except Carole but including Shilpa) were made to vote unanimously on who should face the public vote. Cleo was not chosen. Cleo was a servant during the Master and Servant task. In battle of the tribute bands she was in Jermaine's group as a member of the Jackson 5, the group won. She was evicted on Day 24, along with Jo.

[edit] Danielle Lloyd

Danielle Lloyd (born Liverpool, 16 December 1983) is an English model and former Miss Great Britain (2006), stripped of her title for dating a panel judge, footballer Teddy Sheringham, and posing for Playboy. Danielle was a servant during the Master and Servant task. She was accused of racist bullying of her fellow house mate Shilpa Shetty, along with Jade Goody and Jo O'Meara. Danielle eventually finished 5th on final night.

[edit] Dirk Benedict

Dirk Benedict (born March 1, 1945) is an American actor who played Face in The A-Team and Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica. Dirk made a unique entrance to the house by arriving via (a replica of) The A-Team van, smoking a cigar and with the theme tune playing in the background. A memorable moment occurred a few minutes after he arrived in the house, when a drunk Donny said "It's Dirk fucking Benedict", to which Dirk responded "I seldom use my middle name". Dirk made no secret of his attraction to Shilpa, even saying that he would marry her in a moment, although his attention and flirting with her was lighthearted and not excessive. On Day 2 a comic feel surrounded Dirk as Shilpa learned to pronounce his name.^[15] Dirk finished third.

Despite his obvious affection for Shilpa, Dirk Benefict has been accused of rasicm and will be interviewed by the police. Newspaper reports have quoted him as saying, "There are millions of Indians. Millions. And they’re breeding fast. They are having four or five kids when the Brits are having one. The average British woman has 1.3 children and the Indians are having 3.5. The Brits, the natural-born, are already in a minority. There will be a Nehru as Prime Minister soon.” Link

[edit] Donny Tourette

Donny Tourette is the lead singer of Towers of London, a punk rock band from London. He staggered into the house in a drunken state and instantly breached Big Brother rules when his stash of alcohol was removed from his suitcase.^[16] Donny escaped from the Big Brother House on 5 January 2007 by climbing over the garden wall in the House Next Door with the help of 'H' from Steps,^[17] saying "I'm not waiting hand on foot on some fucking moron and her family", referring to Jade Goody, as he climbed over. His clothes and belongings were left in the diary room by a fellow contestant.

[edit] Ian "H" Watkins

Ian "H" Watkins (born May 8, 1976) is a Welsh actor and was previously a member of the pop group Steps. He came out as gay to The Sun on the same day as he entered the house.^[18][19] Although he was known as the fence-sitter and, along with Jermaine, the peace maker, he could see that Shilpa was being bullied by Jade, Danielle and Jo and at one point locked himself in the toilet in tears over the divide in the House. He finished fourth.

[edit] Jack Tweed

Jack Andrew Tweed (born July 7, 1987 in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire) is Jade Goody's boyfriend. He entered the House on 2007-01-05 as a member of Jade's family. He was a master during the Master and Servant task. Jack left school at the age of 16, to become an electrician like his father, however, he soon changed career to male modelling. He is currently training to be a footballers' agent. He has courted controversy over his "fucking cunt" comment and suggesting that Shilpa remove objects from the toilet with her teeth and after Jade apologised to Shilpa (on day 16), Jack continued verbally to abuse Shilpa. Jack confessed that he was very disappointed with Jade for apologising to Shilpa and called Shilpa a “Dick”. He also previously described Shilpa as a "wanker". Following Jade's eviction he has spent more time with former Miss Great Britain Danielle Lloyd, who is said to be flirting with Jack and told him "I love you" when she was drunk.^[20]. It was alleged that before either of them were famous, Tweed had a relationship with Big Brother 7 star Nikki Grahame, however this ended before Tweed dated Goody or Grahame entered the house.^[21] Many people questioned Jack's involvement in the programme, given the fact that he isn't actually a celebrity.

[edit] Jackiey Budden

Jackiey Budden (born April 1958) entered the house on Friday January 5. Jackiey was a master during the Master and Servant task. Jackiey caused a slight stir in the house, and upset both her daughter Jade and fellow housemates Shilpa and Ken with her demanding attitude and garrulous personality.^[22] She was unable to correctly pronounce Shilpa's name, so instead referred to her as "Princess" and "The Indian". On Day 8, Jackiey became the first housemate to be evicted from the Big Brother house in a surprise eviction; Jackiey left the house via the diary room and was unable to say goodbye to her fellow housemates. There was no crowd present at Jackiey's eviction and she left the house without any shoes. She is Jade Goody's biological mother.

[edit] Jade Goody

Jade Goody (born June 5, 1981) entered the house on Friday January 5. Jade first rose to fame when she appeared in the third UK series of Big Brother and since then has gone on to have a successful career in the media industry. Jade was a master during the Master and Servant task. Jade was at the centre of a bullying controversy against fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty. The Act Against Bullying charity branded her behaviour as "unforgivable".^[23]Among Jade's comments were: "I've seen how she goes in and out of people's arseholes",^[24] as well as suggesting Shetty "makes [her] skin crawl".^[25] She also referred to Shetty as 'Shilpa Poppadom'.^[26] She was evicted on Day 17, Big Brother producers and Endemol had decided not to have a live crowd present nor the usual press conference to enable them to brief Jade Goody on the recent racism allegations. It is widely suspected she was evicted due to her alleged racist comments made towards fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty.^[27] Shilpa Shetty has said that she has forgiven Jade various times^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine Jackson (born December 11, 1954, also known as Muhammed Abdul Aziz) is an American R&B singer, former member of The Jackson 5 and brother of pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. On the launch show, Davina revealed that Jermaine's favourite tube line was the Central Line. In the house several of the housemates have commented that Jermaine is very shy and they are therefore finding difficulty in attempting to converse with him.^[28] Jermaine finished second. ^[29]

[edit] Jo O'Meara

Jo O'Meara (born April 29, 1979) was previously a member of the pop group S Club 7 and a former contestant on Just the Two of Us. She also had a brief solo career before pursuing a career in dog breeding. O'Meara was a servant during the 'Master and Servant' task. She has come in for criticism for her ganging up with Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, and others on fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty, who has been subjected to bullying in the house, despite maintaining that she and Shetty are friends. She was evicted on Day 24, along with Cleo.

Since leaving the house Jo has apparently slipped into depression and attempted suicide.

[edit] Ken Russell

Ken Russell (born July 3, 1927) is an English director of such films as The Music Lovers, The Devils, The Boy Friend, Lisztomania, and Tommy, and at age 79 was the oldest male contestant in the programme's history. Since entering the house Ken prevented many of the other housemates from sleeping due to his excessive snoring. Danielle informed Ken of his snoring on Day 3 which led to many of the housemates pondering over a solution.^[30] On Day 5 at 14:55, he voluntarily left the house after arguing with new housemate Jade Goody and her family.^[31]

[edit] Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer (born May 21, 1948) is a singer who had success in the 1970s with hits such as "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", "Moonlighting" and "Thunder In My Heart". Leo found it difficult to sleep on his first night in the house as he was forced to share a bed with Donny who was naked, a prospect that Leo found uncomfortable.^[32] Leo was a servant during the Master and Servant task. He reverted to mime communication and decided to take a vow of silence, much to the confusion and annoyance of the other housemates.^[33] Leo escaped from the house by breaking open a fire door with a broom after hitting a two-way mirror on Day 10 when Big Brother refused to provide him with clean underwear.^[34] It was revealed later that he had overlooked clean underwear in his suitcase. He was at the time up for eviction and, though he did not know it, leading the poll.

[edit] Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty (born June 8, 1975) is an award winning Indian actress and an active AIDS and PETA campaigner. Her native language is Tulu, but she can also speak other Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. ^[35] Thousands of complaints have been entered to Big Brother suggesting Shilpa has been verbally abused by the other housemates. Police proceedings have concluded with no further action being taken. Shilpa won Celebrity Big Brother 2007.

[edit] Daily summary and highlights

Day 1	Entries	Carole, Cleo, Danielle, Dirk, Donny, Ian, Jermaine, Jo, Ken, Leo, and Shilpa entered the House.
	General	Upon entering the House the housemates began to converse and socialise with one another while Donny, who may have been drunk, jumped into the House Jacuzzi fully clothed.[36]
Day 3	Entries/Twists	Jack, Jackiey, and Jade entered the house.
	Tasks	The housemates were told to pack a small suitcase each that must last them three days and three nights.[37] Big Brother announced that eight of the current housemates were to move to the House Next Door while the remaining three housemates were to stay in the main house. Danielle, Jo, Leo, Carole, Donny, Ian, Cleo and Dirk moved into the house next door and will become servants to the masters in the main house: Jermaine, Shilpa and Ken[38] who were joined by Jade, her boyfriend Jack and her mother Jackiey.[39]
	Exits	Donny left the house voluntarily by climbing over the garden wall in the House Next Door after learning he would be a servant to Jade and her new extended family in the main House.[40]
Day 5	Exits	Ken Russell voluntarily left the House after arguing with Jade Goody and her family.[31]
	General	Jade's grandparents entered the House as guests for dinner. They left after the meal.[41]
Day 6	Tasks	The housemates were informed that they had passed the Masters and Servants task.[42]
Day 8	Exits	Jackiey was evicted from the Big Brother House. Jackiey was called to the Diary Room and informed she would leave the House via the Diary Room and would not say goodbye to her fellow housemates; the housemates observed Jackiey's eviction on the plasma screen in the kitchen.[43]
Day 9	Nomination	The first round of nominations took place with Dirk and Leo up for eviction, they were joined by Carole as punishment for discussing nominations.[44]
	Punishments	Carole faced the vote automatically after it was revealed that Cleo and she had discussed nominations, the housemates were instructed to choose one of the pair to face the public vote.
Day 10	Exits	Leo Sayer voluntarily left the House. He left the House by smashing the glass tube on the garden fire door barging through the camera run and through another door. He proceeded to argue with security officers and programme producers before finally being granted his wish not to return.[34] Carole was evicted with 77.4% of the vote[45]
Day 13	Tasks	Housemates were required to complete an assault course in under nine minutes. The housemates failed this task[46] and received a basic shopping budget.[47]
Day 14	General	Shilpa and Jade were involved in an argument with each other which began with a disagreement over an Oxo cube. The argument increased the growing controversy surrounding the alleged racist bullying of Shilpa.[48]
Day 15	Tasks	Housemates were set a task to divide into groups and create abstract art to express their emotions.[49] They passed the task and received champagne as a reward.[50]
	Nominations	The second round of nominations took place. Shilpa and Jade received the most nomination points and were up for eviction.
Day 17	Tasks	Housemates were instructed to use their voices to perform William Tell Overture,[51] which they passed.[52]
	Exits	Jade became the third person to be evicted from the house with 82% of the votes.[53] Due to the controversy at the time, her eviction was not attended by a live audience.[54]
Day 19	Tasks	Housemates were given a task where they were required to make Big Brother laugh.[55] They passed the task and received party food as a reward.[56]
Day 20	Tasks	The task was to perform a showgirl dance routine.[57] Housemates passed the task and received a luxury shopping budget.[58]
Day 21	Tasks	The housemates had to choose something they wanted under £10. They had to answer questions about their fellow housemates. Each housemate had to choose another housemate and answer questions about the housemate. If a housemate got 3 out of 5 questions right, the housemate that the other housemate chose would have won their prize they selected before the task.
	Nominations	The third and final round of nominations took place with Cleo, Dirk, Ian, Jo and Shilpa being nominated for the public vote.
Day 24	Exits	Jo and Cleo were evicted together in a double eviction.
Day 25	General	The housemates were asked questions submitted by the public.[11].
	Tasks	The housemates were instructed to devise four performances each based around a different genre: romantic comedy, film noir, action blockbuster and Bollywood musical. All past and present housemates must be portrayed by the final six housemates.[59] The housemates passed the task and therefore earned a three course sit down meal.
Day 26	Exits	Jack and Dannielle left the house first on the final night together finishing in 6th and 5th place. Ian finished in 4th place and was followed later by Dirk who finished in 3rd place. Jermaine finished as runner-up with Shilpa leaving the house last as the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2007.

[edit] Nominations table

	Day 3	Day 9	Day 15	Day 21	Final Day 26
Shilpa	No nominations	Jack, Leo	Jade, Jack	Dirk, Jack	Winner
Jermaine	No nominations	Jo, Danielle	Jade, Jo	Danielle, Jo	2nd place
Dirk	No nominations	Ian, Jermaine	Jade, Jermaine	Cleo, Jo	3rd place
Ian	No nominations	Leo, Dirk	Danielle, Jade	Cleo, Jo	4th place
Danielle	No nominations	Leo, Dirk	Shilpa, Dirk	Dirk, Ian	5th place
Jack	No nominations	Shilpa, Dirk	Shilpa, Dirk	Dirk, Shilpa	6th place
Cleo	No nominations	Banned	Shilpa, Jade	Ian, Dirk	Evicted (Day 24)
Jo	No nominations	Leo, Jack	Shilpa, Dirk	Dirk, Shilpa	Evicted (Day 24)
Jade	No nominations	Shilpa, Dirk	Shilpa, Dirk	Evicted (Day 17)
Carole	No nominations	Banned	Evicted (Day 10)
Leo	No nominations	Jack, Jo	Walked (Day 10)
Jackiey	No nominations	Evicted (Day 8)
Ken	Walked (Day 5)
Donny	Walked (Day 3)
Nomination twist	See Note 1	See Note 2	See Note 3	See Note 4	See Note 5
Against public vote	Jack, Jackiey, Jade, Jermaine, Ken, Shilpa	Carole, Dirk, Leo	Jade, Shilpa	Cleo, Dirk, Ian, Jo, Shilpa	Danielle, Dirk, Ian, Jack, Jermaine, Shilpa
Walked	Donny, Ken	Leo	None	None	None
Evicted	Jackiey 4.6% to save	Carole 77.4% to evict	Jade 82.0% to evict	Jo 48.4% out of 5 to evict	Jack 3.15% (out of 6)	Dirk 16% (out of 3)
					Danielle 3.3% (out of 6)
						Jermaine 37% (out of 2)
				Cleo 27.9% to evict	Ian 5.3% (out of 4)
					Shilpa 63% to win

[edit] Notes

Note 1: When Jade, Jack, and Jackiey entered the house they became "masters" along with Jermaine, Ken, and Shilpa. The other eight housemates were chosen to be their "servants" and moved to the House Next Door. It was revealed that the masters are automatically nominated for eviction in which the viewers are to vote which housemates to save, rather than evicted. Therefore, the housemate with the least number of votes is evicted. Donny, who was originally a servant, left the house on Day 3. On Day 5, Ken voluntarily left after being involved in arguments with housemates.

Note 2: Carole and Cleo were banned from nominating as a punishment for discussing nominations earlier. Additionally, housemates had to choose one of them to face the public vote.^[60] They chose Carole.^[61] On Day 10, Leo escaped the house.^[34]

Note 3: The nominations were cast on Day 15 and announced on Day 16. The voting package was delayed and only shown at the end of Big Brother's Big Mouth where it was also revealed that all Channel 4's profits for this vote will go to charity.

Note 4: There was a double eviction on Day 24 and therefore the three or more housemates were placed up for the public vote rather than the two or more housemates. The voting lines originally opened on Day 22 but were reset on Day 23 due to an error which stated that viewers were to vote to save Shilpa when they were in fact voting to evict. Viewers who had voted before the lines were reset were offered a full refund with all unclaimed money and profits from the vote being donated to charity^[62]

Note 5: There were no nominations in the final two days and instead the public were voting for the housemate they wished to win rather than evict. The housemates coming 5th and 6th were evicted together in a double eviction.

[edit] Accusations of racism and bullying

Celebrity Big Brother criticism focussed around the treatment of housemate Shilpa Shetty by contestants Jade Goody, Jo O'Meara and Danielle Lloyd.

UK media regulator Ofcom received more than 50,000 complaints^[63][64][65] - a record number for a British television programme after transmission. Channel 4 received an additional 3,000 complaints,^[66][67] about racism and bullying by housemates against Shetty. The Eastern Eye newspaper launched an online petition that registered over 30,000 signatures.^[68][69] Channel 4 initially described the situation as "girly rivalry" but later admitted there had "undoubtedly been a cultural clash between her and three of the British females in the house".^[70]

[edit] Basis of accusations

The accusations were based on the following actions:

• Jade Goody's mother, Jackiey Budden, repeatedly referred to Shilpa as "the Indian" or "Princess" while she was on the show because she was unable to pronounce her name.^[71] However, during her eviction interview, Davina coerced Jackiey into saying "Shilpa" and Jackiey pronounced it properly, although a bit agitated.

• Jack Tweed, Jade's boyfriend, called Shilpa Shetty a "fucking [expletive]", with the bleeped-out expletive variously reported as "cunt"^[72] and "Paki".^[73]

• On Days 11 and 12, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara poked fun at Shilpa's accent.^[71] Lloyd has also referred to Shilpa as a "dog".^[74]

• Jo implied that all Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food because she believed Shilpa undercooked a chicken meal.^[71]

• Referring to Shilpa applying facial hair bleaching cream, Danielle said "she's trying to make her face look white."^[71]

• After an argument between Shilpa and Jade, witnessed by a giggling Jo and Danielle, Danielle said she thought Shilpa should "just fuck off home. She can't even speak English."^[75] She also mentioned to Jo that she didn't like Shilpa touching her food because "you don't know where her hands have been". The next morning, Danielle spoke to Shilpa about the situation, but did not apologise. During the conversation in the bedroom, Jade entered, sat in front of Danielle, blocking out Shilpa, and began doing makeup. As Shilpa left, Danielle told Jade that she "tried apologising to her". Later Danielle made an awkward attempt to apologize by saying "I feel really bad, I feel disgusted with myself the way I've treated you and the way I've acted, because I'm not like that, Shilpa, really," ... "And you can even cook me curry and you can pick the onions out with your fingers."^[76]

• Jade referred to Shilpa as, among other things, 'Shilpa Popadom', 'Shilpa Durupa' and 'Shilpa Fuckawala'. She later said she had done this with no intention of racism. Commenting on this in the Diary Room, she apologised if her actions had offended anybody.^[77][78]

• Even after Jade apologised to Shilpa (On day 16), Jack continued to abuse Shilpa. Jack confessed that he was very disappointed with Jade for apologising to Shilpa, and called Shilpa a "dick". He previously described Shilpa as a "wanker".^[79]

The three girls under most scrutiny for racist accusations — Goody, Lloyd and O'Meara — repeatedly stated, amongst each other and the other housemates, that they feel Shilpa is a 'fake' and a 'phony'.^[80]

[edit] Reaction

[edit] Media Reaction

Various media outlets initially characterized the issue as 'girlish rivalry'^[81] but later blamed it on bullying and racism. As time progressed, the majority of media coverage on Goody became negative, although accusations of racism were superseded by those of bullying. An editorial published by The Daily Mirror on 18 January 2007 called Beauty V Bigot deplored what they referred to as "disgraceful racist bullying of Big Brother's Shilpa Shetty" and criticised Channel 4 management for maintaining that there wasn't a racial element to the bullying.^[82] The British tabloids mostly concentrated on the comments made by Goody, rather than those made by Jack, Danielle and Jo towards Shilpa, as well as the bullying from them. For instance, when Jade and Shilpa were arguing over Oxo cubes, Shilpa pleaded with Jo for assistance by saying “Jo, I mean, are you going to say something here what is happening here?” to which Jo responded by bursting out laughing. Jermaine later said "when all this was going on I saw Danielle and Jo laughing and then branded them as “the allies”."

This controversy has generated over 300 newspaper articles in Britain, 1,200 in English language newspapers around the globe, 3,900 foreign language news articles, and 22,000 blog postings on the internet.^[83]

Vanni Treves, Channel 4's former chairman, urged the station to cancel the show.^[84]Yet the chances of this are unlikely as Big Brother is Channel 4's biggest money-spinner, accounting for around seven per cent of its total £800 million advertising income.^[84]

[edit] Political reaction

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz has tabled an Early Day Motion with parliament addressing this issue,^[85] while Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has condemned the attacks.[1] Tony Blair refused to comment on the issue as he has not been watching the show, although he did condemn racism in all its forms. The government of India has stated that it will take "action as required".^[86]

London mayor Ken Livingstone weighed in on the controversy by stating "The racism towards Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother is completely unacceptable." He went on to accuse the producers of the program of selectively editing the show "to broadcast participants' racist comments".^[87]

In an interview with Commission for Equality and Human Rights chairman Trevor Phillips, broadcast on BBC One on the 21st of January, Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson was held accountable for what Phillips termed as 'failing to deal properly with the crisis'. Phillips has suggested Johnson should "make clear that they got it wrong" and admit that "they intervened too little too late". He also suggested that Channel 4 should not profit from the series, giving all of the money to charity. If this fails to happen it has been suggested, by Phillips, that further action could be taken by the culture secretary and Johnson's job could be under threat.^[88]

[edit] Reaction in India

In response to the alleged racism being directed at actress Shetty in the Big Brother House, protesters took to the streets in India and burned effigies of the show's organisers. The Indian Government also plans to raise the issue with the British Government.^[89] India Tourism Office has extended an "invitation" to Jade Goody, to visit India and experience its "healing nature."^[90]

[edit] Police investigation

According to the BBC Shetty confided in fellow housemate Cleo Rocos that she feared the arguments between Goody, O'Meara, Lloyd and herself was the result of her race. After being told by Cleo that this was unlikely, Shilpa retorted by saying "It is, I'm telling you". Shilpa did not lodge an official complaint of racist behaviour to Big Brother.^[70] Yet Shetty's admission has forced police to investigate whether or not to classify her treatment as 'racial hatred' under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986.

Hertfordshire police said in a statement that it was

"Investigating allegations of racist behaviour in the Big Brother house and will be conducting enquiries, including a review of the tapes. We will continue to liaise with Ofcom and with Endemol, whom we have strongly encouraged to ensure that any form of behaviour that could raise similar concerns, does not occur. We will continue to closely monitor the situation over the next few days. Hertfordshire Constabulary will not tolerate racism in any form and is taking these allegations seriously. The constabulary has experience of investigating and resolving incidents in the Big Brother house in past seasons."^[91]

Shetty later withdrew her claims of racism, stating she did not think Jade was being racist during their argument.^[92] However, Shetty was unaware of all the alleged insults levelled against her, often done behind her back at that time.

[edit] Sponsor and corporate backlash

On 18 January, The Carphone Warehouse suspended its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother with immediate effect over the alleged racism. This does not however, entitle the Carphone Warehouse to recoup prepaid sponsorship monies, therefore causing minimal financial damage to Channel 4^[92]The company's chief executive, Charles Dunstone, said in a statement:

"Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house. We are totally against all forms of racism and bullying and indeed this behaviour is entirely at odds with the brand values of the Carphone Warehouse. As a result we feel that as long as this continues we are unable to associate our brand with the programme. We had already made it clear to Channel 4 that were this to continue, we would have to consider our position. Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort. Accordingly we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship name and branding with immediate effect."^[93]

Fragrance chain The Perfume Shop announced they are to withdraw Jade Goody's brand of perfume, Shh..., from their stores.^[94] Pharmacy chain Boots and Debenhams department stores followed suit and also pulled the perfume from their shelves.^[95][96]

HarperCollins has canceled plans to publish the paperback version of Jade Goody's autobiography. The book, titled "Jade: My Autobiography" was published in its hardbound version in May 2006 and scheduled to be released in paperback on February 5, 2007. A spokesman for the firm stated:

"In light of recent events, HarperCollins has decided it wouldn't be appropriate to proceed with the paperback publication of Jade: My Autobiography as planned on 5 February. The author and agent support this decision."

^[97]

Living TV cancelled its six-figure contract with Jade Goody, though it didn't specifically cite Jade's behavior as a cause.

Rocawear cancelled its contract with Danielle Lloyd to be a spokemodel for the brand. Company director Steve Crayson is quoted as saying:

"As a leading global fashion brand, we condemn any form of intolerance and/or racism. "We don't believe Danielle to be racist, but cannot ignore the comments made by her while on Channel 4."^[98]

Motorcycle insurance firm Bennetts terminated its six-figure agreement with Danielle Lloyd to be the spokes model for their company. A firm spokesperson is quoted as saying:

"Bennetts is strongly opposed to any form of racism and bullying." ... "In light of the accusations which have been made against Miss Lloyd, it has taken the decision to terminate its arrangements with her."

Hertsmere Borough Council, the owners of Big Brother's studios in Elstree have threatened to refuse permission to film.^[99]

Other sponsors of the show, Beauty-boxes.com, Zamya aromatherapy products, United Biscuits and Cobra Beer withdrew sponsorship from the programme.^[8][84]and deals with a number of advertisers, including Cow & Gate, the baby food manufacturer, and moneysupermarket.com were cancelled.^[84]

[edit] Big Brother intervenes in the racism controversy

A Channel 4 spokeswoman admitted Big Brother had intervened in the latest row - but only to make contestants "realise that what they have said has been misconstrued in the house". The idea, she said, was to allow the housemates "to explain themselves" to their fellow contestants.^[100]This was followed by a series of apologies by the housemates to Shilpa and a declaration by her that she did not believe Jade was racist. Also Jade said inside the house before she left: "I know why there's no noise." When Shilpa asked "Why?" Jade replied: "I know, but I can't tell you.^[8] In an interview with the Daily Star, Jade admitted that, during her final hours in the Channel 4 house, Big Brother had revealed that her abuse of Shilpa had ruined her own "girl-next-door" image.^[101]

[edit] Additional claims

On 1 February, several British media outlets began reporting additional claims that Shilpa had in fact been called a "fucking Paki" by a housemate, although it is unclear whether this is believed to be the aforementioned incident involving Jack. In another instance, Shilpa is reported to have been the subject of a 'limerick', improvised by one of the housemates, which began "there was a young girl from Bombay" and ended "this house was happy, until we got that fucking Paki". These claims allegedly come from an Endemol employee who was interviewed the previous day by Hertfordshire police and who provided them with a hand-written "production running-order", intended for Dermot O'Leary, the back of which details these episodes as well as noting "there ARE dodgy clips, we are fucked". Police were said to have demanded unedited footage of these alleged incidents from Endemol, who confidently denied the claims and refused to hand over any footage.^[102][103] The CPS have now decided not to bring criminal charges against anyone nor to pursue unbroadcast footage through the courts. The informant has not come forward to have his/her claims tested.

[edit] Viewership

Celebrity Big Brother's launch show (aired on 2007-01-03) averaged 7.1 million viewers,^[104] and ratings fell to 3.9 million by 2007-01-07.^[105] Ratings quickly rose as media coverage reported alleged racism towards Shilpa Shetty from fellow female contestants; the episode that aired on 2007-01-16 saw a ratings boost with the show sharing 18% of the available audience and ratings of 4.5 million viewers,^[106] as the episode aired on the 2007-01-17 is predicted to be Celebrity Big Brother's top ratings grabber. The episode the following night also rose in ratings, as 5.2 million people viewed the episode. The ratings once again rose on Jade's eviction night to an average of 7.8 million viewers^[107] and a peak of 8.8 million viewers, which were the highest viewing figures in Celebrity Big Brother's history^[108] and second for any Big Brother show after the Big Brother 3 finale, which landed a record 10 million viewers.^[109]

[edit] Post event

[edit] Shilpa Shetty

On 14 February 2007 Shilpa Shetty said "Jade did apologise. And I've forgiven her. Anyone, who knows me, knows I forgive and forget easily."^[110]

On 17 February 2007, Shilpa said that she wanted to forgive Jo O'Meara, but she and other Celebrity Big Brother contestants had had difficulty contacting her.^[111]

[edit] Jo O'Meara

Unlike fellow housemate Jade Goody, Jo O'Meara did not donate her fees for appearing on the show (and for an interview with the Sunday Mirror) to charity, stating that her intention in taking part in the show was to pay off her mortgage debt.^[112]

O'Meara has also stated that she never bullied Shilpa Shetty, and that the program showed her as a much different person than in reality and that the producers of the program exploited her. She has claimed that the media frenzy surrounding the racist depiction of the S Club 7 star has left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She is in a unstable mental state, and has even considered physically harming herself.

In an interview with Sky News, Jo explained that she has been left feeling paranoid and that she has been prescibed drugs to return her to 'normal'.^[113] In an intervew with UK breakfast television show GMTV, O'Meara stated she needed to be in a safe house as she has received death threats. In the interview, she stated how she received very little in the way of support from Big Brother.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Celebrity Big Brother at channel4.com

Big Brother in the United Kingdom
Big Brother	2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
Celebrity Big Brother	2001 | 2002 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
Teen Big Brother	2003