Race Row Leads To Record Complaints

[Brekkie Boy]

NOTE: THIS TOPIC CONTAINS SOME RACIAL REFERENCES WHICH SOME READERS MAY NOT WISH TO VIEW. THEY ARE INCLUDED TO ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE SITUATION AS CLEARLY AS POSSIBLE.

I'm not going to even claim I can cover all this, so if you want more you'll need to look around some UK fansites and media sites such as the BBC, Sky News and ITN. I've discussed it more in-depth over at http://forum.behindbigbrother.com in the International Forum.

Basically, the row revolves around the attitude of Jade, Danielle and Jo towards Bollywood actress Shilpa following a series of rows over the weekend and constant bitchy remarks from the trio.

Issues range from mocking Shilpa's accent and Jade's mum Jackiey referring to her as "The Indian" to the defining argument which erupted over cooking a chicken, with the girls increasingly bitching about Shilpa's dominance of the kitchen. There is the (fair) argument that Shilpa had undercooked the chicken, but the issue was the girls spent all of Sunday sat in the lounge bitching about it.

They claimed they had been ill from Shilpa's food, and then made comments such as Indian's are so thin because they throw up their food, and after Jo complained about Shilpa fingering food Danielle made comments like "don't the Indian's eat with their hands".

STRONG LANGUAGE:

There has also been controversy after Jack made a comment about Shilpa one night which was censored as "fucking cunt". Forum users had suggested he said the phrase "fucking paki", which was ultimately quoted and reported in an Indian newspaper. In fact, C4 claim he used the C-word, which is considered to be top of the banned list on UK TV and is often censored in some programmes, yets airs freely in others. (Personally I consider it quite a mild expletive)

The main debate in the media is whether it is racism, bullying or just girls being bitchy. Personally, although some things certainly appear racist I don't think it's an issue of racism at all - they have the issue with Shilpa as a person and are using anything about her to bitch about her. I certainly think it's bullying though - and has probably crossed the line.

I think Big Brother are right to a certain extent correct to leave issues outside the game for the housemates to sort out themselves, with BB only stepping in in extreme circumstances. I think that time has now come though.

As for the broadcasting of it - my view, and alot of commentators and former HMs especially have agreed with it, agree C4 were right to broadcast it and would be covering it up, and hence condoning it, by not showing it.

Shilpa though has hit back at Jade tonight though with the line of the series in a row over a stock cube, looking around the house and retorting to the BB3 contestant:

"Your claim to fame is this - good for you!"

[Brekkie Boy]

Deliberately bumping this above the spammers! Not an issue we've had here before really so Morty, please try and sort it ASAP.

Anyhow, big scandal - 15,000 complaints, and all that. Result: Rating up by nearly a third over night!

[Brekkie Boy]

After tonight's show I think the line has well and truly been over stepped now - and Jade at least should be thrown out.

That argument is one of the worst I've seen on BB - even worse than Fight Night, and Jade was unnecessarily agressive in an argument over stock cubes.

In the past Big Brother has stepped in much earlier in arguments far less heated in the past, and didn't in this case (probably too busy dealing with the media!).

What made it even worse was the other two laughing, saying after they enjoyed that and it made their day, with Danielle saying she wished she'd go home

That was the flash point incident that would have given them the excuse they needed to kick out Jade, with firm final warnings to Danielle and Jo as well.

The most annoying thing still though is that no housemates really step in, with only Jermaine getting involved but more to pull Shilpa out of the situation than confront Jade and co.

[Brekkie Boy]

Has this been getting much coverage on the US news networks and bulletins - it's a story that's seems to have gone global as well as the extensive coverage in the UK and India.

CNN have a video on the website: http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.htm...her.protest.itn

As do CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/ma...tml?id=2368768n

[Brekkie Boy]

I know it's hit the news in Canada now!

As they say, no such thing as bad publicity - ratings up again to 5.2m - a rise of 50% since the story first broke!

[Dade]

Thats the first thing I thought of when you told us about it. I personally havent seen it on the news but my news time is limited. lol (too much tv for news time)

[CeCiMom]

Watched the clip's (thanks brekkie) and it reads really bad but, when you watch the clips it looks like a bunch of Shilpaellousy to me.

[Brekkie Boy]

No surprise really, but Jade and Shilpa were nominated for eviction and tonight the result was:

Jade Goody is evicted from the Big Brother house with 82% of the vote.

Eerie show tonight with just Davina and the wind, opening the show with the words "This is the News" before giving a brief look at the week's media coverage.

Due to concerns there was no eviction crowd present tonight, and also as the show's sponsor, The Carphone Warehouse, has "suspended" their deal, the short sponsor ads each side of the ad break were missing too - never thought we'd miss "Mowbli". Suspicion though they pulled out not so much out of concern, but more for the publicity it would generate, and with the word "suspended" rather than "withdrawn" being used, I think they'll probably return sooner or later.

The highlights from yesterday pretty much bought closure on the week's events inside the house at least with Big Brother talking to Shilpa and Jade ahead of Jade apologising to Shilpa later in the evening and an apparant genuine relief all round. Later we see Jade in the diary room thinking about quitting, knowing that those comments will have led to her being branded a racist by the media and that it's likely she will be evicted.

The irony now they've made up after a week of complaints that BB hasn't stepped in enough, people are now complaining they've intervened too much in the situation!

Jade will be evicted shortly and the eviction and interview will go out "as live" later tonight, just as last week's eviction did. (With the second show airing later than usual they've been recording it about half an hour before broadcast).

Meanwhile, "Live" coverage continues on E4... and Sky News... and BBC News 24...

So my in-depth review of the week's events:

Jade argues with Shilpa over how to cook a chicken.

International race row breaks out.

Jade and Shilpa nominated for eviction.

Jade and Shilpa make up.

Jade evicted.

Ratings double.

This has been Big Brother at it's most controversial, branded by some as television at it's worst, yet by others as television at it's best as it's done something few programmes rarely do, generated a national, even international, debate on an issue which largely remains hidden and untalked about today.

This is summed up in a very good piece from one of the anchors of Krishnan Guru Murphy, a widely respected host of C4 News, speaking on the BBC's weekly political show This Week about the events:

[Brekkie Boy]

I was incredibly satisfied with that interview - Davina will get flack from some quarters, she always does - but she stuck to the facts and as well as showing Jade what has been going on around the World, and let the clips do the talking. Once the racism issue was covered with Jade Davina didn't let the bullying issue slip either.

I also think Jade did as well as she could do, denying the comments were intended as racist but never excusing her behaviour, saying having seen the clips that it was "nasty" and she couldn't defend that type of behavior.

As always, the crowd were controlled in the studio but for the first time we did have booing inside the main interview studio, and one person objected during the interview when Jade quoted her own "popadom" statement.

[zhod]

I hate to sound dumb, but are there clips from the actual show out there somewhere? I would love to see the "fight" for myself. I saw this on my local news the other night, but no real clips to watch. So I came to Mortys to check it out! Thanks!

[Brekkie Boy]

There are clips on the official website: http://channel4.com/bigbrother - check out the video section, though I don't know if you can watch them outside the UK.

Also, loads on YouTube - searching for "Celebrity Big Brother" "Jade" "Shilpa" brings up the most relevant.

It wasn't unexpected that the ratings rose again for last nights evictions, but they actually smashed all expectations and became the highest rated eviction shows in the seven year history of the show, with an average of 7.4m watching the first show which included highlights from the house and the announcement of who would be evicted.

The second show, including the actual eviction, had an average of 7.8m, peaking at a massive 8.8m for the interview - three times more viewers than were watching last Saturday.

Also, reports now that Carphone Warehouse sponsorship stings have returned on the live feed at least.

[Brekkie Boy]

The C4 board have met today (as planned) and Big Brother obviously has been high on the agenda.

The board has ordered a review of the 'editorial and compliance processes' for Celebrity Big Brother - but as expected there has been no "knee-jerk" reaction which would have seen the channel give in to demands for the show to be axed.

The C4 statement in full, as delivered by chairman Luke Johnson:

"The Channel 4 board recognises that the events of the last week on Celebrity Big Brother have provoked an unprecedented level of public complaint. We believe this has triggered an important debate.

"Clearly many people were worried and offended by what they saw. I want to reassure them that we take the views of our audience very seriously and profoundly regret any offence that may have been caused.

"On behalf of the board, the Chief Executive and I have commissioned a review of the editorial and compliance processes that support Big Brother. The board will receive a full report and seek to identify any lessons that can be learned for the future. The programme remains on air for a further week and the channel is focused on its completion.

"We are expecting to hear from Ofcom in the near future detailing the nature and number of complaints they have received and requesting a formal response to their questions. Our own review will also help support this process.

"All board members of Channel 4 abhor racism. We are also committed to ensuring that the channel continues to fulfil its remit to explore important social issues."

Meanwhile, the channel has become involved in a second racism row as the new series of Shipwrecked, recorded last year, debutted with scenes in which a female contestant admitted she had racist views and thought that slavery should be bought back. Unlike Big Brother though the other contestants challenged her views instantly, and C4 have responded by saying viewers will see her views change over the weeks.

And anybody who actually watched the show (like myself) would have noticed her views changing by the end of the episode, with the first bloke she bonded with not being white.

I'm ****ing fed up with these so called intellectual do-gooders who think us mere viewers see should be dictated to in regard to what we see on TV, as obviously we are all far too thick to form our own opinion as to what is right and wrong!

[wickedclownoj]

ok so i read about shilpa in an american magazine. so who alls left in the UK house?

[Brekkie Boy]

Shilpa, Bollywood Actress

Dirk Benedict, A-Team

Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael

Cleo Rocos, Comedy Actress

Ian "H" Watkins, singer

Danielle Lloyd, Model (now disgraced model)

Jo O'Mara, singer (now disgraced singer)

Jack Tweedy, Jade's boyfriend (which will do him no favours!)

Obviously with all this media coverage even though BB can't inform them what's been happening, they had their suspicions due to media helicopters flying over the house towards the end of last week.

They thought it might be to do with Jade and Shilpa, but for one split second it crossed their mind that the media interest was due to Michael Jackson moving in!

[wickedclownoj]

lol keep up the udates you got me hooked now

[Brekkie Boy]

The C4 chief executive Andy Duncan has given his first interview since last week's events to industry magazine Broadcast.

These quotes are taken from Media Guardian: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/stor...1998239,00.html

"These are always editorial decisions made as the whole thing is unfolding and I think we made the right decisions all the time.

"I think we did react perfectly well. I don't think looking back at it we'd say, 'if only we'd done that' or 'if only we'd done this'."

"Let's put this in perspective. This was in danger of being the most boring BB that we'd had in many years - maybe ever - and we were thinking 'oh dear - what can we do?' And then suddenly from the cooking of a chicken going wrong this argument erupted which was taken on by the media and erupted into this extraordinary story."

"The board was unanimous in the need for a review so any lessons can be learned - but broadly we think it's a good programme and we stand by the decisions taken last week."

He also said no-ones job was at risk, that C4 were already in discussions with The Carphone Warehouse about their sponsorship being resurrected in the summer and denied reports in the press that Jade Goody had been briefed prior to her eviction.

He also added in relation to the second racism scandal around reality programme Shipwrecked:

"In [shipwrecked] a teenage girl makes some extraordinary statements and is immediately tackled by the other people on the island. In the course of the programme we see her completely change her views and confront her own ridiculous prejudices. If we start going through the schedules and pulling out programmes that might or might not be offensive, where does that leave us?"