Big Brother

The bullying row on Big Brother 9 has sparked more than 750 complaints since the show started last week.

Channel 4 has been accused of "not learning anything" from the last series of Celebrity Big Brother involving the allegedly bullying between Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty.

Today, the media watchdog Ofcom said it had received 505 complaints since Alex De Gale began launching a foul-mouthed tirade at her housemates.

Channel 4 has also had around 250 complaints.

Update: More Whinging

18th June 2008

Ofcom has had more than 1,500 complaints about BB9. Alex De-Gale’s bullying is top of the list with 1,542 angry fans contacting the regulator.

Viewers have complained to Ofcom about Big Brother’s sponsorship adverts.

The broadcasting watchdog has received several complaints about the "ageist, homophobic and sexist" Virgin Media idents, which are shown during commercial breaks.

However, Virgin Media defended the ads, arguing that they feature people from all walks of life and include a humour suitable for a Big Brother audience.

A spokesman said: They are intended to be irreverent and thought-provoking but also to make people laugh. At no point would we ever want to cause, or encourage, offence.

Channel 4 has received over 1,000 calls from viewers complaining about housemate Darnell Swallow's behaviour to fellow Big Brother female housemate Sara Folino.

Darnell called Sara "a slut" and "an ugly bastard "  and hurled other insults at her.

Chef Rex Newmark also joined in with the verbal insults towards Sara demanding to know how many men she had slept with.

Darnell has made no secret of his feelings for Sara, once admitting he was sexually frustrated and was getting a boner all the time. She appeared at times to be falling for him too and flirted with him, but never allowed it to develop into anything more serious. Darnell's behaviour towards her then started turning ugly after Sara admitted to fanciing Stuart.

Ofcom, the independent TV watchdog, confirmed they had separately received over 900 complaints about the scenes.

Channel Four confirmed both men had been officially warned about their conduct.

Actress Wendy Richard has denied she is a racist after making a comment about Thai housemate Kathreya on Big Brother's Little Brother.

Wendy was in mid-conversation with host George Lamb talking about her opinions on the remaining housemates when she made the remark.

Of Kathreya, she said: She is fake, and she is very cute. What is it they say about these inscrutable Chinese? And she is Thai, but it is all Oriental isn't it? Well it is to me anyway.

This drew some gasps from the audience before George cut in, saying: I don't think that is unique to Asian people, more to Kat.

But Wendy continued to dig her hole, adding: They don't betray their emotions on their face, that is what I meant.

The comments were edited out of the repeat on E4 1 an hour later, and Channel 4 commented: BBLB does go out live, George Lamb did correct her that her comment was not specific to Asian people but to Kat.

However, broadcasting watchdog Ofcom confirmed they had received a large number of complaints about the comments Wendy made, and would be looking into them.

Furious fans have accused Celebrity Big Brother bosses of double standards for not giving bullying Coolio the boot.

TV censor Ofcom launched an official investigation after viewers complained about the rapper’s relentless intimidation of housemates.

They are furious the American star has not been kicked out over claims of verbal attacks and threats of violence – after the Daily Star revealed the true extent of his aggressive behaviour in a shock report.

Last night a spokesman for Ofcom said: I can confirm we have had complaints about Wednesday night’s show over issues concerning Coolio. We will be investigating.

Celebrity Big Brother star Verne Troyer has stirred up a few nutters.

A very late night showing on Tuesday night’s C4 highlights show featured him and the other celebrities making a movie of their favourite moments in the BB house as part of a task.

Verne decided to re-enact his antics from last week when he got drunk on champagne and flirted with all the girls.

He grabbed a toy doll and pretended it was former housemate Mutya Buena.

Egged on by rapper Coolio, he snogged the baby doll on the lips for several seconds, gasping: Oooh Mutya. Oooh Mutya. Verne then drew away, stuck out his long tongue, wiggled it around and went back in for another smacker.

Last night a spokeswoman for anti-child sex abuse charity Kidscape blasted: It seems there are no moral guidelines on this show. The fact this was broadcast suggests that it’s okay to be indecent. It’s misusing a symbol of childhood. The fact that people will see a celebrity doing something like this almost gives credence to it.”

An Ofcom spokesman said: We have received complaints. We shall be investigating them to see if any codes or guidelines have been breached.

John Beyer, of nutter group Mediawatch, said: It seems they have broadcast this to create controversy to try to boost their ratings.

Celebrity Big Brother
Channel 4, 2 to 23 January 2009

Celebrity Big Brother is a reality based television show where 11 celebrity contestants are confined together in a controlled environment.

Ofcom received 527 complaints about Celebrity Big Brother 2009. The majority of the complainants considered that Housemates were bullied or were responsible for bullying other Housemates. In particular, the American rap artist Coolio was the focus of many complaints for the manner in which he behaved towards some female Housemates, most notably singer Michelle Heaton. Complainants were concerned that he made misogynistic and sexist comments and subjected them to bullying and boorish behaviour.

However, Ofcom also received complaints that Coolio was negatively stereotyped as an aggressive black man.

Ofcom Decision: Not in Breach

Ofcom did not receive any complaints from any of the participants in Celebrity Big Brother 2009.

Ofcom noted that, in particular, the relationship between Coolio and Michelle Heaton became fractious. It appeared clear to viewers that Coolio enjoyed baiting and teasing female Housemates. However, when Coolio teased Michelle for allegedly having feelings for another Housemate (Ben) she became very upset. Sensing he had hit a nerve, Coolio continued to tease her about it. It was at this point that Channel 4, through Big Brother, talked to both Coolio and Michelle separately in the Diary Room about what had developed between them. Michelle appeared comforted by her conversations with Big Brother, and some of the other Housemates, and Coolio, when told that his behaviour could be seen as intimidating, appeared to be genuinely disconcerted that this could be the case. Ofcom noted that Big Brother and fellow Housemates managed to get Coolio and Michelle to resolve their issues and their “feud” was amicably resolved when Coolio and Michelle apologised to each other for their behaviour.

In Ofcom's view Coolio was a larger than life character in the House, playing the role for many viewers of the villain of the piece where such a role, after 10 years of Big Brother, is generally expected by the audience. He exhibited an acerbic wit; was clearly at times quite bored; baited female Housemates; and, was at times, generally unpleasant, making statements and references that appeared calculated to be potentially offensive and provoke a reaction.

Ofcom acknowledges that Celebrity Big Brother is the type of programme in which controversial matters will inevitably be raised and emotional and offensive exchanges occur, as the characters of the participants are revealed. Given this, what is broadcast may contain language and behaviour which is capable of causing offence to viewers. Viewers therefore expect the broadcaster, through Big Brother, to challenge such behaviour appropriately and for it to be in context.

When Ofcom viewed this series it noted that there was indeed friction between a number of celebrity Housemates: tempers frayed, emotions at times ran high, personalities clashed and name-calling abounded. The Housemates did however work towards defusing tense situations themselves and, where necessary, Channel 4 through Big Brother, intervened. Big Brother for example called Housemates to the Diary Room to talk through their behaviour to resolve more highly charged situations and to discuss how behaviour could be improved.

As a consequence Ofcom did not consider that compliance with the Code had been brought into question by Channel 4's handling of the conduct exhibited in this particular series. It concluded therefore that this series complied with the Code because any potentially offensive content that was shown and the manner in which the friction and the arguments were handled and presented by Big Brother on behalf of Channel 4, were adequately justified by the context.

TV censor Ofcom has received almost 300 complaints about Big Brother in the past week, with the majority about an incident broadcast on Friday in which one of the housemates threatened another.

Ofcom said it had received 290 complaints about a variety of issues connected to the show in the week up to Monday 6 July.

The largest proportion of more than 200 complaints was about an argument between housemates Marcus Akin and Sree Dasari, which occurred on Thursday.

A Big Brother spokeswoman said: Big Brother intervened and took immediate and appropriate action relating to the argument between Sree and Marcus.

Marcus received a formal warning following his use of threatening language during his argument with Sree. Threatening language and behaviour is not acceptable in the Big Brother house. Big Brother monitors the welfare, language and behaviour of housemates at all times and will continue to monitor this situation.

The BBC has been criticised over the extent of its coverage of Michael Jackson's funeral and memorial service in Los Angeles.

One online complaint said: The coverage of Jackson's death has been far too extensive. The BBC has developed a cult of personality in line with the rest of the new media and have great pleasure in over reporting celebrities. Once it was the channel to watch for news, now it is not. The argument for the licence fee is founded on its impartiality and capability. Both can seriously be questioned.

The BBC News channel and the international BBC World News outlet screened the memorial with coverage fronted by Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles. However, BBC Two also cleared its early evening schedule to broadcast live from the memorial from the Staples Centre.

Last week, the BBC received 748 complaints over its wall-to-wall coverage of the death of the singer.

Mary Hockaday, head of the BBC newsroom, posted a blog entry on BBC website defending the coverage. She said: We've had a number of complaints about our coverage, the main charge being that we simply did too much: that his death didn't justify the prominence and scale of our reporting through Friday and into the weekend. The story was certainly very prominent, with extensive reporting on our domestic and global news channels and it was the lead story on our television and radio bulletins and on the web. But this wasn't to the exclusion of other important stories domestically and internationally.

Big Brother's Little Brother Channel 4,
2 August 2009, 12:40

Big Brother's Little Brother (BBLB) is a pre-watershed sister programme to Channel 4's main Big Brother series (BB). It is screened live on weekdays at 18:00 and on Sunday lunchtimes. It provides an overview of the latest events in the Big Brother house and interviews with evicted housemates. Ofcom received one complaint from a viewer that two housemates who had recently left the house, Noirin Kelly (Noirin) and Isaac Stout (Isaac), used the words shit and fuck respectively.

Ofcom considered Rule 1.14 which requires that: The most offensive language must not be broadcast before the watershed.

Ofcom Decision: Resolved

Rule 1.14 requires that the most offensive language must not be broadcast before the watershed. Ofcom noted on this occasion that the broadcast of a clear example of this language ( fuck), whilst unfortunate, occurred during a live broadcast and that the presenter and guest both immediately apologised for it. Ofcom also acknowledges that the word shit is considered only mildly offensive and a toilet word (-1-) and that its use here in a live programme transmitted before the watershed, was isolated, and that the presenter and guest again apologised immediately for its use. Channel 4 also broadcast an on-air apology to the audience for the use of offensive language in the programme and subsequently reiterated that apology to viewers by way of its response to Ofcom.

Given the immediate and appropriate action taken by the broadcaster, we consider the matter resolved.

Viewers have been whingeing about Celebrity Big Brother after housemates talked about orgies and fivesomes before 9pm.

Nicola T, Dane Bowers, Alex Reid and Basshunter were playing a drinking game called I have never and Nicola T started it off saying I have never masturbated in the Big Brother house

Katie Price's boyfriend Alex Reid then confessed to having had a five-some, although he admitted that he doesn't remember the experience. Dane told of a six-in-a-bed romp.

Media watchdog Ofcom received several complaints about the inappropriate content of the reality TV show.

Campaign group Mediawatch called the scenes inappropriate.