After romance, its racism thats brought Shilpa Shetty back into the limelight on UKs top reality show Celebrity Big Brother. According to reports Shetty has often been reduced to tears on being taunted about her skin colour, accent and cooking. In a recent episode she was branded a dog by fellow housemate and former Miss Great Britain Danielle. Danielle along with former S Club Seven singer Jo imitated her accent while another evicted contestant called her The Indian and refused to learn how to pronounce her name.
The row over Shetty escalated late on Tuesday with Britain-s race relations watchdog, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) getting involved and Ofcom promising a thorough investigation of the allegedly racially-charged events centring around Shetty.
In a sign that an appalled Britain is taking the anguished Shetty to its heart and as a cause celebre for wider issues, Lousie Bufitt-Dons of the campaign group -Act against Bullying-, said the Indian star represented a certain well-bred kind of modern girl who "doesn-t get on very well with gang culture".
Bufitt-Dons added, in a well-judged reference to a groundswell of sympathy for Shetty that she now has "huge public support". Observers said Shetty, who was initially not in the running to win the show, may now have the bonus of benefiting from the racist bullying and actually stand a chance of winning.
Channel 4, which has always managed to rack up the headlines and generate oodles of revenue with four previous editions of Celebrity Big Brother, told TOI, it had received no complaints about racism from Shetty herself so far. It also confirmed that daily audience figures for the programme were averaging the high four-million mark. Cynical TV critics said controversies such as the -Shilpa-and-racism- story are a boon to Channel 4 because it cannot afford audience figures to flatline and controversies ensure viewers stay hooked to the reality show.
But Channel 4 rejected the charge and said on Tuesday that it takes "this matter very seriously and Big Brother does not tolerate bullying or racist abuse in any form. Big Brother is closely monitoring all the housemates and will take appropriate measures to reprimand such behaviour where necessary."
It added, "The social interactions and dynamics of the group are one of the key parts of the BB story and viewers have a right to see these portrayed accurately - however this is balanced with our duty not to broadcast material that may cause unjustifiable offence."
Channel 4 said Shetty had not indicated any desire to leave the Big Brother house and the show.
In the midst of the row, the show-s sponsor, Carphone Warehouse, announced it was withdrawing its three-million-pound support. But Channel 4 defiantly insisted it would "not pull the plug" on the programme. Carphone Warehouse said it did not want to "associate its brand" with a show that consistently showed racially objectionable behaviour
The show is now expected to hit a cathartic high on Friday night when Shetty and her chief tormentor and fellow contestant, illiterate former dental nurse Jade Goody, go head to head in a fight for British TV viewers- support.
Both Shetty and Goody are, in the Big Brother lingo, -up for eviction-. Bookies have already upped Shetty-s chances to win the show overall
