London, Jan 18
As the Shilpa Shetty show overshadowed Chancellor Gordon Brown's
visit to India in the British media, the Celebrity Big Brother on
Channel 4 clocked an unprecedented six million viewers on Wednesday
night.
The viewership figures for Wednesday were over a million more than
that recorded for Tuesday night as allegations of racism against
Shetty figured high on the agenda of diplomacy between Indian and
Britain, and hogged international headlines.
After Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brown and others intervened to
express their opposition to racism in all its forms, Conservative
leader David Cameron said: "I completely abhor racism. Everyone has
got a responsibility here. There's a great regulator called the off
button and I think we should use it."
In large sections of the media here, Brown's comments on Shetty were
given more prominence than his speech on globalization and economic
issues in Bangalore on Wednesday. Television news channels provided
back-to-back coverage of the Shetty show, including "exclusive"
interviews with her mother in Mumbai.
In a statement, Channel 4 denied claims that Shetty had suffered
racist bullying. There had been a "cultural and class clash" between
Shetty and three other housemates, the channel said.
"To date there has been no overt racial abuse or racist behavior
directed against Shilpa Shetty within the Big Brother house. However
there has undoubtedly been a cultural and class clash between her
and three of the British females in the house," it added.
Shetty herself had so far not expressed any concerns of racial
abuse, the channel said.
Media strategists believe that the furor caused by remarks by fellow
contestants against Shetty will bring excellent dividends for the
sponsors, Carphone Warehouse. For the record, the company claimed
that it would "review" its sponsorship, but it was unlikely to pull
out.
Chris Locke, UK trading director at media agency Starcom, told The
Guardian: "For Carphone Warehouse it is the perfect vehicle for
targeting the right market to shift mobile phones, of course they
will keep it going.
"Strategically, they aren't about to pull out of anything, in my
opinion. Big Brother is one of the biggest TV events of the year, it
is great for their sales, and there is always some sort of incident
- you know that when you sign the sponsorship contract."
Channel 4 has reportedly told Carphone Warehouse that any behavior
deemed racist during the rest of the series could result in the
removal of the offending housemate.
Television regulator Ofcom and Channel 4 have now received over
20,000 complaints, as British Asian websites, chatrooms and radio
stations continue to buzz with indignation and more over the
treatment meted out to the long-legged stunner from Bollywood.
Blair's official spokesman told reporters: "What clearly is to be
regretted and countered is if there is any perception abroad that in
any way we tolerate racism in this country.
"What the response to the programme has shown is precisely the
opposite - that there is no level of toleration in this country for
anything which, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to be racist.
"The message should go out from this country loud and clear that we
are a tolerant country and we will not tolerate racism in any way."
He added that Blair had not seen the programs and had no plans to
view videotapes of the incidents, as he did not regard it as his
role to act as a commentator on television programs.
The Guardian quoted an unnamed source as saying that this week the
two contestants nominated for eviction will be Jade Goody, seen as
the ringleader of the bullies in the Big Brother house, and Shetty.
Fellow contestants have reportedly overwhelmingly nominated Goody
and Shetty for eviction, it said. Housemates generally secretly
nominate two of their number to be evicted and the two with the
highest number of nominations face the public vote.
Meanwhile, bookmaker William Hill made Shetty favorite to win the
series, at odds of 6/4. "She has stuck in there and if she now picks
up the public sympathy vote, punters certainly believe she will be
very hard to beat," it said.
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