Shilpa Shetty - The Biography. Julie Aspinall
was actually revealed to reassure viewers about the level of abuse Shilpa was enduring was enough to show quite how far things had got out of hand.
Matters continued to worsen. Up until then, the bosses at the station had said nothing publicly, contenting themselves with putting out a statement which read, ‘Matters of bullying or racial abuse in any form are taken extremely seriously by Channel 4. The nature of the show often includes incidents where conflicts arise and housemates are encouraged to resolve issues among themselves. Shetty herself has not voiced any concerns of racial slurs or bullying. The social interactions of the group are part of the Big Brother story and viewers have a right to see these portrayed.’
It was not enough. They were ‘hiding behind a statement’, said the Asian Labour MP for Leicester East Keith Vaz, urging them to put a stop to it there and then.
Prime Minister Tony Blair was dragged into it, too. ‘I have not seen the programme in question, but I would agree entirely with the principle he [Vaz] has outlined, which is that we should oppose racism in all its forms.’
Not to be outdone, the Tories stepped in. ‘It is quite wrong that the programme should tolerate racist abuse and behaviour from participants and I believe it is an issue that should be addressed immediately,’ said Conservative spokesman Dominic Grieve.
Most damagingly still, from the point of view of the programme makers, Shilpa’s mother Sunanda spoke of her distress. Shilpa had been reduced to tears on screen, which had not mollified her tormentors one bit, and had deeply upset everyone close to her. ‘As a mother, I find it very painful and alarming to watch my daughter cry,’ she said. ‘To see her cry on TV while a bunch of people abuse her is very painful for a parent. I have never seen her cry, maybe when she’s been heartbroken, but she’s normally a very happy person.’
As if all this were not enough, the sponsor of the show, Carphone Warehouse, decided to withdraw its backing. Indeed, the company was at pains to emphasise its disgust at what had been going on and released a lengthy statement washing its hands of the whole proceedings.
‘Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house,’ said the CEO of Carphone Warehouse, in a statement issued on 18 January 2007. ‘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.’
Some were keen to point out that it is almost inconceivable that this should have happened if the victim had been someone who was disabled. ‘They have made a rather bland statement about condemning racism of any kind,’ said comedian Meera Syal of Channel 4. ‘But I am just wondering if, on their last series, for example, the Tourette’s sufferer had been called a “spaz” on a regular basis, whether they would have let that continue.’
Another Asian person who had been in the Big Brother household (albeit the non-celebrity version) held similar views. ‘It’s gone beyond that very thin line of what is racism and what isn’t,’ said Narinder Kaur. ‘It is disgusting and I am quite flabbergasted that three grown women can sit there and be so ignorant.’
Finally, a decision was made to say something, but not only was it too little, too late, it was also a PR disaster for everyone concerned. To begin with, Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson went on Radio 4’s Today programme ostensibly to talk about the BBC licence-fee decision which was due to be announced later in the day. Of course, inevitably, he was asked about the uproar surrounding Big Brother. Only a series of ‘no comments’ was forthcoming, along with a repeated reference to the statement already put out by Channel 4. It was toe curling to listen to and, as commentators were quick to point out, he only had Greg Wood, the programme’s business correspondent to deal with. Had the interrogator been John Humphrys, it was widely felt matters would have been made worse still.
Only a few hours later, Channel 4’s chief executive Andy Duncan appeared at a press conference and, even though he clearly knew what to expect in the line of questioning, he could not rein in the furore. By now, the row had reached global proportions and images of him were being beamed all over the world.
Unlike that morning, there was no line of gentle questioning for him to attempt to brush aside: rather, he came under savage attack from a reporter from Sky News. He pointed out that a culture clash had been almost inevitable and that Shilpa had not complained of racism. But it was no good; the damage had already been done. Even after a reconciliation was staged between Jade and Shilpa, and the former evicted, questions were still being asked. Indeed, the board of Channel 4 held a meeting at which executives discussed the whole situation. The very future of the show was in doubt.
Nor were others prepared to let the matter drop. Teenagers should be taught ‘British values’ to combat racist and ignorant attitudes, according to the Education Secretary Alan Johnson, who added, ‘The current debate has highlighted the need to make sure schools focus on the core British values of justice and tolerance. We want the world to be talking about the respect and understanding we give all cultures, not the ignorance and bigotry shown on our TV screens.’
Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, said Luke Johnson should be censured, too. ‘There is no question that if the Channel 4 board does not say that Johnson was wrong not to talk about it last week, that his executives were wrong to say that there was no racism involved … if the board does not take that stand then I think Tessa Jowell has to step in and ask if this is a board that is capable of holding a public asset in trust for us,’ he commented. ‘I think it is that serious.’
When it finally came, the end was provided by the person who had started it all: Jade. Equally desperate not to break their own rules by intervening, yet watching in horror as their most famous housemate destroyed herself on live television, Channel 4 can only have been relieved when it finally emerged that the two people up for eviction were Shilpa and Jade. As the bosses knew it would be, this vote was immediately turned into a referendum on racism: would viewers support ‘racist’ Jade or her victim Shilpa? In the event, 82 per cent of the vote voted for Shilpa, with a very chastened Jade being booted out of the house. Belatedly, she began to take on the full implications of what she had done.
Indeed, after a Big Brother briefing, only a bit of which was televised, Jade’s attitude seemed to change dramatically. In a bid to make up, she hugged Shilpa and expressed regret if her actions and opinions had offended any Indians. Channel 4, meanwhile, was doing everything it could to defuse matters: there would be no baying crowd waiting for Jade’s release, just a quiet interview with Davina McCall. Jade herself pretty much gave the game away that she’d been warned what damage her actions had done when the result of the vote was announced. Unusually, there was no screaming from outside. ‘I know why there’s no noise,’ she said.
‘Why?’ asked Shilpa.
‘I know, but I can’t tell you,’ she replied.
Shilpa showed a great deal more forgiveness than she might have done, even expressing concern for Jade on the outside. ‘I didn’t want her to go with no one liking her,’ she said. ‘I hope she’s OK.’
It was evident on her exit that Jade was now horribly aware of what she’d done to herself. Davina showed clips of her ranting like a fishwife: ‘I’m disgusted with myself,’ she said, as well she might be. ‘I don’t judge people by the colour of their skin.’ Indeed, she looked pretty petrified. ‘I don’t want to be hated,’ she said. ‘Before, I didn’t have anything to lose, and now I have so much … I’ll be going because people will think I’m a racist bitch and I’m not. I’m so scared – I’ve never been so scared in my life. The whole feeling of being rejected absolutely kills me.’
This, then, is the conclusion to the great Big Brother experiment: take someone from