Ofcom Investigating Big Brother As Over 100 Complain

Media super-regulator Ofcom has confirmed it is investigating the broadcast by Channel 4 of a fight which broke out among contestants inside the Big Brother house in the early hours of yesterday morning after receiving 105 complaints from members of the public.

A spokeswoman for the watchdog explained that public concern had been raised following the incident, broadcast as part of Channel 4’s live coverage yesterday morning and during the edited programme last night.

She said: “We have received 105 complaints which we are looking into. I’m afraid we don’t go into the detail of complaints. I can say that they are in relation to the fight incident, but I can’t say which specific elements of that.”

Channel 4 have also indicated that the incident may become the subject of a police investigation, stating: “The local police have made enquiries about events in the house following a handful of calls from members of the public. At present they have given us no indication of any issues arising from last night’s broadcast.”

This years Big Brother has already become a ratings smash for Channel 4 despite being only three weeks into its nine-week run, scoring consistently high viewing figures with its seemingly endless stream of controversial in-house happenings.

Earlier this month a peak of 5.2 million viewers tuned in to watch political activist Kitten become the first housemate in the show’s history to be thrown out by Big Brother for consistent rule-breaking. However this was dwarfed by last night’s ratings, with a peak of seven million and an average of 6.5 million viewers watching the ruckus erupt. Wednesday night too saw the channel attract a ratings high with almost seven million viewers watching Emma and Michelle return to the house after five days in the secret Big Brother bedsit (see Almost 7 Million Watch ‘Bedsit Babes’ Return To Big Brother).

Last night’s ratings will come as some comfort to Big Brother producers which have been forced to install security guards inside the house to separate the warring housemates.

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