Friday, 19 January 2007

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Big Brother profits to go to charity

Channel 4 says vote phoneline cash will help good causes

It looks a dead cert that Jade Goody will be kicked out of the Big Brother house tonight after the furore caused by her attitude towards Shilpa Shetty.

C4 are expecting so many calls, they've decided to donate the profits to charity.

Viewers have accused Jade, former S Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara and model Danielle Lloyd of bullying Shilpa, 31 - and many consider the alleged abuse 'racist'.

Jade, 25, has since apologised to the Bollywood star, saying she does not judge people 'by the colour of their skin'.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman says the money from the telephone vote would be distributed between charities nominated by the contestants. The TV company have also decided to conduct the eviction without a crowd.

A statement says: 'Over the past few days, Celebrity Big Brother has generated an intense and, at times, heated public debate which the evicted housemate will be unaware of.

'As a result, Channel 4 and Endemol have taken the decision to conduct tonight's eviction in front of a studio audience and without a crowd.'

TV watchdog Ofcom has now had over 36,000 complaints about the programme.