Big trouble for Big Brother

Ashley and John have been escorted from the Big Brother house.  This notice has been posted on the Big Brother website:

Ashley and John escorted from House

Big Brother Housemates Ashley and John were escorted from the House on Saturday afternoon following a breach of the rules. The producers Endemol Southern Star and Network Ten deemed their actions were grounds for their removal from the show. The producers will not be commenting any further on this serious matter.

In a joint statement made shortly after they left the House, Ashley and John said: "We had a great time in the house. It is unfortunate it had to end this way, but Big Brother has rules and regulations and we broke them.

"We are all very close in the house and we would never do anything to offend our fellow housemates."

News.com.au is also reporting the story.

According to Behind Big Brother this is the reason:

Ashley and John have been escorted from the Big Brother house by security guards after sexually assaulting Camilla.

The incident occured early Saturday morning at 4.30am when John held Camilla down in bed and Ashley rubbed his penis on her.

This behaviour has happened in past seasons of Big Brother and has gained the slang term "turkey slap".

Last year housemate Michael's similar behaviour prompted investigations into Big Brother: Uncut.

Producers have refused to comment officially as to why the pair were kicked out.

The Big Brother producers clearly had no choice but to remove Ashley and John from the house for their clearly unacceptable behaviour.  But this is a disaster for the Ten Network and it will no doubt reignite the debate over whether Big Brother should be on the air at all.  This also probably means that this will be the last season of Australian Big Brother. 

The Big Brother Forums have also been taken down.  This explanation has been posted on the Big Brother website:

In light of the events of the last 24 hours the Big Brother forums will be unavailable until further notice.

However, the Behind Big Brother Forums have been discussing the incident all day.