The Big Brother scandal made the front page of The Sunday Mail this morning, with the focus on turning to whether Channel Ten should keep the program on the air. Some politicians have already called for the show to be axed immediately:
Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce said it was dangerous to expose children to the show as it passed off bad behaviour as being normal. "It's not surprising that these things happen, given that the formula of the show creates that environment," he said.
South Australian Federal MP Trish Draper, who has also complained about the program in the past, said Big Brother should be taken off the air immediately. You've got to be joking," she said when told about the latest incident. Draper is chairwoman of a Classification Issues Group in the Coalition.
A spokeswoman for the Comunications Minister, Helen Coonan, said the Federal Government would not take any immediate action against Channel Ten.
Behind Big Brother says that Channel Ten senior management have met with Southern Star Endemol producers tonight regarding the future of Big Brother on the network. The Behind Big Brother source has also claimed that late last night plans were being finalised from the meeting, and that the decision reached was to axe Big Brother immediately, with the remaining prizemoney to be split eight ways between the contestants still in the house. The source has also claimed that tomorrow's eviction will no longer go ahead, instead being replaced by The Simpsons and a special Futurama documentary. Read more here.
Behind Big Brother also has a complete rundown of the incident, including screen captures. Read about the incident here.
I agree what Ashley and John did was unacceptable and that it was appropriate for them to be removed from the house. However, I think the calls for the Big Brother to be taken off the air are premature and unwarranted. The Big Brother producers have responded quickly and correctly to the incident, the footage was not aired on television (although it was on the live stream on the interent), the Federal Government has indicated they will not be taking any immediate action, and the police have said that they had not received any complaints. Big Brother's response means that this is not a repeat of last year's incident involving Michael and Gianna that resulted in ACMA finding that Big Brother Uncut had breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice July 2004 (read the media release here and the report here).
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