But probably the most debated, most talked about reality show in the world right now is Celebrity Big Brother UK. There has been an uproar over the way Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty was being treated by some of her housemates. She was said to have suffered from bullying and racist remarks from some of the housemates that included Danielle Lloyd (a model), Jo O'Meara (that S Club 7 singer), and the whole Goody family -- Jade Goody, her mother Jackiey Budden, and Goody's boyfriend Jack Tweed.
The situation has escalated to such a level that it has been talked about in the House of Commons, dogged Britain's prime minister in waiting while he is touring India, and even in the whole of India including its government. A diplomatic protest was even being planned at some point. One of the biggest advertisers of the show has cancelled its sponsorship and the Big Brother production has been inundated with thousands of complaints from people in the UK and in India.
The ringleader of the perceived racism and bullying is Jade Goody, a former Big Brother contestant that became a famous personality in the UK. She became a millionaire by just banking on her reputation and appearing in many other reality shows. Big Brother followers would recognize Goody as the ultra ignorant idiot who thought that East Anglia (she called it East Angular) was in another country, Saddam Hussein is a boxer, and in one of her post Big Brother appearances, collapsed while participating in a marathon because she never trained for the event. Her reason? She thought that a mile was just a very short run and that being able to run on a thread mill for 30 minutes would hack it.
This controversy has been my guilty pleasure over the last few days and has been quite an entertaining read especially about the weird culture of celebrity in the UK where an ignoramus like Goody can become a big celebrity and how the UK tabloids can just suddenly twist and either support or turn against you at the drop of a hat.