Big Brother Is Watching

Love it or loath it, Big Brother is back in full swing, and we’re giving you an exclusive peak at the highlights so far in this week’s fabulous Mecca Bingo Celeb Column. Every week we’ll bring you the latest and greatest celebrity news, so you can get all the hot gossip before playing online with Mecca Bingo for some great cash prizes.

Well, we’re barley two weeks into Big Brother 8 and already there’s been more controversy than you can shake a stick at. First it was just female contestants in the house, resulting in various rows, scraps over hair straighteners and ‘peegate’ (when Lesley was accused of urinating in the shower by Charley). Then lone-male Ziggy got plonked in the middle of it all and promptly shacked up with Posh-wannabe Channelle, while at the same time fending off Charley’s advances.

He then had to sit through possibly the longest dinner party in BB history, dining with all 11 female housemates and generally looking very, very stuffed (wouldn’t you be after 11 courses?!?).

Most controversially of all, on day 8 the Big Brother race row was reignited. As Charley was telling Emily and Nicky that she thought she might be pregnant, Emily ’let slip’ with a racially offensive word, leaving Charley and Nicky visibly stunned at what they’d heard.

Although she tried to apologise, posh drama student Emily must have known that after Celebrity Big Brother in January, BB bosses weren’t going to let this one pass. Sure enough, at 3.30am on Day 9, Emily was removed from the BB house. The group awoke to the news that Emily had gone and after the initial shock of her departure had worn off, most housemates felt BB's action was necessary.

Surprisingly, Channel 4 received over 900 complaints from viewers saying that Emily shouldn’t have been thrown out of the house, compared to only 68 messages calling for her to be given the boot. I think Big Brother was right to sort this out now, rather than trying to cover it up. If they had, who knows, maybe that would be the end of Big Brother as we know – then what would we watch for 13 weeks every year?

Danielle Lloyd, at the centre of the Celebrity Big Brother race row with Jade Goody earlier this year, has said Channel 4 was right to throw Emily out of the Big Brother house for her outburst. The former Celebrity Big Brother housemate admitted she hadn't seen the footage, but said: "If she has used a racist comment or any abusive language, then I think Channel 4 have made the right decision by throwing her out and I think they've learnt by their mistakes definitely.”

It’s only 6 months since the last Celebrity BB series prompted over 45,000 complaints from viewers about the treatment of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty by Danielle, Jade and Jo O'Meara. Hopefully the next few weeks will pass without this sort of incident, and we can look forward to some more crazy housemates!

That’s it for our Big Brother roundup -stay tuned for no doubt more shenanigans in the house. After all that BB gossip, it’s about time to get back to some online bingo action here at Mecca Bingo. You can play all your favourite online bingo games right here and be sure to tune in next week for another fab celeb column.