Channel 4 bosses ordered a review of Celebrity Big Brother after the racism row but said the show will stay on air.
LONDON: Channel 4 has decided to review editorial procedures behind the reality show 'Big Brother' that sparked an international row after contestants allegedly took part in racist bullying.
'Big Brother' has been under fire since some minor celebrities allegedly racially bullied Indian actress Shilpa Shety with whom they share a studio house under 24-hour television scrutiny.
"Clearly many people were worried and offended by what they saw," Channel 4 Chairman Luke Johnson said following the channel's board meeting.
"I want to reassure them that we take the views of our audience very seriously and profoundly regret any offence that may have been caused," Johnson said.
"On behalf of the board, the chief executive (Andy Duncan) and I have commissioned a review of the editorial and compliance processes that support Big Brother," Johnson said.
"The board will receive a full report and seek to identify any lessons that can be learned for the future," he said.
He added that the channel aimed to keep the programme on air until it is completed next week when a favorite among the contestants emerges with television viewers.
The row has subsided since viewers overwhelmingly voted Friday to evict Jade Goody, 25, seen as the ringleader in the alleged bullying of 31-year-old Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
Vanni Treves, who resigned as Channel 4 boss in 2003, urged Duncan to pull the plug on the Big Brother programme, which he said exploited the "unhappy and the unfortunate," according to The Sunday Telegraph.
He called the show a "grotesque travesty."
London Mayor Ken Livingstone accused Channel 4 bosses of using "racism to get more profits," while Trevor Phillips, the chairman of Britain's Commission for Equality and Human Rights, accused them of turning a deaf ear to racism.
Meanwhile, Goody's agent John Noel said she is being treated by doctors for "shock and depression," claiming she was a victim of bullying herself at the hands of the media.
In a post-eviction interview published Sunday, a distraught Goody admitted she had racially bullied Shetty, and lamented the international furor her taunts had caused.
Goody had been the hot favorite to be evicted as Indian government officials called on their British counterparts to intervene in the row and British lawmakers lined up to attack the show.
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