A contestant on the British version of Big Brother has been expelled from the house by the shows producers and Channel 4 for using a racial epithet. Sources say that the contestant used the n-word on the air which caused his expulsion.

The producers were quick to act after the incident partly due to the fact that a previous season of Celebrity Big Brother had a racial incident as well. Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was the victim of a racial tirade and has spoken out in favor of the recent ousting.

Will this incident have an effect on the American version of Big Brother? In the past, houseguests have been expelled for exhibiting dangerous behavior but none have ever been punished for things they have said. In fact, insults and threats seem to fly quite freely in the BB house almost every season.

It's been a long, long month in the Celebrity Big Brother house here in the UK, and following a marathon live show tonight, the winner has finally been announced.

If you don't want to find out who the public voted as the winner of 2007's quite remarkable and totally sensational series of this bizarre program, then don't click the link to find out after the jump.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

If you're of a sensitive disposition, and are planning to watch tonight's live eviction of Celebrity Big Brother on your Sky+ PVR, look away now, as we're about to get all spoilery on you.

Following a total debacle earlier this week when no fewer than five housemates were nominated for eviction, Channel Four had to issue an apology after messing up the telephone appeal by asking viewers to save Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, not evict her.

Of course, Shlipa was at the centre of last week's racism row, starring none other than former housemate Jade Goody, and was waiting patiently tonight for host Davina McCall to announce the last two people to be dumped out of the house by the public.

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

In a new twist to Celebrity Big Brother here in the UK, no fewer than five of the remaining seven housemates have been nominated for eviction.

The public vote will take place on Friday, with Dirk Benedict, Jo O'Meara, Ian 'H' Watkins, Shilpa Shetty and Cleo Rocos all facing the possibility of an exit from the show before the finale.

Oddly enough, Danielle Lloyd, one of the key figures in the recent racism and bullying scandal, is not facing eviction.

The show concludes on Sunday night, with Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty still the firm favourite to win.

Former 'civilian' Big Brother contestant Jade Goody went head-to-head against Bollywood actress Shilpa during the public eviction vote tonight on Celebrity Big Brother, and was given her marching orders to leave the house.

Following on from a week of insane news coverage over an alleged 'racism' and bullying row in the Big Brother house, Jade made her exit from the show with no eviction night crowd present, and faced some harsh truths during her interview with the show's host Davina McCall.

There's really no way to paint Jade's behaviour in the house in recent days -- other than downright nasty at times -- but I'd hesitate to call her a racist. Stupid, maybe, but certainly not a racist.

Either way, her life is going to be a whole lot different in the coming days, weeks and months -- not least of all from the multitudes of people living in the UK who probably haven't even watched the show, but who have blindly followed the tabloid headlines and over-stated news coverage, and who will now inevitably view her as a bully and a bigot.

When I posted about the most recent incarnation of Celebrity Big Brother starting up here in the UK a few weeks ago, I didn't really have any intentions of watching the current series, despite commenting that it might actually be worth watching for once.

The reason for this was largely down to the rag-tag bunch of has-beens and would-bes that the Endemol producers decided would be our entertainment for this year, and having watched the first few shows, I had to resist the urge to dip my head into a vat of boiling porridge, rather than watch any more.

However, a few days ago, things started to get very interesting.

Very interesting indeed...

The most popular reality TV show in the UK, Big Brother, returned tonight for the fifth series of its celebrity edition and will air every night on Channel Four for the next month.

Among the 11 guests to enter the house were Danielle Lloyd, an English model and former Miss Great Britain; 79-year-old film director Ken Russell (The Devils and Tommy); Jo O'Meara, former member of the pop group S Club 7; Leo Sayer, a pop star mostly famous in the UK with 1970s hits; Shilpa Shetty, a truly gorgeous Bollywood actress; Carole Malone, a columnist for the Sunday Mirror newspaper in the UK; Donny Tourette, lead singer of Towers of London; Ian 'H' Watkins, former member of the pop group Steps and Cleo Rocos a comedy actress who made her fame on The Kenny Everett Television Show in the 1980s.

The 13-week long marathon that was the seventh series of the popular reality TV show Big Brother in the U.K. ended last night, with Tourette Syndrome sufferer Pete Bennett ending the show as the last remaining contestant in the house and earning himself £100,000 prize money in the process.

Having re-introduced former evictee Niki back to the BB house last week (and thereby confirming what a sham the whole Big Brother process is), viewers watched as the final six housemates were left to slug it out and then departed the house one at a time on the whim of the public, starting with Liverpudlian Jenny, then Niki, followed by Canadian Richard.

Davina McCall then chopped it down to the last two when Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was evicted from the house, leaving just Pete and Welsh lad Glyn.

When the announcement finally arrived, Pete jumped around the house throwing pillows into the air, and found it difficult to speak to Davina in the traditional post-celebration interview. Glyn was presented with his exam results and a message from the Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who described him as an "inspiration for other young people in Wales".

I haven't updated on the U.K. Big Brother series for several weeks, mostly because it started to lose whatever appeal it ever had as a reality TV show when the producers introduced half a dozen new housemates half-way through the series, but also because it started to feel like I was watching some kind of bizarre, mind-numbing TV marathon that had absolutely no point to it whatsoever.

In the intervening weeks since my last post on the show, we've lost Nikki (the most irritating person in the western hemisphere), the 'golden ticket' housemate Susie, loudmouth Jayne, Irish DJ Spiral, Michael and Mikey.

Things picked up a few weeks ago when Big Brother introduced a hidden prison in the house and split the housemates up like some kind of Stanley Milgram experiment, but it was temporary relief from the mundanity of this overly-extended offering from Endemol.

Now that the World Cup is over, I'm able to get back into some Doctor Who reviews and trying to keep up with the goings-on in the U.K. Big Brother house (more's the pity, in the case of the latter).

I reckon I've enjoyed every Big Brother since the series kicked-off here in the U.K. over seven years ago, but something about the current series has killed it for me. Perhaps it's the quality of the housemates this year, or the constant over-egging by the producers to try and make the show seem twisted and cruel -- perhaps it's because a World Cup has taken precedent for four weeks -- but it's probably just that the format has out-lived its shelf-life and maybe it's time to say goodbye.

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

Another week, another twist to the Big Brother U.K. house.

If you're recording the shows and watching them later, like me, you might want to go elsewhere.

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

This week's eviction from the U.K. Big Brother house took place last night, but it wasn't the result I was expecting, nor the one I wanted.

Following on from a twist in the nominations procedure, Mikey, Imogen, Lisa and Nikki were all facing the public vote as a result of their own rule breaking. As part of the normal nomination process this week, they were required to nominate one of their fellow rule-breakers for nomination in full public view of the other non-rule breaking housemates.

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to watch this year's Big Brother, despite being quite a big fan of the show in previous years. I think it's down to the group of housemates chosen to take part this year; with the exception of Pete, there's very little to like about the bunch of lunatics they've caged up for our so-called enjoyment for a whole 13-weeks.

Probably the worst of this year's bunch was Grace, who spent her entire time in the house maliciously bitching about every single housemate, with the notable exception of herself. Thankfully, she was evicted in the Friday public vote when she went head-to-head with Nikki, following a single nomination each from new housemate Susie.

When Davina McCall announced Grace's eviction live on the show, she stood up and threw a glass of water of Susie, thereby disgracing herself one final time, before stepping out to an exceptionally hostile crowd.

I sat down to watch Sunday's show tonight (which shows events from the previous day in the house) and eventually turned it off due to the repulsive nature of the task Big Brother had set the housemates; a breathing challenge which required each housemate to eat a plate of food and breathe in to a machine which was connected to individual gas-masks.

The other housemates had to then guess what the others had been eating, based on the fumes from their breath.

Thank God there's a World Cup on.

As ever folks, look away now if you don't want to know who will be facing the chop in the Big Brother 7 public vote over here in the U.K. this week...

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

Plenty has happened since my last Big Brother update, so look away now if you don't want to know what's been going on in the mad house.

Warning: spoilers after the jump.