Big Brother race row 'eviction'
Updated on 07 June 2007
19-year-old student Emily Parr is removed from the Big Brother household for using a racist word towards a housemate.
At 9.30 this morning the Big Brother house was told that one of the contestants has been forced to leave.
Emily Parr had used the word "nigger" last night while dancing with self-proclaimed "it" girl Charley Uchea in the living room. Within seven hours, she was gone from the household.
Channel 4 said she had been heard to say: "Are you pushing it out, you nigger?"
The exchange was not screened live and was immediately reported to senior production staff, according to Channel 4.
Angela Jain, who heads the channel's Big Brother commissioning team, said in a statement: "She understands why her involvement in Big Brother has had to come to an end, and she very much regrets what she said."
The incident comes in the wake of the last series of Celebrity Big Brother, when Indian actress Shilpa Shetty was racially abused by housemates.
Clearly Channel 4 wants to show that it has learned lessons from the incident. This new exchange will be shown in the highlights programme after tonight's watershed.
Last month the media watchdog Ofcom found Channel 4 guilty of "serious editorial misjudgement" over its handling over the Celebrity Big Brother racism row.
Ofcom ordered the broadcaster to make a series of on-air apologies during the present series.
Parr, from Bristol, joined the show on the opening night last Wednesday. Her first words on entering the house were: "Thank God for that."
In her application, Emily stated that she disliked ignorant and stupid people. She now regrets using that racist word.
