ITV has spoken out on the latest controversy to surround the current season of Big Brother.
Earlier this week, Big Brother aired scenes which did not sit well with many viewers between housemates Omar El Mayer and Rhianna Collins, who have struck up a romance on the show.
Monday night’s episode saw Omar and Rhianna becoming embroiled in an increasingly heated row, which arose when she claimed they might be better suited as friends than romantic partners.
Prior to that, she tried to explain to him that she’d felt he was behaving differently towards her and that she’d been “mentally going through it” for the last few days in the house.
Interrupting her, he questioned: “Do you think you’re the only person dealing with [things in the house]? You going through things, how is that my fault?”
Later in the episode, during a different argument, Omar was heard telling Rihanna “don’t talk about me”, “don’t cry” and “don’t look away from me”.
Producers intervened in this conversation, calling Rhianna to the Diary Room to check on her wellbeing.
“Sometimes I just don’t like the way he speaks to me,” Rhianna claimed. “I love him so much, and it’s just so difficult. I want to go back to how we normally are, but I just don’t know how.”
Towards the end of the night, Rhianna got into Omar’s bed, where he told her to “fix up”, with numerous outlets pointing out that Big Brother viewers had called for bosses to pull Omar from the house due to his behaviour.
A spokesperson said in response (via Radio Times): “All housemates receive respect and inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother senior team to prepare them for living in the house and to set out Big Brother’s expectations for appropriate behaviour and language.
“Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and any instances of inappropriate behaviour are responded to appropriately. Welfare and safeguarding are prioritised throughout the production, with a dedicated welfare team available to support housemates before, during and after their time in the house.”
On Tuesday, the domestic violence charity Women’s Aid also called out the show, claiming: “We’re seeing coercive and controlling behaviours being given a platform in popular media like Big Brother. We’ve been contacted by many viewers who have expressed concern. Not only does Big Brother risk minimising survivors’ experiences, it also risks presenting abuse as a form of entertainment.
“Producers should understand their responsibility to keep contestants emotionally and physically safe. The women in these programmes are real people and need real support.”
They added: “We continue to urge television companies such as ITV to engage with experts like Women’s Aid to understand the nature of abuse and how they can do better to protect contestants.”
HuffPost UK contacted ITV on Tuesday in relation to Women’s Aid’s statement and is yet to receive a response.
