Celebrity Big Brother’s most complained-about scandals from Roxanne Pallett assault accusation to Jade Goody race row
CELEBRITY Big Brother makes its eagerly awaited return after 6 years since it last aired on Channel 5.
The star-studded show has given us some of the most got-to-watch reality TV moments that have kept us on the edge of our seats.
The iconic series has had its fair share of entertaining as well as controversial moments to boot.
Here’s a look at some of the most scandalous moments that had viewers racing to call Ofcom.
Roxanne Pallet assault accusation – CBB Series 22
Viewers were left reeling after former Emmerdale actress and TV personality Roxanne Pallet, 41, accused Corrie actor Ryan Thomas, 39, of punching her on the show back in 2018.
The shocking event began when Roxanne, who is best known for her role as Jo Stiles in Emmerdale, asked fellow CBB housemate Ryan if he needed any laundry done, while tidying up.
Ryan responded jovially, pretending to punch her by shadowboxing.
She initially appeared to laugh, before taking to the diary room to complain about him.
Roxette later told the other housemates that Ryan punched her repeatedly in the ribs “like a boxer punches a bag.”
Ryan overheard the conversation and let the housemates know he hadn’t touched her.
Roxette told them in response that Ryan was lying, and that she now felt uncomfortable about sleeping in the same room as him.
The allegations clearly took a toll on Ryan, as he tearfully broke down in the diary room, telling the show’s producers: “I don’t know what she’s doing to me. I’ve done nothing.
The controversial moment drew 25,327 complaints from Ofcom.
Host Emma Willis, 47, would eventually crown Ryan the winner of the series, and showed him a clip of Roxanne crying as she made her allegations in the diary room.
Appearing to hold back tears during his winners interview, Ryan confirmed that the incident had been “totally unexpected, it was a sign of affection that I’ve used on Gabby. There was nothing in it.”
He continued: “As it unravelled and became bigger and bigger, Ben told me she said she was unable to stay in the room because she was scared, that rang alarm bells.”
Emma would let Ryan know that since Roxanne’s eviction, she had admitted she “got it massively wrong.”
To a roar of cheers and applause, Ryan told Emma that he would accept Roxanne’s apology and expressed the importance for him to move past the ordeal.
The actor remained true to his word, and has appeared on a string of TV shows since CBB.
The Mancs In Mumbai star joined the line-up of this year’s Dancing On Ice.
He previously played Jason Grimshaw in the ITV soap from 2000 – 2016, and recently bought a new home in Manchester with his fiance, former TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh, 32.
The famous couple have two children together, Roman and Lilah.
Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty race row – CBB Series 5
Jade entered Series 5 of Celebrity Big Brother as the nation’s sweetheart, having taken part in the third series of the non-celebrity edition of the show back in 2002.
Jade walked away in fourth place, and went on to star in her own TV programmes as well as launching her own brand and an array of products.
This led to Jade being invited to participate in 2007’s Celebrity Big Brother.
The series of events that would follow her re-entry into the house would remain with the reality TV star for the rest of her life.
Race-row and bullying accusations were made towards not only Jade, but S Club 7’s Jo O’Meara, 44, and glamour model Danielle Lloyd, 40, centring on comments the three made towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
The incident, which seemingly began out of a disagreement on Oxo cubes, resulted in Jade referring to her housemate as ‘Shilpa Poppadom.’
Danielle shared a similar sentiment, adding Shilpa should “f*** off home.” Jo then questioned whether Indians were thin because they are “sick all the time.”
The intense row left many viewers contacting Ofcom to report the incident as an example of racism, xenophobia and bullying.
Ofcom received over 40,000 complaints, with many advertisers pulling out of sponsoring the hit show – eager to not be associated with the row.
Then Prime Minister Tony Blair, 70, and other politicians, chimed in to condemn the racially-centred language used on the show.
In light of the row, Jade would be evicted in an untraditional way – with no crowds.
All three apologised profusely after being evicted from the show, and were determined to let the public know they held no racial prejudices. Jade would later donate all of her fee to charity.
Shilpa would also accept the disgraced housemates’ apologies.
In 2009, Jade passed away from cervical cancer at the age of 27, leaving behind two sons: actor Bobby Brazier, 20, and model Freddie Brazier, 19.
Coolio causes controversy – CBB Series 6
Back in 2009, the late American Rapper Coolio appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.
During his CBB stint, the Gangsta’s Paradise rapper was slated by viewers for what many considered to be misogynistic and bullying behaviour.
The Hip-Hop stars’ behaviour appeared to consist of verbal aggression particularly geared towards the female members of the house.
His foul-mouthed rows and a persistent intent on making certain housemates cry, came to a head during an incident with Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, 44, model Lucy Pinder, 40, and presenter Ulrika Jonsson, 56.
The shocking event drew complaints to Ofcom from more than 500 viewers.
The most memorable row would be between Coolio and Shameless star Tina Malone, 61, in which the artist told Tina to “Shut the f*** up” during a heated exchange about who would read the shopping list.
Tina yelled back “No f****** man will ever tell me to shut up!”
This resulted in him immediately being called into the diary room, as he told the Liverpudlian actor to “Shut her big a** mouth.”
It is believed that the obscene language that aired were the tip of the iceberg – with CBB bosses leaving the more vial rants, racist language and sexually-explicit remarks on the cutting room floor.
Sugababes singer Mutya Buena, 38, said she left the house because of Coolio’s three advances, before branding him a “sex pest”.
Ulrika referred to him as an “An overpowering, silly little man”, after the 90s rapper spoke for 37 minutes without stopping.
Coolio also taunted Michelle for what he perceived as flirting with another housemate, Ben Adams, 42, when she had a partner outside of the house.
Big Brother bosses repeatedly apprehended the rapper for his use of the N word, along with other derogatory remarks.
Channel 4 said: “Big Brother called Coolio into the diary room to remind him about the rules regarding unacceptable language. Big Brother will continue to monitor the situation.”
The rapper’s bad language continued, as he boasted about stabbing a gang rival as a teenager.
The event happened just two years after the Jade and Shilpa race row, with demand coming from inside and outside of the house for the show’s producers to remove Coolio from the house.
However, Coolio remained in the house until the final and left the house in third place.
He had a string of film and television roles before his untimely death in 2022, at the age of 59 from an accidental overdose.
Perez V Calum – CBB Series 15
In 2015, American blogger Perez Hilton, 45, had an argument with TV personality and model Calum Best, 43, which left viewers mouths agape.
The TV personalities butted heads over when to turn the bedroom lights off.
Calum explained: “I’m just trying to help people go to bed so don’t throw s*** at me.”
After Callum branded Perez “a d***” for singling him out, viewers watched in horror as Perez then shouted across the room to Calum that he’d “shove my huge d*** up your a**.”
The other housemates attempted to dampen the fire of the argument, and prevent it from escalating by physically getting in-between the two angry housemates.
Big Brother immediately called Perez into the diary room to let the media personality know his language and behaviour was unacceptable.
Big Brother said in no uncertain terms: “If you repeat this behaviour again, Big Brother may have no choice but to remove you from the house.”
Perez quickly responded: “Fabulous!”
Many viewers and television commentators were offended by Perez’s comments to Calum, with many accusing the controversial TV personality of making rape threats.
One twitter user wrote: “Not meant to be an inflammatory question, but what would have happened if Perez made those comments to a woman in the real world?”
The celebrity blogger would eventually be given the boot and evicted on Day 29, with Calum making it to third place.
The controversial character is still ruffling feathers, and in 2020, got banned from Tik Tok for reportedly violating the social media platforms community guidelines, such as bullying.
Christopher Biggins Gets Booted – CBB Series 18
In 2016, actor and TV personality Christopher Biggins, 75, sent the nation into an uproar after making controversial comments about AIDS and a Nazi joke.
Christopher made a disgusting antisemitic joke, while giggling about Nazi gas chambers to Jewish housemate singer Katie Waissel, 38.
The incident occurred after the housemates woke up and lined up for the bathroom.
The Porridge actor told Katie: “You had better be careful or they will put you in a shower or take you to a room!”
The verbally abusive comments left Katie in a pool of tears.
Channel 5 decided to not air the comment, however the producers did decide to issue the actor with a formal warning.
Christopher, who is a member of the LGBTQIA community himself, made another outlandish comment as he described AIDS as a bisexual disease.
This would prove to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the producers, leading to Christopher being removed from the CBB house.
He was ejected from the house on Day 9 after making the comments.
The incident happened during a conversation with US reality star Renee Graziano, 55, telling her: “Gays have been really badly treated for so long. Then came a period where they were respected.”
The I’m A Celebrity star continued: “But suddenly, a killer disease then came along with was attributed to homosexuals – but it was actually a bisexual disease.”
He continued “What the government didn’t realise is that there were bisexuals out there who were having sex with those people. They brought it back to their families in America and it spread.”
Renee responded saying that she believed the disease was man-made: “They gave it to kill off third world countries. It was man-made.”
Prior to the panto star getting the boot, he told his housemates: “I have made three mistakes here and now I’ve been chastised. So I’ve become very aware and careful.”
Christopher continued: “Of course, the thing is as you relax it gets worse because you think you’re at home.”
When asked about the decision to remove Christopher from the house, a CBB spokesperson said: “Since entering Big Brother, he has made a number of comments capable of causing great offence to housemates and the viewing public.”
CBB continued: “Big Brother does not tolerate offensive language capable of causing widespread offence.”
Shortly after he was removed from the house, Christopher shared his thoughts: “I’m very sorry, and I’m very sad.”
Christopher still appears on stages around the country to this day, most recently in An Evening with Christopher Biggins, a fundraiser for The Kenton Theatre.
Celebrity Big Brother will return to our screens Monday March 4th, on ITV and ITVX at 9pm