Celebrity Big Brother: Campaign to stop show picks up momentum

The campaign follows what some have deemed the "most shocking episode ever" - leading to 54 Ofcom complaints

Has Big Brother finally crossed the line with viewers?

Following a particularly controversial episode, deemed by some as the "most shocking episode ever" and racking up 54 Ofcom complaints thanks to filmed incidents in a shower and toilet, campaigners Mediawatch-UK have stepped up their resolve to get the show axed.

The organisation claims the show relies on excessive, unnecessary sex scenes and full frontal nudity; though it airs after the 9PM watershed, there are concerns over the show's availability to download online and watch on demand, meaning it could potentially be viewed by children.

"If Channel 5 needs to resort to this sort of controversy to maintain any interest in Celebrity Big Brother, then perhaps the format needs to be allowed to die a bit more quietly," a spokesperson for Mediawatch-UK stated (via The Daily Star). "What’s most concerning here is Channel 5’s on-demand service that allows children to watch such programmes with just a box tick to say they’re old enough. Post-watershed is one thing but the internet means nudity is on the air 24 hours a day."

This isn't the first controversy to surround the current series, after contestant Christopher Biggins was removed from the Big Brother house after making comments, "capable of causing great offence"; this included a comment about the Holocaust directed at Jewish contestant Katie Waissel, with Biggins now stating he will be visiting Auschwitz later this year.

Biggins' departure was also linked to comments made about bisexuality; in which he at one point stated, "I think the worst kind though are bisexuals, what it is are people not wanting to admit they are gay." On the day of his exit, he also discussed an apparent conspiracy theory about the spread of Aids with Mob Wives star Renee Graziano where he called it a "bisexual disease".

Channel 5 has declined to comment.