Channel 4 balls up 'BB' eviction voting

Channel 4 bosses yesterday claimed that the alleged racism on the programme, which caused widespread controversy last week, had “boosted ratings” and saved the show.

The channel's director of television, Kevin Lygo admitted that the Big Brother producers had been wondering "What can we do?" before the race row "erupted into this extraordinary story."

Lygo added: "This was in danger of being the most boring Big Brother that we'd had in many years, maybe ever," he told Broadcast.

But the show continues to attract problems with a mistake on the screen forcing the programme makers to offer refunds for those who had already called on the 50p per minute voting lines.

Though the voice-over was correct, an error in the on-screen information on Wednesday night about Friday night's eviction said "to vote to save Shilpa", rather than evict the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. A similar mistake was made on Channel 4's website, which gave phone numbers to evict the housemates but text numbers to save them.

Channel 4 apologised saying the it was down to "human error", adding: "We apologise to viewers and feel the best way to rectify it is to cancel the vote so far and re-open the voting again this evening, at the end of tonight's (Thursday’s) show. We have consulted with our independent adjudicator before making this decision."

Viewers who originally voted have been offered a refund, with any unclaimed monies donated to charity. The profits from the re-opened eviction voting will also go to the candidates charities.

Premium-rate phoneline regulator Icstis says it will examine the footage to see if there has been breach of its code. Icstis has the power to impose fines of up to £250,000. In October, it ruled that Big Brother misled viewers who paid to evict contestants only to watch as one of them returned to the house. The phone voting services involved, Minick and iTouch, paid out nearly £50,000.

Two contestants will be booted out in a live programme tonight. A tabloid campaign is underway to evict former SClub7 singer Jo O'Meara, who was also involved in the alleged racist bullying of Shetty. The Bollywood star is now favourite to win the show, which concludes on Sunday.