Ofcom dismisses Alex 'bullying' complaints

Nearly five thousand complaints about the ninth series of Big Brother have been dismissed by Ofcom, the regulator announced today.

In total, 4,724 complaints were sent to Ofcom about the series, mainly concentrating on the behaviour of housemate Alexandra De-Gale and issues regarding voting. All but one, a resolved complaint regarding offensive language, have not been upheld.

De-Gale was removed from the house on day 14 of the series after she made remarks - not broadcast on the live feed, which was on a 14 minute delay - that referenced "gangster friends" and "pow, pow, pow". Channel 4's head of Big Brother, Angela Jain, said at the time that the remarks "will be widely interpreted as having been intended to intimidate".

Ofcom said that complaints were made about the show on ten subjects: De-Gale's alleged bullying over chips on June 10; her alleged bullying of Rex on June 11; her alleged bullying of Mohamed Mohamed over a cross-dressing outfit on June 17; her alleged continued bullying of Mohamed over the same outfit on June 18; her alleged threatening of housemates on June 19; her exit interview on June 20; the alleged spitting by Dennis McHugh in Mohamed's face on June 27; a repetition of the previous incident in a highlights show that evening; the alleged bullying by Darnell Swallow, Rex Newmark and Mohamed of Sara Folino on August 26; and offensive language in a pre-watershed slot on September 2.

Channel 4 told the regulator that it believed rules had not been breached "because any material that may have caused offence was justified by the context and in line with the expectations of the audience", a rationale accepted by Ofcom, which ruled that the broadcaster had acted "in a reasonable and appropriate manner" in the broadcast of each incident.

117 of the complaints pertained solely to voting matters, in which viewers alleged that votes had been "rigged" and that lines were closed early on a variety of occasions.

"Having carefully considered the series, alongside all the information and evidence available to us, including voting data, we are satisfied that the programme design and voting were conducted with appropriate care," Ofcom concluded.