Ziggy was warned for using N-word

Big Brother producers reprimanded Ziggy Lichman for using a racially offensive word on Thursday night.

The former boyband star was drinking in the garden with his fellow housemates, when he said "trigger n*****" - a reference to a lyric by rapper 50 Cent.

Ziggy was called into the Diary Room and warned that he would be booted out of the house if he broke the rules again.

He then apologised to black housemate Brian Belo, who was present when he used the word. Brian told Ziggy not to worry, explaining: "We've lived with each other for 11 weeks and I know you're not like that."

A spokesman told the Sunday Mirror: "Channel 4 acted swiftly and appropriately to tell Ziggy that racially offensive language would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Ziggy was told that any further transgression would mean his immediate eviction.

"We gave careful consideration to the context of Ziggy's offence. Ziggy was repeating a lyric from a song and his words were not directed at anyone. Nobody in the house was offended and the incident was not broadcast, so no offence was caused to viewers."

Ziggy confirmed: "I apologised to Big Brother. It was purely lyrics from a song. It was never my intention to cause offence to anybody."

Emily Parr was ejected from the house for using the same word at the beginning of the series.

Ziggy finished in fourth place in the show's final on Friday night.