'Big Brother' is probably the only series that literally changed the face of television: the way it presented the intrusion in people's lives 24/7, the complete absence of any privacy, the strict rules the contestants had to abide to have made it successful all over the world, generating many spin-offs and running for years in a row.

In the UK, 'BB' also led to a more sophisticated variant of the original show, 'Celebrity Big Brother', but which still maintains the same guiding lines as its non-celebrity counterpart. The point is that Channel 4 gathers faded stars or B-list actors and singers, instead of regular people, and puts them all in the same house, where they are constantly videotaped by hidden cameras.

As successful as the show proved for Britain thus far, 'Celebrity BB' is barely into its second week and it's already in the middle of a huge scandal. One of the contestants in the house is Shilpa Shetty, an A-list Bollywood actress who thought the reality show would be just the break she needed to launch herself internationally. More than 10,000 viewers have called in to complain about her being bullied and the subject of racist remarks from other female housemates (including disgraced Miss Danielle Lloys, reality TV star Jade Goody and former S Club 7 Jo O'Meara).

The complaints were directed to the biggest media watchdog Ofcom and were so loud that they even made it into the House of Commons. Apparently, the three women were mocking Shilpa for her habit of bleaching her facial hair and, at one point, one could even be heard saying 'Look, she's trying to be white!'. Other insults that the actress received were 'dog' and 'Paki', both of which were taped during the night and later bleeped out by the producers from the network (because, obviously, such a huge scandal does wonders for the ratings of the show).

Police are now investigating the case, especially as the number of complaints is increasing by the day. The only defense the network has managed to come up with until now is that Shilpa herself never said anything. 'Shilpa herself has not voiced any concerns of racial slurs or bullying against her', a statement from Channel 4 said.