Shilpa Shetty a Miss Universe Pagent contestant to Celebrity Big Brother Winner
Shilpa Shetty From Miss Universe to Celebrity Big Brother
Shilpa Shetty’s success in Celebrity Big Brother is as much a victory for a ‘tolerant Britain’ as a win for the ‘brown pound.’ The Indian star emerging as the final winner in a programme which saw ugly racist bullying has been celebrated by many, particularly ethnic minorities, as the outcome that proved Britain is a tolerant nation.
“We haven’t defeated racism — but Sunday night’s vote shows that we are determined to beat the scourge of bigotry and to drive prejudice from our shores,” said Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, who earlier had come out strongly against the nasty scenes of the Indian actress being bullied by the ‘gang of four.’
“Only one result could have begun to repair the damage to the reputation of British television and society caused by CBB, and Channel 4 got it,” wrote Mark Lawson in The Guardian newspaper. It is estimated that around 10 million people voted in Sunday night’s vote that resulted in Shilpa garnering 63 per cent of the vote share. This certainly shows the power of the ‘brown pound’ with millions of British Asians who empathised with Shilpa’s experience, voting with their pockets.
British Asians are not known to spend money unwisely but in this case felt they would be getting their monies worth. The public vote for CBB is conducted by telephone calls and SMS’s. Each call or text message is charged at the most expensive telecom rates and cost upto one pound and more.
But with the total British Asian population at around 3 million, white Britons also voted for Shilpa. The reality show is extremely popular among the white working class, who are also the main readers of the British tabloid press that cashes in on the antics of the CBB housemates. The Sun, Britain’s largest selling tabloid and which is normally seen as representative of working class views, has interestingly been openly supporting Shilpa to win. In an editorial comment on Monday morning, the paper saluted Shilpa and said, “you have done us a service.”
Condemning racism, the paper said, “She has given our country a badly-needed wake-up call by exposing the vile racism and bullying which most of us hoped no longer existed but still thrives here.” It also said “Shilpa brought great credit to her native India” by conducting herself with dignity, grace and style — a comment which has been echoed by many commentators.
Interestingly for the first time in CBB the first and second place were taken by coloured and religious minorities. Shilpa is a practising Indian Hindu, while pop star Jermaine Jackson is an African-American convert to Islam who prayed namaz and kept rozas while in the CBB house, and was Shilpa’s staunch supporter during her bullying ordeal. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said, “This Big Brother row has exposed an ugly underbelly in our society.”
