Jade Goody is facing a public backlash following her treatment of fellow Celebrity Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty.

Viewers have witnessed Jade join forces with S Club 7 singer Jo O’Meara and former Miss Great Britain Danielle Lloyd for relentless bitching sessions in which they have alienated Bollywood actress Shilpa, reducing her to tears.

Goody, who has been in the public eye for almost five years after finishing in the final four of Big Brother 3, endeared herself to the public with her continuous dim-witted comments.  South Londoner Jade, who famously asked if ‘East Angular was abroad,’ has since made around £4m from TV shows, a fragrance line, magazine deals, an autobiography and fitness DVD’s.  

The public took to Goody’s not-so-clever persona with her ignorance often viewed as being quite innocent.  However, since re-entering the Big Brother house as a celebrity, her ignorance has been shown in a much more sinister light as she and members of her ‘gang’ have been seen relentlessly mocking and disrespecting Shilpa.  Jade claimed Shilpa made her skin crawl, Jo has mimicked Shilpa’s accent on numerous occasions and Danielle has complained about Shilpa eating with her hands, saying ‘they eat with their hands in India don’t they?  You don’t know where her hands have been.’

Goody has now been dropped by the anti bullying charity she was representing as a direct result of her behaviour in the house.  Big Brother sponsor Carphone Warehouse has also cancelled its deal with the show.

News of the bullying within the house, which is perceived by some to be race related, has reached India, where protesters have been burning effigies in the streets.  Prime Minister Tony Blair has also been asked to address the issue in Parliament

Former Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway MP told radio station talkSPORT that the bullying of Shilpa Shetty is not born out of racism, but out of ignorance, stupidity and jealousy.  “I think they hate this woman because she is beautiful, because she’s classy, because she’s haughty, because she speaks English better than they do.  If you were to provide translation for any of the people in the house it wouldn’t be for Shilpa, the Indian person, it would be for several of the British participants and I think that people have reacted in too knee-jerk a way and I think that a lot of these complaints are therefore misplaced.”

Media watchdog Ofcom has received an astonishing 16,400 complaints, making Big Brother the most complained about programme ever.  It would seem that the very characteristics that made Jade appealing the first time around are going to be her undoing this time.