Police today began an investigation into the television reality show Big Brother after a night of drunken violence.
Several of the contestants, who have agreed to be locked in the Big Brother house for up to ten weeks in the hope of winning £100,000 in prize money, face possible criminal charges for brawling.
During the most violent scenes in the early hours of this morning, arch enemies Emma and Victor had to be dragged apart by other housemates.
Security guards were called in for the first time ever in the history of the show. Channel 4 cut the live TV feed as the situation spiralled out of control.
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Police were called to the studios in Elstree, Herts, at 3am after receiving calls from worried viewers. They were this evening viewing tapes of the fracas and deciding whether or not to press charges.
The producers planned to use the show’s tradition of calling individuals into the Diary Room to talk to Big Brother to ask each contestant to explain what happened. If the housemate does not feel able to resolve the conflict, they may leave.
The violence broke out at 1.30am, three hours after two contestants believed by the rest to have been evicted were put back in the house.
The pair, Emma and Michelle, had in fact spent four days hidden in a secret bedsit room watching everything going on in the house, and building up resentment about what the other housemates were saying.
Emma, furious after overhearing Victor brand her racist and stupid while she was in the bedsit, threw a tray at him. Victor responded by throwing a glass of white wine over her.
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“Do you know who I am?” he repeatedly shouted. “Don’t f*** with me, Emma, I’m warning you. I’ll f****** have you.”
Big Brother called him to the Diary Room, but as he was walking in, Emma scoffed at him, shouting: “A joker like you acting like some kind of black guy ...”
Victor marched back to square up to her and had to be restrained by Stuart. Dan picked up Emma and carried her out to the bedroom as she repeatedly screamed: “I’ll f****** kill you.”
In another bust-up, bodybuilder Jason threatened gay contestant Marco with violence.
Jason was angry after Marco, Nadia and Emma held a food fight. When he demanded that they clean up the mess, Marco responded by performing a loud and camp jig in front of his face.
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The burly Scot angrily accused him of being “disrespectful”.
“How dare you intimidate me!” Marco squealed, to which Jason threatened: “You dance like that again and I’ll take your f****** head off.”
Channel 4 cut the live feed between 2am and 3am and viewers saw only outside shots of the house accompanied by bird song.
Shortly before 3am, when another row broke out between Vanessa and Nadia and the other housemates waded in, the show’s producers sent three security guards into the house to break things up.
They separated Emma from the rest of the group and took her back to the bedsit. By 5pm today she was still locked away on her own.
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This morning the housemates woke up to a wrecked house. The buffet table was overturned, crockery was smashed and food littered the floor.
Vanessa broke down in tears as she recalled the night before, saying: “They are absolute animals ... I just don’t want to be part of this. It’s like a freak show.”
A subdued Stuart said: “I’ve never seen anything like last night.”
In a statement, Channel 4 and production company Endemol said: “The welfare and safety of the housemates is always our overriding concern, and with that in mind, the production team decided to intervene last night at a point where they felt the confrontation between the housemates had reached an unacceptable level.
“The Big Brother production team has been talking to all housemates individually with a view to sorting out tensions in the house and are closely monitoring them.
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“They will be encouraging the housemates to work through their issues as a group. If they do not feel this is feasible they will consider an alternative course of action to guarantee the welfare of the housemates.”
A spokeswoman added: “We want to see how they are all feeling today. Then we will take a view on what to do next.”
Channel 4 has handed over tapes of the show to Hertfordshire Police.
A police spokeswoman said: “Following a number of calls from members of the public regarding an alleged incident in the Big Brother house last night, Herts Constabulary can confirm it will be obtaining a videotape of the incident later today.
“Officers are currently liaising with members of the Big Brother production team to see what further action needs to be taken.”
Media watchdog Ofcom is also investigating after receiving 16 complaints from viewers.