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New race row for 'Big Brother' broadcaster

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LONDON, England -- British broadcaster Channel 4, already facing a backlash for alleged bullying and racist remarks by contestants in "Celebrity Big Brother," is at the center of a new row over comments made in another of its reality shows.

Eighteen-year-old contestant Lucy Buchanan, appearing in the opening episode of "Shipwrecked" on Sunday, said black people were "really bad."

"Britain is a complete mess. I just don't appreciate people coming into our country and taking over our culture," said the former boarding school student from Edinburgh, Scotland.

"We've got way too many cultures. Britain's not really Britain any more," she added.

"I'm for the British Empire and things. I'm for slavery, but that's never going to come back."

"Shipwrecked" sees two groups of young people placed on desert islands in the South Pacific living as castaways.

Buchanan's remarks come as Channel 4 reviews the "Big Brother" franchise after Jade Goody sparked an international race row by bullying Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. (Full story)

Goody was evicted from the "Big Brother" house in a public vote Friday after days of controversy about her behavior towards Shetty.

Britain's media watchdog Ofcom said it received 40,000 complaints from viewers in the days leading up to the vote. Politicians -- including Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the finance minister -- also weighed into the row and a major sponsor pulled out of the show.

Channel 4 has been criticized for not acting sooner to deal with the row over "Big Brother," in which contestants are cut off from the outside world in a house where cameras follow their every move 24 hours a day.

But a Channel 4 spokeswoman told the UK's Press Association that Buchanan's comments on "Shipwrecked" were immediately criticized by the other contestants so viewers were aware they were "offensive and unacceptable."

Ofcom, meanwhile, said it had received 196 complaints about racism on the show since Sunday and expected that number to rise further Tuesday.

Online message boards were deluged with outraged posts, PA reported.

Black community group The 1990 Trust organized an online petition objecting to her comments.

"Such remarks put 'Celebrity Big Brother' evictee Jade Goody in the shade," the group said in a statement. "The fact that Lucy comes from a privileged background means that social status is no excuse for such racist attitudes."

In an outburst aired on Sunday evening, Buchanan also attacked fat people and criticized gays.

"They're offensive. They can help it -- eat less, exercise more, get their stomachs stitched," she said.

Buchanan said she was surprised she had become friends with a 23-year-old fellow contestant who is a manual laborer.

"Not only because we come from completely different backgrounds and have completely different values, but she's a lesbian as well," she said. "Not that I don't like homosexuals, I just don't like what they do."

On the "Shipwrecked" Web site, she is also quoted as saying: "I can't stand fat and ugly people, they really bring you down."

Buchanan's mother, Nicola, told The Sun newspaper: "She is definitely not a racist. She has a big mouth and says things she doesn't mean."

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