That is how the showdown between Shilpa Shetty and Jackiey Budden on Big Brother managed to snowball itself into an internationally debated topic. Even after Jackiey Budden had been voted out of the show by the public, the remaining British inmates continue to throw insults at Shilpa. All this might have gone down as part of the show, but someone took into his head to raise the issue of racism here and the result is rocking England now.

The comments made by the British inmates clearly showed their distaste of Indian culture, especially the practice of eating with one’s hands (an inmate was concerned about all the places to which one’s hand goes). With the issue of racism being discussed on the global level, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has spoken in favor of Shilpa Shetty. He was joined by British finance minister who is currently on a visit to India. Indian finance minister P. Chidambaram also lent his voice to Shilpa’s support. There is a huge wave of sympathy for the Indian actress.

Meanwhile, the producers of the show have to pay a heavy price for refusing to intervene in what transpires between inmates. Their major sponsor, British mobile phone retailer, Carphone Warehouse has announced the withdrawal of its sponsorship and has ordered it’s logo to be removed from the channel screen. The corporation does not want to get involved in any racist issues. On the other hand, the entire racism issue has managed to get a million more viewers tuning in for the show. But, there are people who believe that the entire fracas has been stage managed to attract attention.

This is what Shilpa’s reaction to all the taunts that were thrown at her, “ Is this the England of today. It’s shocking. It’s a shame.”