Jade evicted from 'Big Brother', Shilpa hot favourite

New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) The huge furore caused by her allegedly racist remarks against Shilpa Shetty has led to the eviction of television star Jade Goody from the reality show 'Celebrity Big Brother', heightening chances of the Bollywood actor emerging the hot favourite on the show.

Jade Goody, whose allegedly racist comments against Shilpa had triggered international criticism of the reality TV show was voted out overwhelmingly by the British public after a scheduled public vote wherein Shilpa and Jade were shortlisted for eviction by fellow housemates.

In the ensuing face-off, Britons who have, over the last week, filed 38,000 complaints with the television regulator alleging that Shilpa had been subjected to racial abuse from Jade over the past weeks, chose overwhelmingly to evict the latter from the show.

Analysts say the overwhelming public response in favour of Shilpa during the public vote and the huge support that she has generated both among the local Asians as well as Britons makes her a hot favourite to win the show even though she is not a favourite among a majority of her fellow contestants.

In last night's public vote, the votes of the fellow contestants were divided in favour of Shilpa and Jade but what tilted the scales were the overwhelming public support Shilpa has generated after last week's course of events.

After announcing Goody's ouster live on Channel 4, show host Davina McCall said ''Jade obviously has no idea that for the last week she has been at the center of an international crisis.'' Jade's eviction follows a reconciliation between her and Shilpa wherein Jade approached the Bollywood actor and apologized, but said she was not racist.

Reacting to her eviction from the show, Jade said,''I've never been more scared in my life.'' Following her eviction, Goody appeared to be stunned when McCall showed her edited footage of the show and the international reaction it had received.

''Oh my God,'' Goody said adding ''I'm not a racist person, but looking at that film I can see why it's had the impact it has had.'' More UNI AR MSJ ND1310