Big Brother slammed with over 700 Ofcom complaints as star is forced to apologise over racist comment

BIG Brother has been slammed with over 745 complaints to Ofcom after viewers accused one housemate of making a racist comment.

Sarah was called "out of line" when she referenced the slogan Stop The Boats during a conversation about black housemate Hanah, whose parents are immigrants.

The Stop The Boats slogan was coined during Rishi Sunak's campaign to stop migrants using small boats to cross the English channel from France.

Spa accounts manager Sarah had already nicknamed Hanah "gloaty" in one of the house tasks, and she later said in front of Hanah, "stop the gloats".

Confiding in fellow black housemate Segun, Hanah admitted: "I don't know how I feel about that one. I don't like that."

She later told the Diary Room: "I don't think that's funny, if I'm being honest with you.

"I studied international politics; I graduated with 2:1. I'm not stupid."

Sarah was called into the Diary Room by Big Brother, but appeared to be confused.

Big Brother told her: "Sarah, Big Brother wants to talk to you about language you have been using in the house.

"Hanah, Khaled, and Emma had been aware that you previously used the term ''gloaty' about Hanah.

"This was referring to a conversation you had with Emma where you described Hanah as gloaty in a reference to Marcello becoming the Head of House.

"On a separate occasion prior to this, during the Vampires and Villagers task, together with Nathan, you chanted, ''Stop the gloats', which you confirmed was a reference to the political phrase, 'Stop the boats'."

The housemate, who admitted to once voting for UKIP, replied: "For me, it was just funny because it rhymed, and I don't really talk about politics that often because it's not something I'm interested in, but it was a joke.

"It had no racial connotations, I have no connotations about boats or immigration, or anything like that. It was just making funny of political slogans."

Big Brother explained: "When Hanah questioned you about you calling her gloaty, you referred to the 'Stop the gloats' chant you had created with Nathan during the earlier task.

"Your use of language around this political reference has had an impact on your fellow housemates.

"As you know, the Big Brother house is made up of people from all walks of life with different life experiences."

Appearing baffled, Sarah then replied: "Sorry, I'm not disagreeing with you, there is lots of walks of life, but I did not mean that with anything towards immigration or racial intent.

"For me, it was just a funny wordplay."

She was then asked if she wanted to add anything else.

Sarah said: "I'd like to say that if I've offended anybody by making that kind of joke, I am genuinely 100% remorseful.

"That is down to my own stupidity and selfishness, me making a joke with wordplay and being like, ''Haha! Good joke!' and not thinking about how that would affect other people.'

"People's feelings are totally valid, and if they are offended by that, I am so sorry. I have no malice in my heart against anyone."

Big Brother added: "Big Brother cannot permit language that is likely to be considered offensive by housemates or the viewing public."

Viewers called for Sarah to be axed from the show, after she previously "body shamed" Lily by saying her bum was "as flat as a pancake" and chanting "is it pancake day".

One wrote on X: "Sarah constantly targeting Lily. The fact that she then made a racist remark towards immigrants in the UK on live television is absolutely diabolical. Get Sarah out!"

Another said: "Sarah really is showing how horrible of a person she is, first making racist 'jokes' then body shaming a 20 year old as a 'joke'… her jokes aren’t funny at all."

A third typed: "How do we still have the worlds most boring man, a Tory, a racist, a misogynist and baked fkin potato but we lost Khaled?!"

Sarah's boyfriend is Aled Morris, the Mayor of Llangollen Town in Wales, who was elected in 2024.

Aled spoke out on her comments on Facebook after seeing the backlash online.

He said: "I try to stay out of social media because opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one and most of them talk out of them, but please understand the actual understanding of the world "racist" before you actively label someone.

"By definition, an immigratant isn't a race, it's a group of people that comes from all countries across the world, for instance, one of the biggest sections of immigrants entering illegally to the UK are Albanians, a predominantly white country.

"Sarah's comments, if you could stretch them that far were xenophobic if you wish to take a particular narrative.

"Labelling someone something they aren't, is extremely dangerous and completely dilutes the true meaning of a term,which isn't good for any of us.

"I'd appreciate if you could adjust your comment to suit. I am extremely proud of Sarah and the things she does to help people which will never be aired because it doesn't follow a narrative."