Shilpa Shetty Wins the 'Big Brother' Contest

It was a long weekend for the people of India who keenly waited to know this Sundays’ winner of the UK reality show ‘Big Brother’. There was intense speculation in the Indian press and television channels that the likely winner of the show would be the Indian bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

Last Sunday in Big Brother’s final showdown Shilpa emerged a winner by beating Jermaine Jackson. She triumphed in the contest by winning 63 percent of the votes. The Asians of Indian origin in the UK no doubt played an important part in the voting pattern. This is seen as big as their victory against racism.

Shilpa was heckled and bullied by one of the participants, Jade Goody, in the show. The names Shilpa was called smacked of racism. The people in India reacted angrily against the racial treatment meted to their star. The media hyped it making it an issue of racism seen in a multi-cultural society. The politicians from both India and the UK, seeing the huge public reaction to the controversy gave it a political colour issuing statements condemning racial assault on Shilpa.

Later in the show Shilpa did a turnaround and denied any racial assault on her. On the flip side the racism row helped Shilpa become a household name in UK and the huge sympathy wave it generated was a singular factor in her walking away with the big prize money offered by the show.

The people in India greeted her victory in the Big Brother show with euphoria and joy. Shilpa’s stunned face beamed on Indian television channels throughout the day. She remarked that she was proud to be an Indian and had won the show not because of her skin colour. She said she had no idea what was happening outside and did not want to leave the UK putting anyone in trouble. She thanked Great Britain for giving her fantastic support.

The reality show ‘Big Brother’ had helped bring forth the issue of racism not only in a multi-cultural society like the UK but it also made the Indian people think of their own attitude towards racism in India. In India when it comes to choosing a marriage partner, for many the skin colour plays a decisive role. People are still being discriminated against in the name of caste and religion.

Shilpa Shetty earned an estimated 350,000 pounds and a number of endorsements. Ironically once again she shed tears on hearing the announcement of her victory but this time she can claim it these as tears of joy.