Faced with this footage, Goody conceded: “I’m not a racist but I can see why it had this impact.” She added: “Sincerely, with my hand on my heart, I apologise to everyone I’ve offended. I can’t dignify myself...(the) footage is nasty.”

But that Goody, who is not renowned for being articulate, should have been so composed further indicated that she could have been briefed beforehand. In a further media twist, pundits claim that Channel 4 will do all it can to salvage Goody’s career as she shares the same media agent as Davina McCall.

Shetty, who remains within the house, has no inkling of the events that have been sparked from her treatment nor of the popular newspapers’ campaign to boot out Goody. Even The Sun newspaper, a British tabloid whose readership covers a demographic that is traditionally more mass-market than liberal, has championed Shetty and on its front page urged readers to vote against Goody to make a statement against racism and to show that Britain was a tolerant, inclusive nation.

Such was the public outcry over the persistent bullying and the attacks which took a racial turn — media watchdog Ofcom is yet to deliver a verdict on whether there was sufficient racist content — that the subject was the lead item across the media.

In a week when young British soldiers have continued to lose their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and which saw one of the worst storms in the UK resulting in 17 deaths, it was nevertheless the tears of a foreign actress which led the bulletins. So far Ofcom has received over 40,000 registered complaints.

... contd.