BB7 vs CBB5: Why did the housemates of BB7 get away with it?
 

This is something that I've been wondering for a good while now. We all know how huge the CBB race row was and its lasting effects it had on the both the franchise as a whole along with those who were involved in the treatment towards Shilpa. After watching it back recently, (for me) it seems more tame but then without the hype from the press I suppose that's a given.

The question is, why were the actions from certain housemates in BB7 (only months before the celebrity season which went global for all the wrong reasons) not taken even nearly as seriously? Obviously it was 11 years ago so I was only young myself and I'm having a hard time remembering , but I can't remember much of the public or the press really caring about the treatment of Shabaz (like housemates locking him outside and taunting him with bacon crisps) or making a fuss over how Grace and co spoke about and (dare I say it) bullied Sam and so on... Was it to do with Shilpa's status/the way Jade went from BB Hero to Villian as to why people cared a hell of a lot more? Obviously the public bayed for Grace's blood, but even then it was nothing near the scale of CBB.

Thoughts?

CBB5 only got as big as it was because of Jade and her returning (an idea which the viewers were against from the moment it was rumoured). I kinda think and doubt it would've gotten as big as it did if it was just Jo and Danielle without Jade and co being in the series.

Although Grace was evicted to a higher percentage than Jade was.

Woah. I remembered none of that Shahbaz stuff, I guess I was pretty young too. Thats awful, it wouldnt be tolerated now, it shouldnt have been back then.

I think that's exactly why. I mean Shilpa was treated awfully anyway so not taking away from that, but I don't think there would have been anywhere near the reaction there was if it wasn't for those 2 things.
Just the fact that Danielle got off so much lighter when she was so much worse than Jade shows that the outrage wasn't relative to what was actually happening.

I think the easy explanation is simply that people had gotten smarter within that timespan of months. The stuff with Shahbaz was also just generally bullying and ostracizing of someone. Which yes, is terrible. But the stuff with Shilpa was that but also included key racial moments, which is one of the main reasons CBB5 got as big as it did to begin with.