[Loukas]

Big Brother has been ruled in breach of Ofcom guidelines, after the word 'piss' was broadcast multiple times in the course of one conversation.

Ofcom received three complaints when an episode of the most recent series of the Channel 5 show was broadcast at 12.15pm containing the offensive language.

The word and its variations were used 14 times in the space of 50 seconds, during a conversation between Chris, Ashleigh, Ash, Winston and Helen about Chris's behaviour.

Sentences such as, "You must have done something to piss her off" and, "Are you a piss-off merchant?" caused viewers to complain that the language was inappropriate for a pre-watershed broadcast.

Channel 5 responded by saying that it had removed a great deal of offensive language from the broadcast to ensure its suitability and that the word 'pissed' has been ruled by Ofcom as having "higher-to-medium acceptability in pre-watershed broadcasts".

It added that there had been a warning of "fruity language" read before the programme's commencement and that the language was not used in an offensive context but as part of a light-hearted conversation between the housemates.

Ofcom acknowledged the non-aggressive nature of the language but stated that the word was used frequently within a short time-frame and that the language was broadcast in the middle of the day during a school holiday, when children were likely to be watching.

Ofcom therefore ruled that Channel 5 did not take appropriate steps to avoid frequent use of offensive language pre-watershed and that the programme breached Rule 1.16 of the Broadcasting Code.

Digital Spy