[Mrluvaluva]

The Celebrity Big Brother race row saved the show from being "the most boring in years", Channel 4 bosses have admitted.

Chief executive Andy Duncan and director of television Kevin Lygo said the broadcaster had handled the furore "perfectly well".

They also revealed the broadcaster is in talks with Carphone Warehouse about its £3m sponsorship deal for the next series of non-celebrity Big Brother, this summer.

In an interview with Broadcast magazine, Mr Lygo said: "Let's put this in perspective.

"This was in danger of being the most boring BB that we'd had in many years and we were thinking `Oh dear, what can we do?'.

I know the girls said and did all those things, because we all saw and heard them, but have Channel 4/Endemol cleverly turned things round for themselves in the way they have portrayed this.

[ttw]

They definately used it to their advantage , you can't take away what the girls did but they (ch4/endemol) have been doing this for years, they know what sparks controversy, they knows what gets in the papers, they know what people will talk about, they know what will get them higher ratings and more money...

[GiRTh]

I think, up to a certain extent, it was. They knew Jades backgound and they knew Shilpa's background and given this they must have been reasonably sure they were not going to get on. Jade on CBB5 is different to the Jade on BB3 in that she now has an ego and Shilpa is an actrees who is big but only in a niche market. So, given the combination of Jades lack of brains, but newly attained ego, and Shilpa almost Queen like status in India but not world wide, it was a clash made in heaven. If it was planned it then it was very clever.

[The_Hitman]

Of course it was orchestrated.

Before BB8 starts, we should all forward ideas about what is going to happen, because the day before those sorry b*****ds enter that house, Endemol will know exactly how things are going to pan out. (Actually, we'll need a couple of days to study the personalities.)

Big Brother contestants are chosen very carefully to react to each other how Endemol want them to. Its not a conspiracy, just a basic straight forward sociological experiment.

[*Lorna*]

yeah i think they made it look worse than it was.

[Ruth*Star]

Yeah they made it look worse than it actally was, they cut out footage and editied footage to look bad!

[Mrluvaluva]

Endemol has denied claims it engineered racist debate and secretly briefed celebrity housemates as "absolute nonsense".

"We are not puppet masters," Endemol UK creative director Tim Hincks told Broadcast.

"The thing about Big Brother is it's very honest – and people may be sniggering behind their cups of tea now – but if there was any evidence of briefing or skulduggery, the audience would spot it immediately.

“Today's sophisticated audience will spot very quickly if people are being dishonest in programme-making."