[Captain.Remy]

This is a news following this thread: Here.

The producers of Big Brother have been criticised for targeting amputee soldiers to appear in the next series.

Veterans’ charities have condemned Endemol after they attempted to recruit wounded servicemen and women to appear in the eleventh series of the reality television show.

An email sent to the Army Benevolent Fund from the programme makers said: “As well as the open auditions we always cast the net far and wide. I'd like to politely enquire if any of your members would be interested in BB11?”

ABF spokeswoman Annabelle Fuller said in a newspaper interview: “We're a charity, not a selection box for bad TV programmes. The people we help are often vulnerable.”

Endemol reportedly asked the charity for case studies of soldiers who had been made homeless or severely wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Fuller later wrote on her blog: “'How heartless do you have to be to think that putting a homeless person in a house where they face a weekly eviction vote is a good idea?”

Dr Hugh Milroy, chief executive of the Veterans Fund, who also received an e-mail from Endemol, called it a “new low for reality TV”.

In a joint statement today Endemol and Channel 4 said: “Big Brother aims to cast the net far and wide to ensure that a diverse range of people get the opportunity to audition and take part in the programme.

“Many different groups and organisations have been approached as they have strong networks within more isolated communities and can help to spread the word about the dates of open auditions.”

Big Brother is no stranger to controversy and criticism, having attracted record complaints for a 2007 celebrity version, in which Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty appeared to suffer racist abuse at the hands of fellow housemates, including Jade Goody.

Big Brother 11, which is scheduled to be the last series, will be screened next summer.

Source.