[Mrluvaluva]

Australia's Big Brother has been engulfed by controversy after the show's producers refused to tell a contestant her father had died while she was on the show.

The father of Emma Cornell, 24, died of cancer more than a week ago.

He was buried without his daughter attending the funeral.

The producers' decision not to tell Emma has triggered widespread criticism but is not the first time the show has come under public scrutiny.

Last year viewers were shocked to watch two male contestants grope a female housemate.

The incident prompted Prime Minister John Howard to call for the show to be axed.

Another series saw a woman who had suffered a still birth reduced to tears after being told to look after a doll.

Big Brother producers say they did not inform Ms Cornell that her father had died because that was his dying wish.

"He didn't want to ruin the experience for her," a friend told The Australian newspaper.

"She might be upset when she comes out and finds out what has happened, but I think she'll understand."

Friends say the pair had were only in contact by text over the last few years.

The producers of Big Brother released a statement saying that "everybody who is part of Big Brother is very sympathetic to her situation".

The controversy came as the British version of Celebrity Big Brother was censured by the TV watchdog Ofcom.

It ordered the show to issue a series of on-air apologies over the racial abuse suffered by the Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty.

The Bollywood actress was the victim of racist bullying by four fellow contestants.