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Reported in the Sunday Mirror

RECORD BB AXES CHARITY
BIG Brother bosses came under fire last night over their refusal to donate any of the show's massive profits to charity.

Good causes lost out on more than £1million after TV chiefs opted to keep all the show's £20million profit for the first time in three years.

During Big Brother 2 five pence from each 25p call was divided among three charities. The same formula would have raised £1,130,000 this year.

But there will be no donations from record-breaking Big Brother 3.

Last night Tory MP Patrick Mercer said: "I think this is a deeply cynical move, capitalising on the first two series of Big Brother and building on the popularity of it.

"I find it deeply disappointing."

After the first series of Big Brother in 2000, Channel 4 matched the £70,000 prize money winner Craig Phillips gave to Down's Syndrome friend Jo Harris for a life-saving operation.

A charity auction of furniture from the first BB house raised tens of thousands of pounds for Childline, homeless charity Centrepoint and Focus E15, an east London charity for homeless and vulnerable children.

Shelter, Kid's Company and Community Self-Build Agency each received £267,278 from the 17.5 million votes cast during Big Brother 2.

More than 10million people watched the final of this year's show making it the fifth highest rated programme in 20 years of Channel 4.

The show attracted an average of 5.7million viewers and a record 22.7million votes were cast during the series - by phone, text and interactive TV - at a cost of 25p each.

This year's profits will be shared by Channel 4, programme makers Endemol and network providers including BT, mmO2 and BSkyB.

Big Brother 3's success has boosted the finances of ailing Channel 4 which recently announced a pre-tax loss of £28million, its biggest shortfall in 10 years. The station is to axe more than 100 jobs.

Production costs are estimated at £10 million but Channel 4 will also make a profit from the official BB book, magazine and video.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said last night: "There isn't a charity donation this year.

"The economic climate is very different. Advertising revenues are down and we've recently announced a loss. All profits will be ploughed back into programmes."