THE LESSONS OF 'BIG BROTHER'

By Thomas Hüetlin
Spiegel International


The racist epithets flung at Indian actress Shilpa Shetty shocked the nation. And in the end, she emerged as the winner, both in 'Big Brother' and in real life. The show, though, also had a clear loser: Great Britain.

Chairs, tables, walls, everything is blue -- except the purple neon light shining from the ceiling. Otherwise, the pub "The Sea Rock" in the north of London looks like a big aquarium. And for the patrons -- mostly those with an Indian background -- it is the perfect escape from frigid England to the warmth of Bollywood, that Indian dream factory where the clothes sparkle but the romances remain pure and kisses are forbidden.

But at 8 p.m. sharp on this day, Bollywood disappears from the gigantic flat screens. It's time for "Big Brother." "Shilpa, let's go," calls 26-year-old Nish Bhadressa into the half empty bar. Next to him sits Ravi Vaid, his family also comes from India and he too is 26 years old; they are both drinking beer. And they both want to see whether Shilpa Shetty, an Indian actress whose name just a few weeks ago was only known to a few Bollywood fanatics inside Europe, will leave the show tonight as the winner.
The results should tell the two men something about the reality of Great Britain -- tonight "Big Brother" will be something like a societal barometer. The show plays with Orwell's vision of fear, this angst of a controlling authority that makes a nation transparent against its will. In reality, though, the opposite is true. The show -- successfully running for over seven years in a total of 41 countries -- has reversed this principal. The individual becomes transparent, and the audience sees up close how a country really looks beneath the surface.

This season's "Big Brother" finale offers a prime example -- the two men in the "Sea Rock" are about to learn whether they truly live in a country full of racists. Whether British television viewers find it entertaining when a foreigner with brown skin is verbally abused before the eyes of millions of television viewers.

The incident in question has probably become the scene most often replayed in the history of British television. And it hits directly at the heart of the country's identity.

It is now well over two weeks ago that the inhabitants of the container roasted a chicken. Some thought the chicken had been undercooked; a fight erupted. Three women -- white and with little education -- ganged up on the smarter one from India.

"Indians are thin because they don't cook food properly," baited Jo O'Meara, an unsuccessful pop singer. Danielle Lloyd, a former "Miss Britain" who was stripped of her crown after it was discovered that she had slept with one of the judges, one-upped her. She accused Shilpa of not being able to speak English properly and said: "She wants to be white. She's a dog." Lloyd then suggested that Shilpa should "fuck off home."

It wasn't over. Enter Jade Goody. Already oversized, she swelled even further as she dug into the petite actress, calling her a poppadom and saying that Shilpa "makes her skin crawl," among other -- worse -- insults. Shilpa Shetty overheard the incensed tirade with wide eyes. Then she said, "If this is the modern Britain, then it is terrifying" -- and left the container kitchen.
On the following morning, a great many embarrassed faces could be seen on the island. The coalition of outraged viewers ranged from the very bottom to the top. From below, England's most dissolute tabloid The Sun demanded: "Throw out this face of hate" referring to Goody. From above, Gordon Brown, the possible successor to Prime Minster Tony Blair, demanded that the British television audience ought to vote for "tolerance."

These were the official reactions, and the politically correct ones. What is not known is whether these reactions correspond to the views of the nation -- to those of the "Big Brother" viewers.

"The strange thing about this is that some English apparently no longer recognize those values that they once brought to the people in India," Bhadressa said at "Sea Rock." "Above all," Bhadressa's friend Vaid, added "the certainty that one has to work hard in life in order to be successful." Vaid unzipped his jacket; underneath, he was wearing an English national football team shirt.

Neither of the men trust Great Britain. Not the newspapers, not the politicians. They are waiting for the results, for the truth. On "Big Brother" the nation can vote anonymously by telephone, no one has to justify what he believes, thinks, or says.

The pub is now completely packed; the cooks push their way out of the kitchen. Then the result fades in. Visible on the screen is the winner, Shilpa, the Indian. She cries a little, humbly folds her hands together in front of her chest, expresses her thanks and charitably says that Jade Goody is not a racist.


The two men finish their beers and head home. Great Britain voted correctly, Shilpa Shetty is the winner. But one doesn't know what this actually means: does it mean that a nation is ashamed of itself or does it mean that a clash of cultures does not in fact exist. Or does it simply mean that those belonging to the one culture simply called more often than those belonging to the other culture.

Shilpa Shetty, 31 years old, had not been in such great demand in Bollywood of late, and it's hard to say what would have become of her. Now, though, she's got a future -- offers from advertising agents, cosmetic companies and filmmakers have poured in. Now she even has a manager -- Max Clifford, who manages O.J. Simpson. She will become rich in Great Britain. That much is certain.

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