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| Shilpa in last leg of 'Big Brother', touted to win | | | LONDON | JAN 27
The hot favourite of British viewers and a clear contender for the top prize, actress Shilpa Shetty again pipped two of her fellow contestants in a closely-fought race on 'Celebrity Big Brother', as the ousted competitors denied making racist jibes at the Indian star.
Former pop singer Jo O'Meara said she did not make racist comments towards Shilpa after she and actress Cleo Rocos were ousted from the reality show on Channel 4 by the UK audience, leaving the Indian star as one of the favourites to win.
Jo was allegedly also involved in the racist row that was the bane of Jade Goody, who was voted out of the house of Big Brother by the viewers last week.
Goody and her mother were shown on national TV bullying Shilpa, calling her a "dog" and asking her to "go back to her slums".
Jo received almost 48 per cent of the vote last night, while 28 per cent viewers wanted Rocos to go.
Now 31-year-old Shilpa, former A-Team actor Dirk Benedict and ex-Steps singer Ian "H" Watkins are up for eviction, with the Bollywood beauty the odds-on favourite to win when the show ends tomorrow.
Pop Star Jermaine Jackson, model Danielle Lloyd and Goody's boyfriend Jack Tweed are also still in the reality TV house.
During an interview with Big Brother presenter Davina McCall after she was evicted, Jo saw footage of the moments that caused the international row and said: "Looking at it, it looks absolutely terrible but inside it didn't feel terrible."
She told McCall that the edited version of events distorted what really went on.
Of the comments Jo made about Shilpa while in the house, she said: "I never meant it in that way. I'm not a racist. I know that I'm not. I'm not going to deny that Shilpa did aggravate me a lot - you can't click with everybody you meet.
"It's not because I'm racist. I think she's a very beautiful, very elegant woman," Jo said.
Jo was shown mimicking Shetty's voice but she responded: "We were doing that with her and she was finding that really funny."
The singer admitted that while she was in the house she had felt that something was not quite right. On being shown the footage of the race row making headline news across the world, Jo exclaimed: "Oh my God".
She said: "It does look very bad" but insisted: "I'm not a racist person at all. My cousin is married to an Indian, and my cousins are half-Indians."
Asked by Davina about mocking Shilpa's cultural background, Jo said: "I didn't even know I was doing it."
She said she did not think that she had encouraged Jade in any way, adding: "I didn't mean to, if I did."
Jo said she did not dislike Shilpa but she was not as close to her as other housemates Danielle and Cleo. She said she had not trusted her for a long time, and she had had her guard up.
Jo told Davina she had laughed during the argument between Jade and Shilpa because she was "uncomfortable" and her reaction to nerves was to giggle.
The double eviction was a surprise twist for the housemates. The evicted pair emerged from the Big Brother house to a mixture of boos and cheers after the result of the public vote was announced. The eviction comes after Big Brother bosses were forced to apologise when they had to scrap eviction votes following a technical fault.
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