British Big Brother Bad? Brazilian Big Brother Beggars Belief

An episode of the Brazilian version of Big Brother featured a rather disturbing scene this weekend when contestant Daniel Echaniz appeared to sexually assault fellow housemate Monique Amin. 

Rio police are now investigating the incident which shows Amin passed out in her bed drunk, after a party. Night cameras show Echaniz getting into bed with her, with the following seven minutes appearing to show Echaniz writhing around while Amin remains non-responsive throughout.

Amin seemed to know little of the incident when she spoke with show officials in the Diary Room the next morning. The police stepped in after overwhelming pressure from Twitter users. They interviewed her earlier today for three hours and then took her out to examine her for signs of rape.

The footage was shown but has now been taken off the production company's website. Programme makers have been quick to remove Echaniz, but careful not to attribute to the incident, saying: 

“Since Sunday morning, the board had been evaluating the behaviour of Daniel, who is suspected of having infringed the rules of the programme. Big Brother examined his behaviour without jumping to conclusions and with the utmost care. The images showed a breach of the rules of the programme. After careful evaluation, the direction of the programme found that the behaviour of the contestant on the night of the party was seriously inadequate.”

Not that Endemol, the company behind Big Brother across the world, had much choice. They were apparentlt told in no uncertain terms to remove Echaniz or risk being pulled from the air.

Male model Echaniz claims that he 'only hugged and kissed her'.

Daniel Echaniz and Monique Amin from earlier in the series

An online petition clamouring to see the show taken off air is gaining momentum. In it, it says:

“It is inadmissible that they did not send anyone to check out on the unconscious woman and to see what the man was doing to her. It is inadmissible that they did not send anyone to break them apart as soon as they realized (because no one here is naive enough to believe the fact went by unnoticed) that the woman could not consent nor participate in the act.”

How depressing, eh?