The Sun story on Shilpa Shetty

London, Jan. 5: As Day Three dawned for Shilpa Shetty in Celebrity Big Brother House, The Telegraph was besieged by calls today from Indian viewers asking for help to ensure the 31-year-old Bollywood star was not evicted, as per the rules, at an early stage.

“My mum has been watching from the beginning,” wailed one Gujarati woman, adding that her niece, along with her Indian friends at school, had also become a fan of Celebrity Big Brother, “something Indians do not normally watch”.

The Telegraph’s influence in such matters is somewhat limited. To be sure, Shilpa is helping to push up ratings by attracting Asian viewers who would not normally watch this reality television show, popular though it is.

To that extent, Endemol, producers of the show, should certainly manipulate the 37 cameras and 60-odd microphones strategically located inside Big Brother House to ensure Shilpa is not ignored. It would not be in Endemol’s interest if Shilpa were to be voted out next Friday when the first round of voting takes place.

This morning, she did something she probably never does when she is back home — cook breakfast. By and by, she might even cook a curry.

But this programme is not about being popular. The makers want a different kind of spice. It’s about putting the knife into other contestants and render them unpopular so that they are the ones voted out.

There is a log which keeps a minute-by-minute record of what the contestants are doing. One entry says: “9.07 am — Shilpa keeps fit doing sit-ups on the floor — already with her make-up for the day done.”

This hardly makes for gripping television, though it keeps Indian viewers happy enough. They seem relieved that Shilpa’s blouses are not too low cut — to the dismay, one assumes, of the producers. If only she would flirt outrageously with the men, get tipsy, tumble into the hot tub, emerge soaking wet with her clothes clinging to her, her television life would be prolonged.

Yesterday, she attempted to teach meditation to “uncle” Ken Russell, the film director, and Carole Malone, a columnist on the Sunday Mirror.

This is, frankly, not the kind of activity that will encourage the average British viewer to want to keep Shilpa in the house. But Shilpa, being an Indian woman, cannot be too naughty, especially as she has to go back to Bollywood. Therein lies her dilemma.

A columnist, Polly Hudson, had this to say about Shilpa today: “Has revealed that she is a Gemini, ‘so I’m meant to be two faced’. Ooh I hope she is... in fact I just hope she’s ANYTHING as so far she seems to be, like, nothing.”

Still, the Sun newspaper gave Shilpa a helping hand today. It dragged up an old non-story about how she had allegedly faced arrest after a lawyer had objected to “obscene” photographs of Shilpa and Reema Sen published in a Tamil newspaper. Although this may not appear so, this is a kindly attempt by Britain’s biggest circulation daily tabloid newspaper to make Shilpa appear more controversial — and hence more interesting.