While Bigg Boss 13 has been creating news in the Indian entertainment world, Big Brother Spain is currently in news for extremely wrong reasons. A video has come up from the reality show where a female contestant was being confronted by the makers of the show regarding a sexual assault inside the house that involved her and a co-contestant.
The show Big Brother Spain has been facing a lot of heat after a disturbing video of its contestant Carlota Prado got out that showed she being confronted about being sexually assaulted by co-contestant Jose Maria Lopez. What further fuelled up the controversy is the voice of Big Brother asking Prado not to tell about the alleged incident to anyone. The conversation took place inside the "diary room".
Alleged sexual assault after party
According to reports, the alleged incident happened in 2017 when Lopez took Prado to the bed after an alcohol party and allegedly sexually assaulted her. The incident got recorded in the camera, which was shown to Prado inside the "diary room". While it is not clear if Prado was aware of she being sexually abused on the show, the footage from the "diary room", obtained by Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, reportedly shows her getting extremely disturbed after watching it and begged the producers to stop the video.
The video then shows the voice of the Big Brother asking her not to talk about this alleged sexual assault with anyone in the house, and then sent a psychologist to console Prado.
'Gran Hermano' mostró a Carlota Prado las imágenes del presunto abuso sexual sin previo aviso y sin ayuda psicológica. Las cámaras siguieron grabando como si fuese un programa más. El Confidencial ha tenido acceso al vídeo de ese momento https://t.co/rfgXq9SaI3 pic.twitter.com/v2IDxuPnGI
— El Confidencial (@elconfidencial) November 19, 2019
While the incident has triggered massive outrage, producers of the show issued a statement where they stated that none of the videos was recorded with the intention to broadcast, but they regret the way the footage was shown to Prado. It further stated that the video was supplied to the authorities for investigation, and she was asked not to talk about it to protect her privacy. Lopez was immediately removed from the show after the incident.
Read Endemol Shine Group, producers of Big Brother Spain, full statement.
We have protocols in place for Big Brother which were followed by the team in Spain. Following these, the production team on duty overnight became suspicious of an incident and escalated it to the show's Executive Producers. Upon review, housemate Jose María was expelled from the house, housemate Carlota received professional support from independent counselors. After several days out of the house, during which Carlota was continually accompanied, and continued to receive psychological support, she then decided not to press charges and to return to the program, with the psychologist's approval.
We'd like to stress no footage was ever shot with the intention of being broadcast. However, with hindsight, we regret that the conversation where Carlota was informed took place in the diary room environment. The footage was only supplied as evidence when requested by the authorities, encrypted and guarded. The decision not to inform the housemates of the incident, and why Carlota was asked not to mention the incident at the time, was taken by the production team in good faith at that point, in order to protect her privacy and because the incident was due to be reported to the police. As a judicial matter, we are respectful of the ongoing legal process.
