Italian 'Big Brother' removes contestants for blasphemyThe Italian version of 'Big Brother', broadcast on a channel owned by Silvio Berlusconi, has removed three contestants after the Catholic Church complained about blasphemy.
For 20 years his television channels have served up an eye-popping diet of risqué game shows featuring barely-clad young women, topless housewives and inane challenges guaranteeing the maximum exposure of female flesh.
But Silvio Berlusconi's media empire has dangerously overstepped the mark with one of his most crucial political allies – the Catholic Church.
Big Brother, a flag ship programme on the prime minister's Mediaset network, has been forced into a humiliating climb down after the Church objected to contestants on the reality television show uttering blasphemous insults.
Like its counterparts in Britain and countries around the world, the hugely popular show, which attracts between five and six million viewers in Italy – around 25 per cent of the viewing public - is no stranger to controversy.
Telegraph