Big Brother Brazil housemate raped live on TV

A housemate on Brazil's version of Big Brother has been raped live on TV, it has been alleged.

Police yesterday confirmed they had begun an investigation and carried out a search of the studios in Rio de Janeiro, where the popular reality show is being filmed.

Viewers were shocked in the early hours of Sunday to watch contestant Daniel Echaniz (31), apparently force himself on 23-year-old student Monique Amin, who had passed out drunk after a boozy party.

Night cameras filmed Echaniz, a male model get into the bed where Ms Amin was sleeping before appearing to have sex with her under the covers.

Throughout the incident the female contestant appeared unconscious.

The next morning Ms Amin was asked about the incident in the diary room, and appeared to know little of what had happened.

As the scandal began to engulf the show, one of Brazil's most watched TV programmes, police officers arrived at the house and interviewed Ms Amin for three hours, before taking her away for a rape examination, according to sources.

Police are believed to have then told TV channel Globo to either stop broadcasting the show, which is produced by Endemol and only began last Tuesday, or eliminate Echaniz.

Endemol is a production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, founded from a merger of companies belonging to Joop van den Ende and John de Mol.

The company has subsidiaries in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom.

While Big Brother is a significant part of the company, its most profitable programme is Deal Or No Deal, which has now been sold to more than 100 countries.

Endemol specialises in inexpensive "reality" programming, which is more appealing to TV executives than scripted series involving actors and production values.

Endemol UK has been criticised for incidents of sexism and racism in its Big Brother shows, most notably the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother series featuring the late Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty.

It was reported in 2010 that Endemol was £1.95 billion in debt. As of 2011, the debt had grown to £2.67 billion.

The decision to remove the contestant, who if found guilty of rape faces between six and 10 years' jail, was explained in a statement read out by the show's presenter Pedro Bial.

He said: "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.

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