Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty celebrates her 41st birthday today. On this important day, we take you back to the year 2007 when Shilpa Shetty participated in the most controversial series of the British reality TV show ‘Celebrity Big Brother 5’. The Show was aired on Channel 4 and ran from Jan 3, 2007 through Jan 28, 2007. Shilpa Shetty. Our Bollywood beauty was the winner but her victory in this show was perhaps the most difficult one ever. She was a victim of racist bullying by 5 Housemates and they were:

• Jade Goody: Jade became a celebrity in the United Kingdom after she participated on Big Brother 3 (with regular non-celeb housemates). Jade participated again in Celebrity Big Brother 5 as she had become a celebrity in the UK by 2007. She entered the house with her boyfriend and mother.
• Danielle Lloyd: Danielle won Miss Great Britain 2006 but was dethroned from the title for she was dating one of the panel judges and posing for playboy.
• Jack Tweed: He was dating Jade Goody when he entered the house.
• Jo O'Meara: She was a member of the pop group S Club 7.
• Jackiey Budden: Jade Goody's mother Jackie entered the house on Day 3.

With every passing day, these 5 monstrous people (at least on the show) kept ganging against Shilpa Shetty. Danielle made fun of Indians eating with their hands and said “Shilpa should f*ck off home”; Jackiey kept calling Shilpa by weird names because she claimed ‘Shilpa’ was too tough a name for her to remember. Jo made fun of Shilpa and her accent and their gang leader Jade Goody bullied Shilpa on every occasion making Shilpa cry every now and then. All three ladies were jealous of Shilpa Shetty's beauty, her dressing sense and fame. Anyone who watched this show can say that Shilpa spoke better English than the Brits on the show. She even helped the host Davina during her victory interview when Davina struggled to pronounce the word 'Magnanimity'.

People who supported Shilpa in the Big Brother House were Jermaine Jackson (Brother of Michael Jackson), Dirk Benedict (Born: 1945) who used to flirt with Shilpa all the time. Ian (member of pop group ‘Steps’) always spoke in support of Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother 5.

The Oxo Cube Incident: On Day 14:

Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody were involved in an argument with each other with a disagreement on Chicken Oxo cube. Apparently Shilpa had ordered 4 Oxo Cubes and when she went to check if they were available for cooking, she was told by Jade, Danielle and Jo that they ended up using all of them. Shilpa became upset and asked them why they had to use them all together as one was sufficient but Jade took serious offense and kept escalating the argument by using profanity and a loud & disgusting tone. Her friends Danielle and Jo supported her and kept laughing throughout the argument. The 3 of them who had been bullying Shilpa got a perfect occasion to laugh when Shilpa was being targeted by Jade Goody. This episode was aired uncut on Channel 4 and created a furor worldwide. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was dragged into the racist row during a Q&A session with the MPs and foreign minister Gordon Brown's trip to India was overshadowed as protestors took to streets.

India was disturbed by the incident. Indians abroad were quite furious over the Brit 'Chavs' bullying Shila Shetty. But the way Shilpa handled the entire incident and kept her cool was really commendable. Shilpa made us all proud by conducting herself in such a dignified manner in that show.

Have a look at the Oxo Cube bullying incident video below.

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