Copyright 2000 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
Scotland on Sunday
July 30, 2000, Sunday
SECTION: Pg. 5
LENGTH: 774 words
HEADLINE: PSYCHOLOGISTS IN ETHICS PROBE OVER BIG BROTHER
BYLINE: By Karen Mcveigh
BODY:
PSYCHOLOGISTS working on Channel 4's controversial TV programme, Big Brother, are being investigated by their professional regulatory body amid allegations that the show is harming contestants.
Scotland On Sunday has learned that the British Psychological Society is looking into a complaint about psychologists who have appeared on the programme, including Professor Peter Collett, from the University of Oxford, who is a consultant to Big Brother, and Professor Geoffrey Beattie, from the University of Manchester.
Both men have appeared on the programme discussing the behaviour of the show's various contestants.
The allegations, made in a letter to the BPS by Dr David Miller, of Stirling University's Media Research Institute, include claims that the psychologists are guilty of a serious breach of ethical behaviour and that they may be guilty of professional misconduct. He claims that the programme may be harmful to the participants and that, by appearing on it, psychologists could exacerbate the situation.
"This is a game show, not a serious exploration of human nature," said Dr Miller yesterday. "But we see psychologists commenting on it as if it were a natural history programme or a scientific experiment. This lends it a spurious credibility and what they are engaging in is clearly going to be damaging to the individuals involved."
In the pounds 5m programme 10 people are placed in a house full of television cameras - including one in the shower and toilet - which records them 24 hours a day. Each week, viewers, who are shown edited highlights, vote to evict one participant, picked from a shortlist of two drawn up by the residents. At the end of the programme's two-month run, the last one remaining in the house wins a prize of pounds 70,000. On Friday night more than three million people tuned in as Scot Sada Walkington, 27, became the first to be ejected.
In his letter, which was written last week, Dr Miller cited an example of a similar type of show in Sweden, in which one of the first contestants to be voted out, in this case from a desert island, committed suicide a month later. He said: "Even if this was not directly related to the programme, it should raise worries about the role of psychologists in lending such shows legitimacy."
"Peter Bazalgette, the show's producer says that these people have a free choice," he said. "But it is not possible for them to know all that is going to happen. It is already causing massive distress and unhappiness to the participants, something that they hadn't anticipated."
Last week, following the tears and obvious stress experienced by Sada and Caroline, the two participants shortlisted by the group to leave, the show's producers were forced to step in to stop further discussion of the issue.
Many psychologists have expressed their concern about the nature of the programme upon its participants.
Yesterday, Dr Mark Griffiths, the head of psychology at Nottingham Trent University labelled it "exploitative".
"Its quite obvious from their lack of coping strategies that they were unprepared for what lay ahead," he said. "Caroline lay in bed for hours crying and Sada said she wanted to leave. They have prepared themselves for facing the cameras 24-hours a day but I don't think they expected the psychological stress of being the ones that had to leave first."
In a surprise about-turn from her tearful performance earlier, yoga fanatic Sada said yesterday she was "very happy" to be the first person evicted from the house. She said: "It's wonderful to be first out. I'm very happy about it."
But Sada admitted the experience had taken its psychological toll on her, saying: " Being cooped up in a space with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide takes its toll. It was a very harsh environment to live in. It was an emotionally intense cocoon."
Yesterday, the president of the BPS, Tommy MacKay, confirmed that it was investigating the allegations against the psychologists connected with the show.
"I can't comment on the complaint directly," he said. "The matter will come before the investigating committee."
A spokeswoman for Big Brother, which is made for Channel 4 by production company, Bazal, said: "All the people who are taking part in the show were fully aware of what the programme involved. They were all screened psychologically before entering the house to test their psychological robustness.
"They can also leave any time they want."
Prof Collett said that he did not want to respond to the allegations. Prof Beattie was not available for comment.
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