Big Brother star Sarah Griffiths was admonished over her “stop the gloats” comment, which was deemed “offensive.”
The comment was originally made during an episode earlier this week, with Sarah describing Hanah Haji as “gloaty” after Marcello Spooks had been elected as Head of House.
Prior to the comment being made, one shopping task involved the housemates being split into teams, the Vampires and the Villagers. During the task, Sarah and Nathan King could be heard chanting “stop the gloats”.
In Thursday’s (November 7) episode, the final shopping task involved the group – who were split into three separate teams – pulling off a bank heist, with Hanah’s particular challenge requiring the group to answer various questions.
One of the questions referenced the aforementioned remark, with Hanah – who was alongside Emma and Khaled for the task – being required to answer who in the house had referred to her as “gloaty.”
After Hanah discovered that it was Sarah who had uttered the remark, she questioned her fellow housemate’s reasoning, with Sarah reasoning that she was making a “non-PC” and “funny play on words” with the ‘Stop the Boats’ political slogan.
After informing Segun Shodipo of the matter, Hanah subsequently entered the Diary Room to explain her dissatisfaction with the remark, explaining that she was “irritated” by the line and “didn’t find it funny.”
Sarah was later called to the Diary Room, with Big Brother explaining that Sarah’s choice of language around the political reference had “impacted other Housemates”, adding that the “Big Brother House [was] made up of people from all walks of life with different life experiences.”
“I’d obviously like to say that if I offended anybody by making that kind of joke, I am genuinely 100% remorseful,” said Sarah in reply. “That is down to my own stupidity and selfishness thinking that me making a joke with word play and being like ‘haha good joke’ and not thinking with forethought about how that would affect other people.
“That perhaps the original phrase would offend or have connotations too. People's feelings are totally valid and if they do feel offended by that I am so so sorry. I have no malice in my heart. I have no malintent against anyone.”
Big Brother added that they “cannot permit language which is likely to be considered offensive by Housemates or the viewing public”, with Sarah ending by saying that she “very much” understood why concerns were raised.
The matter was also addressed in the first segment of spin-off series Late & Live, which was hosted on Thursday by AJ Odudu.
