Big Brother draws 1,100 complaints

Both of the contestants are previous winners on Big Brother. The show moved from Channel 4 to Channel 5 in 2011.

Ofcom has received more than 1,000 complaints after Big Brother contestant Helen Wood compared fellow contestant Brian Belo to a rapist and murderer.

Belo, who, like Wood, is a former Big Brother winner - quit the show after the row, saying he felt "degraded".

Wood's behaviour drew 3,784 complaints on last year's show - which she went on to win - amid allegations of bullying.

Ofcom said they would assess complaints from Wednesday night's show "before deciding whether to investigate".

Belo became increasingly worked up during Wednesday's show on Channel 5, which saw the contestants invited to play game in which Big Brother posed a series of antagonistic questions for the contestants to answer about each other.

Wood and Belo argued, culminating in Wood telling Belo: "Brian you look like a rapist, you look like a murderer-slash-rapist."

Various contestants told Wood she was "out of order", but she continued her invective, telling Belo "you have issues".

"The men in the white coats are waiting for you, Brian," she told him, as he stormed into the diary room.

The row resulted in Wood and another contestant being given a formal warning.

Belo confided in fellow contestant Nikki Grahame with whom he entered the house on 12 June

Speaking in the diary room, a visibly upset Belo said: "I feel like I'm being ganged up on. I don't want to cry. I've tried to keep away from there.

"I shouldn't have come back here. This is really hard. I feel like I'm living in hell. I'm defeated. I'm getting a barrage of abuse."

He described Wood as having "the morals of an alley cat". "I just feel degraded," he told fellow contestant Nikki Grahame.

He ended up quitting the show, by climbing over the garden wall.

Former contestants Wood, Belo - who won in 2007 - and Grahame were brought into the show two weeks ago, as part of this year's "time bomb" theme.

Following his departure, Wood said she had called Belo a rapist "to get a reaction", and was glad he had left the house because he "made my skin crawl".

She added honesty was "one of my best qualities".

In a statement, a Channel 5 spokesman said: "Big Brother takes rule breaking very seriously.

"Helen and Marc (O'Neill) were both warned regarding their behaviour and as with all housemates they continue to be closely monitored at all times."