Ofcom receives thousands of Big Brother complaints after 'awful' Omar and Rhianna scenes on ITV show

The staggering number of Ofcom complaints made by viewers of ITV's Big Brother this week has now been revealed after 'uncomfortable' scenes aired between housemates Omar and Rhianna.

They briefly split up on Monday's episode (19 October) after tensions between the pair reached a boiling point, but quickly made up again afterwards.

Drama erupted after Rhianna told Omar that she felt they would be better off as friends, sparking multiple conversations in the house about his conduct towards her.

But viewers were left outraged by certain comments made to Rhianna by Omar throughout the episode and his behaviour, including a conversation where he told her 'not to cry'.

He also was heard demanding "don't look away from me", "sort yourself out" and "fix up" in a conversation in the store room, moments after leaning over her in the bedroom and sternly telling her not to 'speak about him' to others.

There were mounting calls for ITV to intervene and boot him off the show, as charity Women's Aid issued a public statement calling the behaviours 'worrying'.

The episode sparked fury (ITV)

Record number of Ofcom complaints so far this season

Now, in new figures published by governing broadcasting body Ofcom on Wednesday (21 October), it was revealed that Monday night's tense episode had 7,138 complaints.

It is not known exactly how many of the complaints related to the behaviour shown between Omar and Rhianna, or if an investigation will be launched or not.

However, it is a record-breaking amount of complaints for this season so far, with the previous peak being 1,191 for the 30 September episode.

An Ofcom spokesperson told LADbible: “We are assessing the complaints against our rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”

Viewers of the show flooded social media after Monday's episode, with many commenting they had made a report to Ofcom for the first time.

When Ofcom receives a complaint about TV, radio, or on-demand content, it has to assess every submission against its broadcasting rules.

It launches formal investigations for potential rule breaks and publishes results in its fortnightly Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin should any action need to be taken.

Communication between the pair sparked outrage (ITV)

Former housemates had also since hit out at the aired scenes, as Millie Jarrett, who was the first booted out of the series, said on TikTok live: “Omar needs to get kicked out. He needs to go. I know so many people are making complaints about him.”

As other contestant Chelsey Ammari shared her own TikTok calling it an 'uncomfortable watch'.

Earlier this week, an ITV spokesperson said: "All Housemates receive Respect and Inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother Senior team to prepare them for living in the House and to set out Big Brother’s expectations for appropriate behaviour and language.

“Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and any instances of inappropriate behaviour are responded to appropriately.

“Welfare and safeguarding are prioritised throughout the production, with a dedicated welfare team available to support Housemates before, during and after their time in the House.”

ITV has been approached for further comment by LADbible.