Down Under Big Brother in big trouble

Australian lawmakers have been tuning into the risque late night edition of Big Brother down under – and they don’t like what they’re seeing.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan has ordered the country’s television standards watchdog to take a look at Network Ten’s fly-on-the wall series to see if it breaches a voluntary code of conduct that covers what networks can and cannot air.

The show, like its British equivalent, features contestants sealed off in a house where every move and comment is caught on cameras and microphones dotted around their temporary home.

The investigation came after heated debate broke out this week over scenes of full-frontal nudity aired in a weekly late-night spin-off called Big Brother Uncut.

In one scene, viewers saw a male contestant with his “down unders” exposed while he was massaging a woman.

The uncut show, which is preceded by warnings and advertised as adults-only viewing, also features regular swearing, and has shown contestants naked in the shower.

“It’s mind-boggling banality,” government lawmaker Paul Neville said today. “I think it lowers the standard of Australian television.”

Network Ten advertises the show, which airs at 9:40pm, as “the naughtiest, skimpiest, downright dirtiest bits of Big Brother that we can’t show you any earlier. See what your favourite housemates are REALLY up to in the Big Brother House".

Lawmaker Peter Lindsay, for one, does not want to see it all.

“Now we’re not prudes, but this is something that needs a bit of community leadership,” he said this week. “Channel Ten is just trying to titillate.”

Big Brother is in its fifth season in Australia, airing every night of the week, and is a regular ratings winner for Network Ten.

A spokeswoman for Network Ten did not immediately return a call seeking comment.