A domestic violence charity has criticised Celebrity Big Brother for having Dan Osborne on the programme after he made threats to his former girlfriend.
The former Towie star is one of the celebrity contestants on the current series of the Channel 5 programme, which has Year Of The Storm as its theme to reflect the fact that all the housemates have been embroiled in some sort of controversy or media storm.
In 2015 recordings of Osborne threatening his ex Megan Tomlin were leaked, leading to him leaving ITV2’s Towie.
He referred to the incident in his VT as he entered Celebrity Big Brother last week and admitted he was “embarrassed by it”.
A spokeswoman from Solace Women’s Aid , which helps domestic violence victims, said: “We are disappointed that Celebrity Big Brother have taken this stance particularly when Towie removed (Osborne) from the show.
“ITV took a strong position that domestic violence is never acceptable and any influential broadcaster has a social responsibility to take a stand against it, otherwise this kind of behaviour is normalised and women’s lives are at stake.
“In this case the victim came forward with evidence of abuse and whether a charge was brought against Osborne or not is immaterial.
“A threat to kill will have a devastating impact, it’s frightening and never OK, and the trauma will stay with the victim for years after.”
The spokeswoman continued: “We look to channels like 5 to move on from this decision and become amazing and strong advocates for women.
“We invite them to come and meet some of the women and children affected by domestic violence and come behind the scenes at Solace to gain insight into women’s lived experience of abuse.”
Channel 5 has declined to comment.
