London, June 19 (IANS) Controversies have been dogging British TV show Big Brother ever since the racism row involving Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty last year. This time, a female bank executive has been shown the door for threatening other contestants.Alexandra De-Gale was removed from the Channel 4 reality show Wednesday for "behaving in an unacceptable and sometimes intimidating manner towards fellow housemates", The Guardian reported.

In scenes to be shown tonight, the contestant from Croydon in London is seen telling her fellow contestants they would have to face her "gangster friends" for nominating her for eviction.

Britain's official media regulator Ofcom has already received hundreds of complaints about this year's series, the majority of them involving De-Gale's behaviour.

Ofcom has adopted a no-nonsense attitude towards the reality show ever since British TV presenter Jade Goody was accused of racist bullying of Shetty, leading to record complaints for the celebrity version of Big Brother in 2007.

"Alex's comments will be widely interpreted as having been intended to intimidate," said Angela Jain, the head of Big Brother at Channel 4.

"Other housemates have said they found her comments to be threatening and we believe that is a reasonable conclusion," she added.

Media watchers say the latest incident is once again bound to question the selection process the show's producers adopt to choose contestants.

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