In an apparent backlash against political correctness, nearly 1,000 viewers have criticised Channel 4 for evicting a contestant who used a racially offensive word on its flagship reality show Big Brother.

The channel kicked out contestant Emily Parr yesterday for calling another housemate a "nigger", in what appears to have been misguided attempt to use street language.

Despite acting swiftly to evict Ms Parr, the broadcaster was criticised by media commentators this morning, who accused it of cynically boosting ratings by airing the racially offensive moment on its highlights show last night.

Now, it has emerged, the broadcaster has received 922 complaints from viewers - every one of them taking the opposite line, and complaining that Ms Parr should not have been thrown out of the house at all.

The complaints outnumbered by a ratio of nearly 15:1 the 68 positive messages received by the broadcaster, praising it for responding correctly to what had been said.

Media watchdog Ofcom also received 140 complaints, but it is not disclosing the nature of the calls.

Tonight’s planned eviction was cancelled after Ms Parr, 19 - a white, middle-class drama student - was sent home for saying: "Are you pushing it out, you nigger?" to black contestant Charley Uchea, 21, as they danced around the living room.

Channel 4 bosses took immediate action after being damaged by the last series of Celebrity Big Brother, when they were accused of not taking allegations of racist abuse seriously enough.

Opinion was divided on Channel 4's Big Brother talk forum, where many felt the broadcaster had acted too harshly.

GoNadia said: "Totally OTT reaction. She's a silly little girl who would have learned more from being publicly admonished but left in."

Greendog agreed: "That word and many others are used today so freely in various programmes, songs, books etc. This ain't the 70's. People aren't genuinely shocked any more. Personally I want her to return."

But a significant number backed the broadcaster. Helen88 said: "I'm glad that BB has stepped in quickly to resolve this and hope this is a warning to contestants to think about how their words/actions could be offensive."

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