There’s been a lot of news coverage today about perceived racism on Celebrity Big Brother, with the row about the treatment of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty even reaching Parliament.

Channel 4 should view this as an opportunity, not a failure. The series is flagging as it is, but imagine the acres of press coverage if they were to cancel the series, right here, right now. It would be huge. And it would probably bring in fantastic rating for Channel 4, for the inevitable post-controversy interviews with the involved contestants. That would be one huge buzz surrounding this increasingly dull brand.

Then we come to summer. Channel 4 revamp the programme, have a whole new look to the series with a new presenter, and some tweaks to the Big Brother format. Revamping the show, along with the controversy that even having a new series, would create such a fever-pitch buzz that ratings would shoot through the roof.

They’d be mad not to capitalise on the controversy.