Psychologists voice Brother worry

Specific areas of disquiet include the show's "deliberate creation of tension and conflict" among its participants.

If specific complaints are made against BPS members involved in the series, a spokesman said, they may face censure.

The participation of Pete Bennett, a man with Tourette's syndrome, led to some accusing Big Brother producers Endemol of exploiting his condition.

According to a society representative, the BPS had meetings with Endemol and "gained some consensus" over how housemates should be treated.

'Vulnerable people'

"It didn't appear that some of the areas we discussed were necessarily being applied this year," he told the BBC News website.

The main areas of concern, he continued, was the possibility that "vulnerable people" had been included in this year's line-up and that psychologists may have been involved in the "deliberate stressing" of individuals.

However, he welcomed comments made by an Endemol spokesman to Broadcast magazine saying it was happy to co-operate with the BPS as "a very positive statement on their part".

Earlier in the series Shahbaz Chauhdry walked out of the show after threatening to kill himself after just five days under the scrutiny of the cameras.

The Mental Health Foundation expressed its concerns at the handling of the 37-year-old from Glasgow.

But Channel 4 said the welfare of all Big Brother participants was "of the utmost importance".

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British Psychological Society
Endemol UK
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