Philippines yanks ‘Big Brother’ show

Philippine movie and television regulators have suspended for one week the popular reality TV show “Pinoy Big Brother” -- “Pinoy,” meaning “Filipino” -- for showing women in skimpy attire, contestants kissing and other intimate encounters.

In a letter to producer ABS-CBN television, Movie Television Review and Classification Board chairwoman Maria Consoliza Laguardia said that this week’s episode contained scenes unsuitable for young viewers.

She said the board concluded that a “kissing scene between housemates Chx and Sam, gyrating dances in skimpy bikini, double entendre dialogue and use of skimpy bikini to be beyond the parental guidance classification and not suitable for television viewing.”

The order, posted on the show’s website, said the explanations given by ABS-CBN to justify the airing of the scenes were insufficient. As a result, the episode scheduled for Sunday will not be allowed to air.

ABS-CBN said it will comply but insisted it operated within the parameters agreed upon with the board.

“Big Brother,” created in the Netherlands in 1999 and then marketed in dozens of countries, features a group of contestants confined in a house under constant camera surveillance.

From Associated Press