roxanne pallet

The most complained about TV moment of the decade has been revealed

Are you surprised that this is the most complained about television moment of the decade?

TV & Film Editor
December 19, 2019

The ten most complained about TV moments of the decade have been revealed, and Celebrity Big Brother has topped the list with the incident between Roxanne Pallett and Ryan Thomas. During the 2018 series, Roxanne falsely accused Ryan of aggressively punching her in the ribs during a play fight. Although Roxanne later apologised to Ryan and said that she "got it wrong", at the time the scandal received 25,327 official complaints to Watchdog.

Roxanne accused Ryan of punching her

Following the series, Roxanne released a statement which read: "I massively apologise to not only Ryan, but his friends, his family, his fans, every single person who watched that and who justifiably saw an overreaction to what wasn't a malicious act. Because I am sensitive, I mistook what was playful."

The second most complained about TV moment was also from 2018, when Coleen Nolan had a heated argument with Kim Woodburn on Loose Women, which resulted in Kim leaving the show in tears, while Coleen took a long break from the series after receiving social media abuse following the incident. Other reality shows to have made the top ten list include Love Island, when Dani Dyer was shown a clip of Jack Fincham reunited with his ex-girlfriend, causing her emotional distress, and complaints about comments made by Big Brother contestants in 2015. The X Factor also received 2,868 complaints back in 2010 about performances by Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, which were deemed too explicit by viewers.

Dani was upset after the Love Island producers sent her a misleading clip

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Speaking about the results, the Ofcom director of content standards, Tony Close, said: "Overwhelmingly, the most contentious programmes of the 2010s were either reality shows - like Love Island, Big Brother and The X-Factor - or news and current affairs." News items that reached the top ten included over 6,000 complaints about UKIP: The First 100 Days, suggesting that the portrayal of UKIP was misleading, 3,463 complaints following a Sky News interview with Tommy Robinson, and 1,838 complaints about Kay Burley interviewing the chief executive of Merlin Entertainment following the Alton Towers crash.

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