Jo's sorry now

Of course, the people showering Jo O'Meara with death threats are as bad as she is, but that doesn't make her right. Having had some time to think about things, she's finally got round to saying a sort of 'sorry' via a statement issued through her tour manager, but it's more "sorry for myself" than sorry for what she is:

"I have been asked why I did Big Brother. It was simply because I needed the money," she said.

"I did have a successful singing career in S Club but that was several years ago. I may lose my house and the fee offered was a lifeline which I took."

Well, Jo, nobody thought you were doing it because you fancied three weeks sharing a shower with Leo Sayer.

"I felt like the rabbit in the headlights with nowhere to hide and no-one to talk to," she said.

"I am totally shattered and after the death threats am scared to go home.

"Am I the first person in the world to make a mistake or say regrettable things?

"I am devastated, sorry and honestly have no idea what to do next,"

Well, no, Jo, you're not the first person to say regrettable things. Maybe, though, if you'd found space in your statement to explore what you said - or maybe if you'd not given an interview a week ago saying that Indians should take your idiotic burblings as "a compliment".

Jo, of course, blames the producers:

"I think that as a group we would all have coped better if some of the surprise stunts hadn't been pulled by Big Brother.

"Jade and her family entering the house late and the introduction of a slave/master culture is bizarre by anyone's standards and automatically creates tension and a divide.

"I may have made some mistakes but I have apologised for them and, in the context of the three weeks of Big Brother, I honestly believe that I was not a horrible person every day throughout the series."

No. Not every day. But we do like the idea that it was all Endemol's fault for creating a vacuum into which Jo's caustic personality leaked out. The school bullies should remember that one for when they're up in front of the head next - "I did tie him to a drainpipe and set fire to the bin I'd stood him in, but it was because the teachers hadn't set enough quadratic equations to keep me busy..."

Shilpa Shetty has used her post-CBB interviews to simultaneously absolve Jo from charges of racism while twisting the knife in a polite way:

Shetty insisted Goody"never thought before she spoke" and pop star Jo O'Meara had"personality issues".

Channel 4, meanwhile, have been denying the existence of footage of unnamed housemates singing racist songs.

And as if to prove that you should be careful what you wish for, the news pages at JoMeara.org (missing an 'o', surely?) make for interesting reading.

On January 9th, they posted this:

I'm sure some of you have noticed the lack of Jo footage we seem to be getting from BB recently, which to be honest isn't good enough. Since 'The Goodys' have moved in, the show seems to be focusing on certain housemates much more than others, especially our Jo who seems to be suffering the most when it comes to air time. [...] So we urge all the fans out there to get e-mailing various Big Bother addresses to say how we feel, however we need support in this as it will probably take a lot of seperate emails to get our point across and get something done about it. I know we can do it as we have succeeded before we just need to pull together as a community. We certainly do not want a repeat of tonight's highlights show where we saw a grand total of about 30 seconds of Jo, and then nearly a whole hour focusing mainly on Leo and Jacquie and their temper tantrums. There was so many 'Jo' moments from yesterday which could of been aired today. From tears to late night laughter to piggyback rides in the garden! All of which included Jo and none of which was aired on the hour show. There are several addresses below you can try e-mailing and It also might be an idea to e-mail radio stations as they seem to cover BB alot and read out viewers comments, especially Heart Radio.

Well, Channel 4 certainly did get round to finding space for Jo in the highlights show...