Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has said for the first time she is being racially abused in a British reality TV show which has sparked protests in London and New Delhi and damaged Britain's image of tolerance.

Shetty and her fellow contestants on Celebrity Big Brother are oblivious to the international row that has erupted over her treatment as they are cut off from the outside world incarcerated in a house and garden together - while on the show, where their antics can be watched 24 hours a day.

India has asked Britain to check whether race laws have been broken and Shetty's admirers burned effigies of her alleged abusers and matter was taken up by parliaments in both countries.

The issue surfaced on Wednesday night after a row over stock cubes used in their communal cooking in which Shetty's housemate Danielle Lloyd said: "Shilpa should f*** off home. She can't even speak English".

British actress and fellow housemate Cleo Rocos, seeking to comfort Shetty, said of the clashes: "I don't think there's anything racist in it."

But Shetty replied: "It is, I'm telling you." Clearly shocked, the 31-year-old actress said: "I am representing my country. Is that what today's UK is? It's scary."

The program's broadcaster Channel 4 had earlier issued a statement insisting Shetty was not suffering racial abuse but saying there had been a "cultural and class clash".

The show has been a huge ratings success story, but has alsoprovoked 27,000 complaints to Britain's media watchdog.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was dragged into the row in parliament and his successor-in-waiting Gordon Brown was forced to defend Britain's image on a trade visit to India.

The show was front-page news in Britain and India as both cultures contemplated their shortcomings.

"A reality TV show has shamed our country in the eyes of the world," concluded the Daily Express.

The Independent said Britain's ethnic minorities "are more likely to be expelled from school, jailed, unemployed, poorly paid, living in sub-standard houses and victims of crime."

Several Indian newspapers condemned the "racist jibes" thrown at the Bollywood star but said the country should examine its own prejudices before expressing national outrage.

"Discrimination on the basis of color is ingrained in the psyche of most Indians," The Hindustan Times said.

Many of India's 1 billion people still live within a hierarchy imposed by the Hindu caste system and Muslims face widespread prejudice.

Indian TV channels have shown continuous footage of the show, in which one housemate has said she was scared to eat food prepared by Shetty because, "you don't know where those hands have been", and another referred to her as "The Indian".

source: China Daily /Agencies