Jo evicted from CBB but declares 'I'm not a racist'

Jo O'Meara, one of the Celebrity Big Brother housemates at the centre of the Shilpa Shetty race row, was last night evicted from the show after picking up 48% of the public vote.

But in a post-eviction interview with presenter Davina McCall, the singer denied she was a racist but admitted the Bollywood actress had 'aggravated her a lot'.

Former S Club 7 star Jo, who was involved in the race row which saw Jade Goody and her mother bullying the Indian star, had been the favourite to be evicted.

But in a twist unknown to the housemates, actress and writer Cleo Rocos was also booted out.

Shilpa, Dirk Benedict and Ian Watkins - "H" from Steps - were saved from eviction.

The evicted pair emerged from the BB house to a mixture of boos and cheers after the result of the public vote was announced.

Jo was caught up in the race row when she appeared to make racist comments about Shilpa.

But she denied she was racist when interviews by CBB host Davina McCall.

Referring to the comments she made about Shilpa, she said: "I didn't never mean it in that way. I'm not a racist. I know that I'm not.

"I'm not going to deny that Shilpa did aggravate me a lot - you can't click with everybody, you meet. It's not because I'm racist."

On being shown the footage of the race row making headline news across the world, Jo said: "Oh my God."

She added that it "does look very bad", but insisted: "I am not a racist person at all. My cousin is married to an Indian man, and my cousins are half-Indian."

Asked by Davina about mocking Shilpa's cultural background, Jo said: "I didn't even know I was doing it."

She said she did not think that she had encouraged Jade in any way, adding: "I didn't mean to, if I did."

She added that she did not dislike Shilpa.

Last night's evictions were in contrast to Jade's exit from the house last week into an eerie silence as the audience was cancelled in the wake of the race row.

Beauty queen Danielle Lloyd sobbed as Jo and Cleo left.

In her interview with Davina, Cleo talked about her relationship with Dirk, saying she could have murdered him, but now they were huge chums.

She said Danielle and Jack Tweed - Jade's boyfriend - were the most real people in the house but added: "Jermaine (Jackson) is king. If somebody had to win with honour and respect... It should be Jermaine."

Speaking later at a press conference Cleo said she was convinced that Jade and Shilpa were on their way to having a "unique and powerful friendship".

She said she would stake "anything you like" that the pair would be good, strong friends and an example for how people can resolve their differences.

Asked how Shilpa would react to what has happened Cleo said "she will be horrified, embarrassed and, I think, baffled."

Cleo said of Jade: "She is not racist at all."

She added: "There was just a bad communication breakdown."

She said she was surprised about comments of racism and described Jo as "a friend for life".

She said Jo's relationship with Shilpa was "fine".

She said that Jo and Danielle were "two people in the wrong place at the wrong time" and said their laughter had been out of "nervous disbelief".

Jo received 48.4% of viewers' votes, and Cleo 27.9%.

The evictions came after Big Brother bosses were forced to apologise when a blunder meant they had to scrap eviction votes.

Fans were offered refunds after the fiasco, which could have led to Shilpa being evicted by mistake.

Words alongside her number wrongly stated viewers should ring it to save her, instead of boot her out.

After the vote, bookies put Shilpa as the odds on favourite to win the competition, with William Hill giving odds of 1/3 for the Bollywood queen and Ladbrokes offering 4/11.

Former Jackson Five star Jermaine is second favourite.

Jade has faced career meltdown over her treatment of Shilpa.

She claimed her home has come under attack as a result of the race row and plans to tour India in an attempt to rehabilitate her public image.

Copyright Press Association 2007.