Webcast cut after Big Brother bust-up

Big Brother, the UK's biggest webcam project to date, was taken offline last night after a bust-up between participants.

A source close to the Big Brother web production team told vnunet.com that the website had been taken offline between 1am and 4am Thursday morning by the on-site editor because "he thought a violent confrontation was about to happen".

Channel 4, the broadcaster behind the 10-week project, acknowleged the reasons behind the editor's actions, but has since told the production team that the webcast should not have been taken offline because it happened after the 9pm watershed. The team has been told not to suspend the broadcast again, unless it would contravene UK broadcasting rules.

Big Brother, launched five weeks ago, placed 10 contestants in an isolated house with no outside contact. Each week, members of the house nominate two contestants, one of which is then evicted following a public vote.

The house is monitored 24 hours a day by cameras in every room and the action is broadcast over the internet. Edited highlights are shown in regular TV broadcasts.

Big Brother is the UK's largest webcast to date, according to Demon Internet, one of three companies providing the internet video streaming service. Demon is hosting 10,000 streams to the Big Brother site, while BT is hosting 20,000 and Freeserve 10,000.

According to The Sun Online, the confrontation occurred after one of the contestants, Nick, was discovered by four others to have been lying to them.