After yesterdays damning OFCOM report, ordering Channel 4 to apologise to the British public, not once, but three times, the preparations for next weeks launch have been thrown into chaos.

Channel 4 are trying to wrestle back control of the programme and have rejected various housemates put forward by programme makers, Endemol.

One source told The Daily Mirror last night: “Channel 4 are trying to wrestle back control of the show and make sure there are no more scandals, but Endemol insists the programme will flop if there aren’t any clashes or tension.”

One contestant – described as the best housemate selected this year – was rejected because he had been arrested after a fight.

The source added: “He was a brilliant, cocky bloke – easily the best man we had. We booked him straight away but then had to drop him because he got into a fight.

“He may have to go to court and we couldn’t risk him getting into a row in the house and then it emerging that we’d allowed him in as a contestant knowing that he’d been arrested in a bar brawl.

“Last year we’d have put him in. This year we don’t dare. Other great would-be housemates have also been thrown out because of the extra psychology tests. Endemol wanted them in, but Channel 4 said no. Things are getting very heated.”