The Guardian has claimed that Big Brother bosses have decided not to donate the usual 10p from every phone vote to charity this year.

The channel has donated money from its phone votes since 2006 but blames the significant drop in advertising revenue for the discontinuation of the scheme.

Channel 4 are claiming that the shows voting lines are actually losing money and no longer can they afford to bear the cost.

“The costs associated with running the Big Brother vote line have meant it has run at a considerable loss for the last couple of years,” said a Channel 4 spokesman.

“Given the current climate, after very careful consideration, Channel 4 has regretfully decided not to make charity donations for this series of Big Brother in order to limit this loss and ensure we are managing our finances optimally to allow us to continue delivering our public service remit.”