Carphone Warehouse have announced this afternoon that it has suspended it’s sponsorship deal with Channel 4 for Celebrity Big Brother as the number of complaints over alleged racism on the reality television programme has risen to 27,000.

OFCOM have advised Channel 4 that due to the record number of complaints, they are now obliged to take action.

Charles Dunstone, the chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, said in a statement: “Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house. We are totally against all forms of racism and bullying and indeed this behaviour is entirely at odds with the brand values of The Carphone Warehouse.

“As a result we feel that as long as this continues we are unable to associate our brand with the programme.

“We had already made it clear to Channel 4 that, were this to continue, we would have to consider our position. Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort. Accordingly, we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship name and branding with immediate effect.”

The Carphone Warehouse logo is still being displayed on the Channel 4 website, but I would expect this to be removed this afternoon at some point.

Will this surprise move make Big Brother producers sit up and take notice? Big Brother fans may have complained in their thousands and still Channel 4 did nothing, but something tells me that the people at the top will have to make amends soon. The sponsorship deal is worth around £3 million to Channel 4 and I don’t think they can afford to lose that sort of money.

A statement is due from the broadcaster at 2.30pm.