Irish comic and chat show host Graham Norton has waded in on this year’s Big Brother, berating producers for allowing unstable contestants like Shahbaz to enter the house.

Surprisingly, he’s also taken a wallop at housemate Richard Newman for being an “evil bully” toward Shahbaz. Norton thinks that it should have been obvious to the housemates that Shahbaz had mental problems.

But isn’t that the problem with Big Brother? The contestants are expected to be a strange mix, and someone with a serious problem might not be picked up, because it is assumed that they’ll be eccentrics – harmless oddballs. Isn’t that how most people felt about Shahbaz until he started talking about “coming here to die” and killing himself on screen?

The interesting thing about Graham Norton’s statement is that he’s come off the fence – normally Graham would make caustic comments about the housemates, but I don’t think he’s ever openly criticized the show’s producers before.

In light of the growing backlash against Big Brother and the endless series of mental health professionals clamouring for airtime over this, I think Graham’s is the most sensible commentary I heard so far.