BROADCASTING watchdog Ofcom has said it will not investigate Big Brother despite more than 2,000 complaints about the "bullying" behaviour of former winner Helen Wood.

The Bolton celebrity, who won last year's show and was a guest star in this series, caused controversy when she described another former winner, Brian Belo, as "looking like a murderer and rapist".

Ofcom said it received 2,024 complaints about the "offensive" language used in the Channel 5 show, but said it would not investigate.

A spokesman said: "Ofcom assessed a number of complaints about bullying in Big Brother and has decided they do not raise issues under our rules warranting further investigation.

"We were satisfied that Channel 5 had broadcast clear and appropriate warnings about the potentially offensive content, and that it intervened in heated exchanges and situations at appropriate times.

"We also took into account audience expectations for this reality format and the fact that the series was broadcast after the watershed".

Belo, who won the 2007 series, quit the show following the row.

He climbed over the garden wall to escape barely a week after being brought back to the house with Wood and another ex-Big Brother star, Nikki Grahame.

The row, which resulted in Wood being given a formal warning, saw Belo describe her as having "no principles, morals or self-respect" while she taunted him: "Straitjackets in the store room. Psycho."

Wood's behaviour in the last series was equally controversial with Ofcom receiving 3,784 complaints — many about her bullying — making it the most-complained-about show of last year.