Gary Goldsmith on CBB causes concern at ITV as it runs domestic abuse campaign

ITV’s launch of a domestic abuse campaign the day after Celebrity Big Brother began with Gary Goldsmith, who was convicted of assaulting his wife, is embarrassing, according to an insider.

They said Goldsmith, the Princess of Wales’s uncle, was a “high risk” contestant, adding that “the timing with the campaign is embarrassing”.

The show returned on Monday with Goldsmith, who in 2017 admitted attacking his wife, as a contestant. On Tuesday, ITV launched a domestic abuse awareness campaign on Loose Women.

The Facing It Together initiative featured eight of the show’s panelists in a photoshoot with the tag line: “Whether you are a survivor or a friend, we are facing it together.” One viewer accused ITV of “hypocrisy and lip service at their finest”.

Producers made Goldsmith, who faces an eviction vote on Friday night, aware that his behaviour and demeanour would come under close scrutiny.

An ITV spokesman said: “Housemates undertake training in language and behaviour before entering the Big Brother house. Additionally all behaviour in the house is strictly monitored at all times.”

The insider told i: “It might look ethically questionable but reality shows are the place where celebrities come to launder their reputations.

“Gary is a high-risk contestant. He was up for I’m a Celebrity before but there were concerns he might go too far in embarrassing the Palace.”

Goldsmith, who has referred to himself as the “black sheep” of the Middleton family after being embroiled in controversies, is called “Uncle Gary” by the Princess.

In 2017 Goldsmith admitted attacking his wife Julie-Ann Goldsmith and knocking her to the ground with a “left hook” in a drunken row.

The brother of Carole Middleton, the Princess of Wales’s mother, Goldsmith was fined £5,000 and sentenced to a 12-month community order at Westminster Magistrates Court.

The insider compared Goldsmith’s participation in the reality programme to Michael Barrymore, who tried to rehabilitate his career by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother five years after the body of a man was found dead in his swimming pool. Boy George joined I’m a Celebrity after a 2008 conviction for restraint and false imprisonment.

Big Brother is a more controlled environment now than its earlier years on Channel 4. “Contestants aren’t plied with alcohol. The ITV show is warmer and aimed at a mainstream entertainment audience. What viewers see is carefully edited,” the insider said.

In a statement prepared before entering the Big Brother house, Goldsmith said of the assault: “I’m not perfect and I made a mistake, a personal row seven years ago which was publicly exposed that I’ve worked endlessly for seven years to put right. The offence is long since spent however my regret continues.”

The national domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid said: “The decision to include a man who has been charged, and pleaded guilty to, assaulting his wife, demonstrates the lack of awareness that the production team has when it comes to survivors of domestic abuse.

“The producers should consider how Gary Goldsmith’s appearance will impact women who have survived domestic abuse and how they will feel watching him on TV every night. The entertainment industry has to consider the impact on women of who they give a platform to and derive entertainment value from.”

Speaking on the show, Goldsmith said he was seeking to improve his public image by entering Big Brother.

“It does bother me what the public perception of me is. The black sheep of the family. I’m a normal bloke. It just so happens that my niece married Will.”

A staunch supporter of the Princess of Wales, he has reserved his royal revelations for criticism of the Duchess of Sussex, who he called a “stick in the spokes” for the family because she “creates drama” and “rewrites history”.

Carole Middleton is said to have read Goldsmith the “riot act” over fears he would spill secrets about the family while he is on Big Brother.

His tenure in the house may be cut short after fellow housemate Sharon Osbourne nominated him as her choice for the first public eviction vote.