Celebrity Big Brother: Tiffany Pollard thinking David Gest had died instead of David Bowie adds to angry backlash

Jonathan Cheban left the house after the confused reaction to the music legend's death 'affected him mentally'

Tiffany Pollard thought Angie was telling her that David Gest had died in atrocious scenes

Anger is growing over Celebrity Big Brother’s decision to air the confused and hysterical reaction to David Bowie’s death in the house.

More than 200 viewers have complained to Ofcom so far after reality TV star Tiffany Pollard began crying and shouting thinking housemate David Gest had died instead of the music legend.

Bowie’s ex-wife Angie was told the news off camera by her agent and shared it with Tiffany saying “You gotta do me a favour, you can’t say a word.”

Tiffany misunderstood, believing that Angie meant US producer Gest, who had been ill in bed for the past few days.

After other housemates checked on him and confirmed that he was fine, Tiffany became angry at Angie and accused her of playing a “f**king sick joke”, leaving actor John Partridge to tell her: “It’s the wrong David, honey.”

Twitter was soon flooded with furious posts claiming that Celebrity Big Brother was using Bowie’s sad death from cancer aged 69 for entertainment to boost ratings.

“Shame on Channel 5 for turning David Bowie’s death into a joke,” wrote Piers Morgan, while Philip Schofield branded the incident “the most appalling misunderstanding”.

Entrepreneur Jonathan Cheban quit the show after the drama began “affecting him mentally”.

“The house went from being fun to turning into a negative energy, and the whole David Bowie thing was too intense for me,“ he said. ”I knew that would be such a big public situation and I think it turned into a little bit of a joke.

“I have another life outside of the house and I didn't want to be part of the joke to such a legend like David Bowie - so I thought it was a right time to leave and disappear.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.”​

Channel 5 said: “After being told of the tragic news off-camera yesterday by her own representative, Angie made the decision – entirely of her own accord – to remain in the Celebrity Big Brother House and to continue participating in filming. The option to leave the house remains open to Angie at any time.

“It is always the show's aim to represent and reflect the day’s events accurately to viewers.”