British newspapers have been openly hostile to Goody in the wake of the claims of racism that have surrounded her treatment of Indian housemate Shilpa Shetty.

Hers was a career built by the red-top media, and this past week Fleet Street bosses have pulled the plug.

The Daily Mirror described Goody on its front page as a "racist bully" and criticised programme makers for engaging in "a shameful exercise in manipulation" by "stage-managing" her eviction.

The Sun, in its coverage of what it referred to as "GoodyGate", denounced her in an editorial as a "vile, pig-ignorant racist bully" who was consumed by envy of Shetty's "superior intelligence, beauty and class".

Broadsheet newspapers were equally damning of the dental nurse-turned-celebrity. The Guardian described her eviction as "a vote which could be seen as a public stand agaisnt racial intolerance". The newspaper ran an opinion poll showing that 55% of Britons believed Goody's performance was not typical of modern Britain.

The Independent condemned her behaviour and also launched a wider attack on Big Brother for making celebrities out of contestants. "In the days when she sweetly knew herself to be pig ignorant, Jade Goody had neither the reason nor the confidence to launch the sort of terrifying tirades to which poor little rich girl Shilpa Shetty has been subjected, " said the newspaper.

The Scotsman also took aim at television bosses, saying: "If Channel Four is trying to turn racism into popular entertainment, they are playing with fire."

Indian newspapers criticised Goody and Celebrity Big Brother, but took care to note that her behaviour was being widely condemned in Britain. On a front-page story, the Hindustan Times, India's biggest selling English-language newspaper, said: "TV viewers in the UK are outraged at the racist treatment meted out to actress Shilpa Shetty on the reality show Celebrity Big Brother."

The newspaper also argued that Britain was not alone is facing issues of racism.

"Discrimination on the basis of color is ingrained in the psyche of most Indians, " it said.

The Times of India noted that Big Brother had "often been described as vacuous pap", and said that the Bollywood actress had "unwittingly become the symbol of officially multi-cultural Britain's very public, sometimes two-faced, fight against racism".

The controversey received minimal coverage in Europe, although Germany's Spiegel newspaper noted: "The row has now spread to India, where newspapers have criticised the show and effigies have been burned in protest."