Before her appearance in Big Brother, no one had a clue who she was. Now Shilpa Shetty has become a household name. She has met the Queen and members of Parliament, AND big companies are knocking on her door to shower her with lucrative contracts.

No doubt Shilpa handled the racial abuse hurled at her with dignity as any gentlewoman would. But I do wonder, is she secretly thankful that Jade Goody and her posse subjected her to those horrible name callings live on television?

Thinking in retrospect, if Jade et al treated her meanly, as expected in the Big Brother house, minus the racist name-callings, would she have won? Would she have lasted that long? Would she still shoot to superstardom? Before she entered the infamous house, she had a sliding career in Bollywood and she was virtually an unknown in the UK (except within South Asian communities). But now, she has exploded in the UK celebrity scene.

She didn’t ask for all that to happen, no doubt about it. But I find it wrong that she is reaping the benefits from an unfortunate situation that is experienced by a lot of ethnic people everyday. Think about the black guy, who’s standing around minding his own business. Now think about all the people who walk pass him, clutching their purses or their laptop bags a little tighter. What does the guy do? Shrugs and ignores it. This probably happens to him all the time. Is he getting anything out of it? Nope.

Picture a Chinese girl walking down the street. A guy yells at her ‘ Konichiwa! You want fly lice?’ What does she do? She walks on by. South Asian guy being called a ‘Paki’ and ‘bloody terrorist’. He turns away and says not a word.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t condone abusive behaviour, and I certainly don’t think that everyone should turn a blind eye on the racial faux pas. I do think, however, that the media should use more of their time tackling other issues rather than spending precious print space on boosting Shetty’s career and trampling on the Goody trio’s.

But this is life – c’est la vie. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will shoot me to superstardom.