ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL?: Shilpa Shetty on her TV show.

LONDON: In a public display of kiss-and-make-up, Jade Goody, who had been tormenting Shilpa Shetty on the much talked about Celebrity Big Brother reality TV show here, hugged the Bollywood star and apologised for her jibes though she insisted she did not mean to be racist.

The truce came hours before Ms. Goody was widely expected to be evicted from the Big Brother house in a head-to-head vote with Ms. Shetty and followed the latter's surprise decision to withdraw her allegationthat she was facing racism from Ms. Goody and her friends.

Ms. Shetty's decision was attributed in some circles to gentle behind-the-scenes persuasion to pre-empt any possibility of her suing Channel 4 and Endemol, the maker of the programme, on grounds of racial harassment. Legal experts were reported as saying that Big Brother contestants were regarded as "workers," and therefore entitled to protection from racial harassment under Britain's employment laws.

"Shetty could mount a claim for bullying or harassment that could end with Endemol and Channel 4 paying out tens of thousands in compensation," a leading lawyer, who has acted for previous contestants, told The Times.

Speculation over Ms. Shetty's vehement denial, after insisting for days that she was being targeted because she was an Indian, was sparked by its timing: it came barely hours after Carphone Warehouse withdrew its £3 million-a-year sponsorship of the Big Brother series amid a growing backlash against Channel 4 and the housemates accused of bullyingthe actor.

On Thursday night, Ms. Shetty was called to the Big Brother room and asked whether she believed she was facing racism. She declared: "No, I take that back. I don't think that is true. You know, people say things in a fit of anger. I stand corrected. I don't want people to think and feel that way. ... So even if I said it, I would like you to please clarify and put this as a statement from my side — that I don't feel there was any racial discrimination happening from Jade's end... ."

Only the previous evening did she insist that Ms. Goody's behaviour was racist. "It is, I'm telling you," she told a fellow housemate after an angry row with Ms. Goody, adding: "I'm representing my country. Is this what today's U.K. is? Scary. It's quite a shame really."

In a damage-limitation exercise, Ms. Goody was also summoned to the Big Brother room on Thursday and ticked off for referring to Ms. Shetty as "Shilpa Poppadum" and using other covertly racist terms to describe her. She denied that it was meant to be racist.

Many of Ms. Shetty's supporters felt disappointed at her retraction but there was no let-up in the "Save Shilpa" campaign with media regulator Ofcom continuing to be flooded with complaints. And as the backlash grew, Ms. Goody suffered a financial setback after her perfume "Shh.." was withdrawn from the shelves.

Another contestant Danielle Lloyd, a former Ms. Great Britain, lost a lucrative modelling contract because of allegedly racist behaviour.

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