BEIJING, Jan. 30 -- Indian actress Shilpa Shetty won the British reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother" on Sunday after enduring alleged racial bullying that triggered protests in India and sparked a race relations debate in Britain.

    The 31-year-old Indian star won the public's support after a fellow contestant hurled racially tinged insults at her in an episode that led to a record 40,000 complaints to media regulators.

    "It's truly been a roller coaster ride," Shetty said. "The highs, the lows, each one has taught me so much."

    Shetty received 63 percent of viewers' telephone votes Sunday, host Davina McCall said. She did not give the number of votes cast.

    Contestants on the show are locked in a house for about three weeks and are evicted one by one until someone is chosen as the winner of a cash prize for charity.

    Shetty defended fellow contestant Jade Goody, who repeatedly reduced the Indian actress to tears by shouting at her, calling her cooking untrustworthy, mocking her accent and calling her "Shilpa Poppadum."

    Goody became famous after appearing on the noncelebrity version of "Big Brother" and has earned an estimated US$16 million fortune through television and magazine appearances, an autobiography and an exercise video -- a livelihood endangered by her behavior in the house.

    "She is a little aggressive and hot tempered, but she's not a racist," Shetty said.

    The program made front-page news for days in both Britain and India, where the show's producers were burned in effigy. More than 8.8 million people tuned into the show following the racism controversy.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)