The Carlota Prado case’s influence on the “Big Brother” format: anti-abuse protocols, zero alcohol and expulsions

The case Charlotte Prado leads to the indefinite disappearance of Big brother of Spanish television. After meeting the alleged rape that the competitor suffered in GH Revolution In 2017, the threat of a boycott and the resulting leak of advertisers forced Mediaset to remove the program from Telecinco’s schedule until there was a judicial resolution in this regard, a decision known this Monday and which is not favorable to the producer.

In Spain, the controversy on this subject forced the channel and the company in charge of the program, Zeppelin TV, to adopt preventive measures to prevent a similar situation from happening again. Indeed, at the end of 2020, the production company made public its action protocol in situations of abuse in high-visibility environments, a guide prepared with expert oversight that will not only be applied in Zeppelin’s signature formats, but has also been made available to the entire industry.

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This protocol proposes measures such as training company personnel, avoiding providing alcohol to competitors, minimizing reaction times, not acting on the basis of whether what has happened constitutes a crime, perform the communication to the victim in a private environment and in a place other than the usual space of the program and guarantee confidentiality and the right to privacy of the victim.

It is not only in Spain that measures have been taken after the Carlota Prado affair. The international formula Big brother It has also adopted significant changes in its regulations in order to prevent possible situations of abuse in the realitymeasures that directly drink from the protocol developed by Zeppelin in Spain.

Thus, in the tenth edition of Big brother in Argentina, which has just celebrated its end, the so-called Thumbs up (thumbs up), which requires candidates who are going to have sex to indicate to the camera that it is a meeting agreed to by both parties, by making a gesture of approval before the meeting . This striking preventive rule was already visible in Spain when issuing Secret History in Telecinco.

In addition, the Argentinian program also imposes the condition that the candidates who are going to have intimate encounters must be sober, thus avoiding situations like the one that occurred in Spain with Carlota Prado, who was practically unconscious at the time of the incident. . alleged sexual abuse who is currently on trial.

Beyond preventive measures, the international format has also has increased its vigilance in situations of abuse, implement immediate and sweeping sanctions for those who cross the line of consent. The most recent example is that which occurred in Big brother Brazilwhere two contestants were expelled for abusing a partner.

The participants in question were the singer Mc Guimê and the martial arts fighter Antônio Carlos. The first caressed the buttocks and breasts of Mexican influencer Dania Méndez, who was in exchange for celebrity home. The second, for his part, kissed the same candidate on the lips without her consent.

The events happened at a party and the victim himself excused his companions assuring that she had not felt attacked and that it was all due to the consumption of alcohol. Despite this, the organization decided to expel the attackers and the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro announced that they would open an investigation in this regard.

Last November, the trial began for the alleged rape of Carlota Prado in “GH Revolution”. Nine months after being postponed before the “serious mental problemsalleged by the victim’s defense and after several complications in the process, Carlota eventually resigned from her private prosecution and the prosecution was forced to take the reins.

The provincial prosecutor of Madrid asked 2 and a half years in prison for José María López Pérez, the alleged perpetrator of the abuse, in addition to compensation of 6,000 euros for the moral damage caused to the victim. In addition, he asks the producer for the same amount to show the victim the images of the events the next morning in the show’s confessional, without any type of psychological support or anyone from the organization to physically accompany him at the time of find out what was happening.

After two closed hearings and the statement of all parties, the case went to trial on November 8 and on Monday April 17 the decision of the Superior Court of Justice in Madrid was known. The judgment sentences José María López to 15 months in prison for the crime of sexual abuse and obliges him to compensate the victim in the amount of 6,000 euros, while Zeppelin TV has been declared subsidiary civil liability and must pay 1,000 euros at Carlota Meadow.