Before you say "Ah heyor, anyone watching Celebrity Juice knows what they're getting themselves into", the complaints refer to a trailer for the show aired before the 9pm watershed. Said trailer depicted Example wearing what appeared to be a strap on and enthusiastically thrusting it in the direction of host Keith Lemon.
When Ofcom got on to ITV, they came back with the following response: "[it was] clearly a large inflated balloon intended to provoke mildly bawdy humour."
So what was it? According to Digital Spy, it was the 'Pricket Bat' invented for the game 'Pricket' in which guests innocently try popping balloons. ITV added that the Pricket Bat "was not a strap-on prosthetic phallus, which might suggest an actual sex toy, nor did we consider that it bore any close resemblance to the anatomical shape of an actual penis… If it had been a strap-on dildo, we would obviously never even considered including it in a pre-watershed trailer."
The ITV spokesperson, who must wonder about their job sometimes, then felt the need to point out that both Lemon and Example were "fully clothed" and there was "no overtly sexual innuendo."
Ofcom had a different take: "The nature of this image was likely to have exceeded the expectations of the audience (and especially parents) for the content of trailers shown pre-watershed on these channels, particularly in light of that fact that broadcasters cannot give warnings in advance to viewers about the content of trailers as they can do for programmes. Children were therefore not protected by appropriate scheduling from this unsuitable material. Ofcom notes and welcomes ITV's decision not to use this shot again or similar shots of this nature in future promotions for Celebrity Juice broadcast pre-watershed."
