BIG Brother went into lockdown yesterday when Jimmy Savile detective Dan Neal sparked a drunken fight.
Bosses feared police might raid the BB house as Dan clashed with gold-digger Jemima Slade, because of his previous involvement with Operation Yewtree.
Security guards were poised to rush in if the bust-up exploded into violence and the live TV feed for fans was halted as staff anxiously monitored what was happening.
Scotland Yard have been keeping tabs on Dan’s behaviour in the spy house in case he compromises Operation Yewtree, the inquiry into celebrity sex crimes that he worked on.
“This row exploded out of nowhere. They had all had a good drink. Tempers just reached boiling point and it looked like it was going to kick off.”
<cite>A show insider</cite>
One source on the show said: “There’s concern they might want to question him. They’ve done it before with other housemates.”
No actual blows appear to have been exchanged during yesterday’s screaming match, but the atmo- sphere was said to be “pregnant with violence”.
A show insider said: “This row exploded out of nowhere. They had all had a good drink. Tempers just reached boiling point and it looked like it was going to kick off.
“As soon as we saw it getting seriously heated in the house we moved the security guards into the camera run so that they could get into the house in seconds.”
The angry scenes came when Dan, 33, who quit the force to take part in BB, waded into a row between Jemima, 41, Charlie Travers, 26, and mum Jackie, 59. Only a small part of the barney was screened last night but we can reveal the shouting and taunts went on till 5am.
Things turned nasty after Hazel O’Sullivan said an ex-boyfriend had killed himself and Charlie asked: “Was it because of you, then?”
As housemates turned on Charlie, her mum Jackie hit back: “Charlie’s been through a lot in life, she’s only just grown up.”
Jemima said they had all had rough lives but that was no excuse for bad manners. She told how she had battled to resuscitate her baby daughter after the tot had “died” in front of her.
At this point Dan leapt into the row, claiming the girl was now alive and kicking and Jemima was exaggerating to gain sympathy.
Jemima exploded and the fierce row lasted for hours, with Jemima repeatedly claiming that Dan had “wished my baby was dead”.
Our show mole added: “It escalated into a massive barney. Jemima was screaming her head off but Dan refused to back down.”