It was intended as a raucous, beer-soaked celebration of the start of the latest series of one of Brazil's most popular TV programmes. 
 
 Fuelled by alcohol and accompanied by live music from one of Rio de Janeiro's top samba schools, this was the opening party for the 12th season of Big Brother Brazil, the Endemol-produced reality show. 
 
 But police in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday confirmed they were investigating a suspected rape that allegedly took place in Rio's Big Brother House after the party last Saturday. 
 
 According to reports in Rio's O Dia newspaper, a team of police officers went to the TV studio where the programme is filmed to question the alleged suspect, Daniel Echaniz, a 31-year-old model, and victim, 23-year-old Monique Amin. 
 
 A seven-minute video of the alleged rape – shot by the Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo using a night vision camera – has subsequently been posted on YouTube, although the channel has taken steps to remove it, claiming copyright violation. 
 
 "We already have the video and we will analyse the images," police chief Antônio Ricardo said. "The fact is serious and needs to be investigated." 
 
 The alleged rape of Amin, a student from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, triggered outrage on social media and among women's rights activists and celebrities. 
 
 On Monday, Brazil's minister for women's policies, Iriny Lopes, asked Rio's public prosecutor to accompany the case. 
 
 But speaking on the programme on Sunday, Amin claimed she could not remember the incident. "We kissed, I remember one kiss, he said there were two. We touched each other and really this is all I remember," she said. 
 
 "Sex?" she added. "No. Only if he was a real scumbag and did it while I was sleeping." 
 
 On Sunday Echaniz was expelled from the programme by Globo executives. In a statement, the show's host, Pedro Bial, said: "Big Brother has examined Daniel's behaviour without jumping the gun and with the utmost care. We have analysed the images which show an infraction of the programme's rules. 
 
 "The programme's directors believe that the contestant's behaviour on the night of the party was seriously inadequate." 
 
 In an interview with the Brazilian media, Big Brother's director, José Bonifácio Brasil de Oliveira, denied there had been a rape but admitted Echaniz had "overstepped the mark". 
 
 That did little to dampen calls for a police investigation. 
 
 Speaking to Brazil's Veja news magazine, Geórgia Bello, a legal representative of the Commission for the Defence of Women's Rights at Rio's state parliament, said: "The girl was visibly inebriated … and in a vulnerable state. Of course this is rape." 
 
 "From his movements in the images, you can see that his hips are touching the young lady. She was not awake and this may characterise rape," Bello said. 
 
 On Tuesday morning Echaniz used his Twitter account to defend himself. "People, If something happened this is my problem and no one else's. FULL STOP." 
 
 Later that day Echaniz – who has just 575 followers — revisited the subject. 
 
 "Mum I am calm," he wrote. "Justice will be done. You don't need to get upset. I love you a lot." 
 
 TV Globo did not immediately respond to requests for a comment. On the programme's official website, the controversy was relegated to a footnote about Echaniz's premature expulsion. ||||| Brazilian police are investigating allegations of sexual assault aired on the country's Big Brother reality TV show, a spokeswoman for Rio's police department said Tuesday. 
 
 Police inspector Antonio Ricardo L. Nunes said he questioned show participants a day after the wildly popular program announced that contestant Daniel Echaniz was being thrown out over suspicions of "gravely inadequate" behavior. 
 
 Nunes would provide no details on the questioning. 
 
 Echaniz, a 31-year-old male model, was booted off the show after allegations emerged that he had engaged in sexual behavior with contestant Monique Amin after she'd passed out. 
 
 The incident allegedly took place following a boozy party Saturday night. Grainy program footage shows the two in a bed, the leopard print sheets moving as Amin lays inert. 
 
 Speaking on Monday night's show, Big Brother Brazil presenter Pedro Bial said, "We analyzed images that show a violation of the rules of the program. Following careful study, the program's management found that the behavior of the participant ... was gravely inadequate." 
 
 The grainy, black-and-white footage appeared on the pay-per-view version of the show, and a 5-minute-long video excerpt is widely available on Brazilian websites. 
 
 The incident has been the subject of intense water cooler discussion, sparking questions about what exactly entails sexual assault. It's a sticky topic in Brazil, where matters of sexuality remain fraught, despite the country's international reputation for sexual liberation. 
 
 Two opposing Twitter feeds have been created, one applauding Echaniz's removal and the other one advocating his return to the show. A host of local celebrities have also chimed in on the Twitter debate, with several voicing suspicions that Amin was not really unconscious. Others have suggested the incident was her fault for drinking too much. 
 
 Echaniz's disqualification has also sparked murmurings about racism, as the dark-skinned male model is of mixed race, while Amin is white. 
 
 A report in the O Globo newspaper cites Echaniz's mother, Maria Aparecida Echaniz, as contending that "Daniel is the victim of racism. 
 
 "There have already been (such incidents on the show) and they didn't have such consequences," she is quoted as saying. 
 
 While participants have been kicked off Big Brother productions in other countries for sexually questionable behavior, this is the first disqualification on the Brazilian show. Produced by Rede Globo channel, the Brazilian program is in its 12th year. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
– A potential new low in reality-TV land: Brazil police have opened an investigation into a possible sexual assault that occurred on camera, reports AP and the Guardian. A 31-year-old male participant on Big Brother Brazil is accused of assaulting a 23-year-old woman on the show after she passed out following a party. Grainy images shot by broadcaster TV Globo that aired on the show's pay-per-view version show the two in bed together. Daniel Echaniz has been kicked off the show, which has labeled his behavior "gravely inadequate." Police have obtained the video clip and questioned cast members, but aren't providing details. The woman involved, Monique Amin, said she doesn't remember much. "Sex? No. Only if he was a real scumbag and did it while I was sleeping."