A contestant waved a Palestinian scarf as he left the Big Brother House, amid controversy of ITV editing the show to remove references to Gaza.

Khaled Khaled was evicted alongside Lily Benson on Friday night as a part of a shock double eviction.

The 23-year-old was seen holding up a pro-Palestinian scarf handed to him by an audience member as he left the reality show house – but the scarf was gone later in the programme.

The tassels at each end of the scarf were in the colours of the Palestinian flag and it had a pattern similar to a Palestinian keffiyeh – the headscarves worn bypro-Palestine marchers during protests in London and across the country.

MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment.

It comes after the broadcaster edited previous episodes of both the main show and spin-off show to remove references to Gaza.

Audience members of Big Brother: Late & Live were then forced to leave the studios on Monday after they refused to change out of pro-Palestine T-shirts.

ITV pulled an episode last month to edit out a pro-Palestine T-shirt with a picture of a watermelon.

Producers offered them plain tops, but asked them to leave after they refused to change during Monday’s taping.

A source told MailOnline: ‘The audience members were given the option to remove the T-shirts (the production team have spare T-shirts available for the audience to use for various production/clearance reasons) and stay for the record but they decided to leave.’

Monday night’s episode saw hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best discuss the latest drama in the house alongside Zeze Millz, Henry Southan and Daisy Campbell.

But when viewers went to catch-up on the show the following day, they discovered the episode was missing from ITVX.

Many took to social media to ask ITV why it wasn’t showing up on the streaming service, with the broadcaster explaining: ‘Hi, sadly we had to remove this episode due to compliance reasons, we do apologise for any inconvenience caused. Take care and enjoy your day.’

They later explained that they were working to get the episode back up as quickly as possible, but did not clarify what the issue was.

ITV tweeted: ‘We can confirm that the latest episode of BB: Late & Live has been removed due to a compliance issue. We’re looking to get the episode back ASAP, hopefully today, but we do not have a timeframe for this.’

Fans were quick to speculate reasons why the show would be temporarily removed, with many suggesting that it would be down to some kind of pro-Palestinian reference.

Big Brother was previously embroiled in controversy, after pulling an episode last month to edit out a housemate’s T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a watermelon.

The watermelon has been used to show solidarity with Palestinians, as the fruit is the same colours of the flag – red, black, white and green.

It has been used as a powerful symbol to represent the state since the Six-Day War in 1967, when flying the flag was outlawed, and has seen a resurgence amid the Israel Gaza war.

Contestant Ali Bromley, a forensic psychologist, was seen wearing the shirt –  which Metro identified as the Wear The Peace’s Freedom Melon Tee, which donates all of its profits to Gaza to supply food, water, medical aid, and other necessities.

The episode in question was pulled off ITVX and re-uploaded to the streaming service the following day, with the shots of Ali cropped to hide her top.

The move sparked backlash, as furious viewers argued they were censoring pro-Palestinian views and going against the ethos of the show by ‘allowing the censorship of housemates views’.

During his exit interview, Khaled was quizzed about what he thought about Nathan telling him he thought he was holding back for not speaking out about the conflict in Israel and Palestine, given Khaled is Palestinian.

In response, he said: ‘I took offense to that one. When I went into the house, I had a conversation with everyone but him about Palestine and Lebanon.

‘For [Nathan] to say that, as if I’m hiding from it… I felt like that was a bit offensive. He did apologise and I do forgive him.’

Khaled said: ‘With Marcello, I don’t hold anything against him. I said to him someone might get burnt from it

‘A decision made in five minutes doesn’t mean anything compared to the five weeks we’ve had.’

EMMA

AGE : 53

FROM: Altrincham, originally Es𝑠e𝑥

OCCUPATION: Aesthetics Business owner

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO GET NOMINATED FOR?  If somebody doesn’t get my humour then they might think ‘she’s really abrupt and to the point and says it how it is’ but that’s my humour.

ROSIE

AGE: 29

FROM: Cornwall (originally Es𝑠e𝑥)

OCCUPATION: Dental Assistant

DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY FOR MAKING IT TO THE FINAL? No! I think it’s about being your most authentic self. The viewers aren’t dumb – they can sniff out manufactured drama.

NATHAN

AGE: 24

FROM: Dumfries

OCCUPATION: Pork Salesman and King Charles’ former butler

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO GET NOMINATED FOR?  Accidentally offending someone – someone taking something I’ve said the wrong way. Not a terrible offence, but if someone takes something I said the wrong way.

SEGUN

AGE: 25

FROM: Watford

OCCUPATION: Charity Videographer

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BRING TO THE HOUSE?  I think I’ll bring energy, comedic energy, vitality and a lot of entertainment and being uplifting.

DAZE

AGE: 24

FROM: London

OCCUPATION: Climate Activist

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE MONEY IF YOU WON? It’s been a difficult financial period for me – climate activism is quite often something you do in debt. It would be nice to have money to do the work

KHALED

AGE: 23

FROM: Manchester

OCCUPATION: Sales Manager

WHY DID YOU APPLY TO BE ON THIS NEW SERIES OF BIG BROTHER? I didn’t actually know what Big Brother was.  I thought it’s a new opportunity in life. I have no interest in being famous.

MARTHA

AGE: 26

FROM: Scarborough, originally from Margate

OCCUPATION: NHS Administrator

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ABOUT BEING A HOUSEMATE? Definitely sitting on the Diary Room chair. That is a bucket list ticked off. Also just experiencing that isolation. I’m going to really enjoy not having my phone. I just love not having that responsibility.

LILY

AGE: 20

FROM: Warrington

OCCUPATION: Chinese Takeaway Server

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO GET NOMINATED FOR? Probably that I’m annoying but I don’t care.

ALI

AGE: 38

FROM: London

OCCUPATION: Forensic Psychologist

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ABOUT BEING A HOUSEMATE? Just being away and thrown into a totally new environment, completely different to anything I’ve done before, completely different to anything I’ll ever do in the future.

THOMAS

AGE: 20

FROM: Carlisle

OCCUPATION: Amputee Footballer

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO GET NOMINATED FOR? One of my bad traits is that I speak a lot. I do a lot of talking without thinking. In myself I never get offended, you can say anything about me – I’ve already heard it before.

RYAN

AGE: 28

FROM: Stockport

OCCUPATION: Marketing and Events

WHY DID YOU APPLY TO BE ON THIS NEW SERIES OF BIG BROTHER? I’ve always been a fan of the show – it’s been a bit of a childhood dream to go on it.

HANAH

AGE: 24

FROM: West London

OCCUPATION: HR Consultant

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO GET NOMINATED FOR? I feel like whoever nominates is just a hater, babes! I think it might be my opinions that people nominate me for.

IZAAZ

AGE: 29

FROM: London, originally Swansea

OCCUPATION: Sales Consultant

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BRING TO THE HOUSE? I’ll bring a lot of happiness and kindness. I reckon I’ll be there for a lot of people. I’m not the type of person to fall out with anyone and if I did, I’d make up for it.

SARAH

AGE: 27

FROM: Shrewsbury

OCCUPATION: Spa Account Manager

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE MONEY IF YOU WON? A few different things. One, I’d have my dream wedding. Two, go on a nice holiday. And three, maybe start my own business.

MARCELLO

AGE: 34

FROM: East London

OCCUPATION: Youth Mentor

DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY FOR MAKING IT TO THE FINAL? Not at all. I’m going to show love, I’m going to be myself and that’s all I can do.

DEAN

AGE: 35

FROM: East London

OCCUPATION: Barber

WHY DID YOU APPLY TO BE ON THIS NEW SERIES OF BIG BROTHER? I’ve been a fan for the longest time. I’ve wanted to do it from the age of 11 and never had the confidence to do it. As I got older, I was still obsessed with the show and as soon as it came back it was ‘this is my time to apply’.