A contestant on the Australian version of Big Brother has been kept in the dark about the death of her father - because he did not want her leaving the reality TV show to come to his funeral.

Raymond Cornell, 53, died of cancer eight days ago in a hospice in the southern city of Adelaide but requested before his death that the news be kept from his daughter, Emma, a 24-year-old personal trainer and former model.

Although father and daughter had been estranged for the past six years, they had recently started communicating by text message before she entered the Big Brother house on the Gold Coast, in Queensland state, a month ago, and was cut off from contact with the outside world.

Mr Cornell was buried in Adelaide on Monday.

"We’re abiding by her family’s wishes in not informing her," said a spokesman for the show's producers, Endemol Southern Star.

Ms Cornell's boyfriend, Tim Stanton, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "Her dad didn't want her to be upset or to feel like she had to leave the house to come to his funeral. He didn't want to ruin the experience for her.

"She might be upset when she comes out and finds out what has happened, but I think she'll understand."

Mr Stantons added that Mr Cornell had watched every episode of the show that he could before his death.

"I think he felt like he was finally getting to know his daughter."

The decision not to inform Ms Cornell about her father's death was criticised by experts on bereavement. Chris Hall, a psychologist who heads the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement told the Melbourne Age that she should have been told about it discreetly so that she could make her own decision.

"I've worked with lots of bereaved people, and I've never had somebody complain that they've been told too much. But I have had people complain to me that they've been lied to, or that they've been deceived," he said.

"I think there's a real danger when we make assumptions about what the needs for other people may or may not be, and when we actually remove choice from the individual. One of the things about bereavement is it often makes people feel incredibly powerless."

He added that the Big Brother producers should be careful about how they dealt with the issue on air. "It would be tragic if this was made into some kind of a media event, and that this private experience was publicly paraded in order to encourage ratings."

The family is planning to hold a private memorial service after Ms Cornell leaves the Big Brother house.

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