An antisemitism watchdog has criticised a former JFS student for recycling "stereotypes about Jews and money" on the Big Brother reality TV show.

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said that Matthew Davies had caused "damage" after he declared, in front of 2.1 million viewers, that at his Jewish school, "everyone was quite spoilt - money comes naturally really".

In a video aired ahead of his entry to the Channel 5 show last Thursday, the media studies graduate from Hertfordshire said: "When I went to university outside of London, I made a comment about the cleaners being really bad. Someone asked if I had a cleaner at home. I said: 'Everyone has cleaners, don't they?'"

Mr Foxman said: "It is jarring to hear such statements coming from a Jewish person.

"It only serves to regenerate age-old stereotypes about Jews and money that have lingered in society. The damage is done and the stereotype is given legitimacy and new life."