BB offered to shut off the chat during said episode but they were overruled.
It was weird seeing people who had no prior exposure to the show voice their opinions. 2006 was not 2025. A completely different time when things were a lot more lax than they are today. It takes something drastic for change to be made. My first thought is the lifeboats on the Titanic. It took a huge loss of life for lifeboat rules to be changed. I don't know if I felt bad for Ash and John or really had any sympathy for them, but on the other side of the coin they were just young guys and did something stupid. Hardly worth villainising them or saying that Gretel should've condemned it and/or threaten to quit because of what she had to say on TV. I did expect the harsh responses though.
Even if this didn't violate any specific rule on the show, they would've been removed anyway because it was the right thing to do. Ash and John knew what they did was wrong. It was written all over Ash's face when they called them to the diary room.
It also blows my mind people go onto the chat to hate on the show in general.