Jungle contestants face rat killing charges
I'm A Celebrity contestants face rat killing charges
Sunday, 06, Dec 2009 10:30
By Lewis Bazley.
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner Gino D'Acampo and fellow contestant Stuart Manning face charges of animal cruelty for allegedly killing and eating a rat on the ITV1 show.
Chef Gino and actor Stuart were in "exile" for a section of the reality show, meaning they and fellow campmates were made to subsist on rice and beans.
And the group's meagre diet prompted the catching and killing of a rat, which was cooked in a risotto and eaten by other contestants, including Manning, 30.
Thirty-three-year-old D'Acampo told the show's Bush Telegraph video diary: "I saw one of these rats running around. I got a knife, I got its throat, I picked it up."
The RSPCA in New South Wales criticised the killing of the rat for "a performance".
"If animals are to be used in TV productions they're to be used in accordance with the code of practice, which states that no animal can be killed or harmed," he told Sky News.
"The circumstances may be completely different if someone was in outback Australia and that was going to be their last meal but this is different, this was for the production of a TV show."
He also said charges could be brought against the production company and ITV.
A spokesman for New South Wales police said of the matter: "Police from Murwillumbah issued field court attendance notices to two men aged 30 and 33 for the offence of animal cruelty.
"They are due to attend court at Murwillumbah local court on February 3rd 2009."
ITV representatives were unavailable for comment.