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Reality TV bush tucker angers RSPCA

The RSPCA has attacked a British celebrity TV show set in Australia for making its contestants eat insects and swallow kangaroo testicles.

The latest series of the hugely-popular reality show I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here has just returned to British TV screens, with two groups of fading celebs competing in various challenges set in the "jungle" near Murwillumbah in northern NSW.

Celebrity contestants have so far faced the challenge of eating crocodile eyeballs, kangaroo testicles, scorpions, cockroaches and crickets in "bushtucker trials".

Previous series of the show, which began in 2002, have featured competitions involving crayfish, rats, snakes and eels.

But the RSPCA says the animal challenges are "unacceptable" and that there is "no excuse" for harming animals for entertainment.

"The use of animals in this way is completely unacceptable and could easily cause great distress to the animals involved," a spokesman told The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Britain.

"There is no excuse for using animals in stunts that carry a high risk of them being harmed and we believe the series gives out a very irresponsible message to viewers about how to treat animals."

The RSPCA, which has received dozens of complaints about the show, has written in previous years to the show's producers, expressing its concerns.

Broadcaster ITV, which screens the hit show, said it was in regular contact with the RSPCA in Australia about the use of animals in various competition.

"We are in regular contact with the RSPCA NSW who have been notified of all the bushtucker trials involving mammals or reptiles. Inspectors have an open invitation to attend any trial at any time," an ITV spokesman said.

"At each of the bushtucker trials, which feature animals or insects, we have qualified and experienced animal and insect wranglers on site and every trial has been carefully tested and developed."

Source: ABC News