I’M A CELEB IN HOT WATER AGAIN WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS.

Animal rights groups have criticised the use of live animals in so-called “bushtucker trials”. 

ITVs popular programme I’m Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is known to feature live trials where celebrities are put through their passes to win food for those back at camp. 

But in recent years the trials have come increasingly under fire from animal rights groups with the RSPCA saying they are concerned at the decision to use animals. 

A spokesperson said, “We are also concerned at the way the programme portrays animals; it risks trivialising their lives for the sake of light 'entertainment'“. 

In previous years contestants and producers faced criticism when a rat was caught, killed, cooked and eaten by celebrities who said they had been underfed.  

The UK is widely recognised as a world leader in animal rights. The RSPCA is the oldest charity in the world, having been established in 1824 by William Wilberforce and Richard Martin. 

Calling them “unwilling participants”, says Elisa Allen, Vice President of Programmes at the pressure group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA. “Ostriches, crocodiles, snakes, rats, and thousands of insects have been exploited for the show’s puerile pranks.” 

Since its first series in 2002, I’m a Celebrity has attracted large audiences. With 11 million watching when it crowned its first, King of The Jungle Tony Blackburn. 

In recent years, bushtucker trials with live animals and insects have been scrapped, with celebrities only consuming already dead delicacies, notably various types of testicles. 

In the three weeks since the current series began, 17,000 complaints have been received by the RSPCA alone. 

But, say campaigners, no promise of improvements to welfare standards have been made.