Reality Stars Charged For Eating a Rat During Filming

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Dec 6th 2009 09:54AM

Two stars of the British version of 'I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here' have been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly killing and cooking a rat to eat during filming. Chef Gino D'Acampo, who won the viewer-feedback contest series, and British soap actor Stuart Manning were charged after animal welfare activists lodged a complaint about a segment, which was filmed in Australia.

The maximum penalty for these charges is three years in prison.

In a statement to The Associated Press, New South Wales state police said Sunday that two men, aged 33 and 30, were charged with animal cruelty for acts in connection to the program but did not give names or other details. They have been asked to appear in court to face the charge on Feb. 3.

The performers and ITV, the network that produces the show, did not immediately respond to media inquiries about the incident.

"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable. The concern is this was done purely for the cameras," David O'Shannessy from the New South Wales RSPCA told the British Broadcasting Corp.

He said producers were normally required to have animal welfare officers on set when animals were used during filming, but in this case it did not take place.

'I'm a Celebrity' strands C-list celebrities in the Australian Outback, subjects them to a series of icky trials involving spiders and snakes, and allows the public to vote them off the show one by one.

Tags: Im a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here, ImACelebrity...GetMeOutOfHere, Stuart Manning, StuartManning

Comments

(156)

Sunday 06 December

By sean

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i have 8 yes 8 dogs i love animals but rats?people kill them cause they invade there space these people make me sick you kill 1 rat 1000 more are born you love the rats have 500 rats and they kill your baby see if you love them

By Wendell

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Ahhh, the logic of liberalism. Have your own infant dissected in utero and suctioned out and the left will call you a hero. Kill a lousy rat because you are hungry and you eat it to survive, and the left puts you in jail for three years? "And they shall call good evil, and evil good." We're there folks. We're there.

And where do they get all those bovine testicles to eat on "Fear Factor?" Which is worse, killing a rat and putting it out of it's misery before eathing it, or just plain lopping off the family jewels of a young bull and letting some bimbo in a bikini eat them raw? Fear factor isnt' even close to survival. It is all done for entertainment. PC Morons.

By ges2917

very well said Wendell

By Jorge

What they did was nothing wrong. The law is getting out of hand. This is like dictatorship. If you don't kill a rat, the rat will injure you badly. Rats are dangerous animals. This is very unfair. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of them. I hope the law doesn't ruin their holidays.

By noname

Exotic, Your argument isn't over who makes the laws it's the fact you don't like that a rat is protected under and animal cruelty law. Animal rights activists don't write the law and the governemnt doesn't cater to animal activists either because the laws that DO protect animals from cruelty are rarely enforced or upheld to the fullest extent of the law.

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Or maybe they wanted to see if it tasted like cat

Monday 07 December

By Mike

What is the statute of limitations on rat killing and eating? 45 years ago I was required to eat rat during Jungle Warfare training. I thought it was horrible too; but then, I was the one eating the damned rat. I would much have preferred a soy burger but they are hard to find in the jungle. Wasn't this a reality show? Survival or something?

By Anya

It is a "Survival" show. They aren't even really out in the wild.

By vickie

killing for performance is abuse...I don't care if it was a rat....next it would be acceptable for a pet horse or dog....no ....Its hunting season now where I live....and its christmas....I want "peace"around me and all I see is shooting around me ...I have to be scared in my own neighborhood that a bullet doesn't go through my house.I understand if you hunt to eat the meat because you don't make enough to feed your family...but for sport or entertainment....no

By mickey mouse

As a famous mouse I say : Who gives a RAT'S ass??!!

....I hope you get a disease

...this has nothing to do with liberals...a--hole

Sunday 13 December

By chuii

i wonder how many years i'll get for killing pork, beef, chicken, lambs, snakes, hares, and possums...

By Hassie

This is killing for entertainment and profit. It's a show. They do this for ratings -- cheap thrills for morons. And yes, every life has value. The bunch of you are ridiculous. Respect for life isn't confined to human life. It covers the spectrum. Why is it so difficult to get that simple point across? We live in a world where children are killing each other in school, parents slaughter their babies and everyone wonders why? Violence and inhumanity in any form, against any living being, is simply unacceptable and wrong. Your babble sets a fine example for your children -- we kill selectively. If it is small and defenseless, go for it!!! If being liberal means taking moral responsibility, then it is an honorable label. There is a big difference between people starving and the people on this show. This has no purpose other than to get the attention of cowardly, bloodthirsty morons who stare at the TV for a life.

P-people
E-eating
T-taste
A-animals

R-real
A-and
T-tastee

By upurs

but what about the trillion dollar rat bailout?...they got bonuses and anything else you can think of..and what about the rats in politics..thay get rewarded...so i now i think i see why rats are so protected.

By BORIS

i cant wait untill eatin any type of animal is wrong. Because we would convert to canibalism. kill and eat the activists then go back to eating meat

By Terry

They should kill these reality shows to begin with. They're jokes and to kill an animal for a show is totally ridiculous. The fools that killed and ate the animal aren't too swift either.

By tj

Killing and eating a child in New South Wales is ok and approved of by police and animal rats activists, but leave their cudly rats alone!
New South Wales, famous for exporting rats to Europe in the dark ages infected with the plague.

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