I'm A Celebrity winner Gino D'Acampo on rodent cruelty rap

KING of the Jungle Gino D'Acampo was last night charged with cruelty-to the rat he turned into a risotto.

The stunned Ready Steady Cook star was confronted by RSPCA investigators moments after I'm A Celebrity filming ended and quizzed over the death of the rodent.

Early in the series Gino and jungle buddy Stuart Manning beheaded it with a kitchen knife before turning it into dinner for their camp-mates.

D'Acampo, 33, was later charged by Aussie police along with ex-Hollyoaks star Stuart.

The two have been told to appear in court on February 3. The maximum penalty they could face is THREE YEARS JAIL.

The future of the show was in doubt after ITV were also ordered by the powerful Aussie RSPCA to hand over all their footage of the animal being beheaded-which was NOT shown to viewers-so they can find out whether it was ALIVE when it happened.

Drama

The move came amid claims that the rat the celebrities ate was NOT wild as viewers were led to believe-but was instead a TAME one planted by producers to create drama in the Exile Camp where contestants were living on basic rations.

A show insider told us: "There were rats used for the Bushtucker Trials and they were as tame as hamsters. They were used to human contact and not afraid like wild ones who would run away. The killing made for dramatic TV. But it's likely the animal was one of the trial rats.

"It raises question marks about the show. What celebrity is going to risk appearing if they face getting nicked at the end of it."

Last night ITV bosses confirmed our shock story in a terse statement saying: "Australian RSPCA are currently looking into an incident in which a rat was killed in the camp."

Dad-of-two D'Acampo's victory celebrations were cut short by the confrontation with the RSPCA after filming ended. They had already quizzed Manning, 30, who was evicted earlier.

The chef is already a convicted burglar-jailed for two years in 1998 for stealing £4,000-worth of guitars from singer Paul Young's home-and feared he would not be able leave Australia today as the investigation continued in Murwillumbah, New South Wales.

Our source said: "Gino was detained so long his family, including his two young boys, had to travel back to the hotel without him. He has previous convictions and is terrified of getting into more trouble. But police say now he is free to go home."

D'Acampo just shook his head and then raised his finger at our reporter when approached. Manning said he "hadn't got time" to answer questions.

Their court case will be a huge blow for ITV producers celebrating the most popular I'm A Celeb since 2005 with shows averaging 8.5 million viewers -and 11 million tuning in to watch the final. They came up with the idea to introduce rats into the show-along with the usual bugs and insects-to boost ratings. Viewers saw the footage of Gino cooking the rat on November 20 after the celebs were split into two camps-Base Camp and Exile.

In Exile, campers Gino and Stuart, along with fellow celebs Kim Woodburn, Lucy Benjamin, Sam Fox and George Hamilton had to make do with meagre rations.

Then D'Acampo and Manning declared they had caught the rat.

The chef said he'd grabbed it wandering in the jungle, killed it with his kitchen knife and skinned it. He held it up for everyone to see then took it to the fire to cook for the team.

He said afterwards: "It was the best recipe I ever did. It was beautiful." The other celebs also raved about it. The rat killing infuriated animal rights campaigners like TV writer Carla Lane who called for I'm A Celebrity to be banned. She welcomed the charges saying: "If this brings an end to the show-good. I fail to see what's entertaining about killing a rat."

In a statement police said: "Police today issued field court attendance notices to two men, aged 30 and 33, for the offence of animal cruelty.

"They are due to appear in court on 3 February 2010."

• I'm A Celebrity winner Gino D'Acampo backs Peter Andre
• I'm on Pete's team

This article has 0 comments