Presenter Chris Packham has written to Ant and Dec to name out the “appalling abuse of animals” on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.
Packham, who’s president of the RSPCA, shared the doc on X (previously Twitter), saying he had “tried to be well mannered” however his persistence had “run skinny”.
The animal welfare campaigner stated that having not obtained replies to his earlier letters, he determined to be “extra frank and forthright”.
In his message to I’m A Celebrity hosts Ant and Dec, Packham described the ITV present as an “anachronistic embarrassment” and a “grotesque blot on the reputations” of the channel and the presenters.
He claimed it “does not seem to present a s***” concerning the welfare of animals used on the present, and that it makes mild of endangered species and the local weather disaster.
On the programme, which is in its twenty third sequence, contestants must bear duties whereas being coated in bugs, spiders and rats.
Ant and Dec haven’t commented publicly on Chris Packham’s letter. Pic: AP
In his letter, which Packham stated he wrote in a private capability, he referred to as for “no extra abuse of animals for leisure”, and for his or her involvement to get replaced by an “academic element which is able to rejoice wildlife and its conservation”.
The RSPCA has a separate marketing campaign that requires the present to cease utilizing stay creatures.
The charity claims the programme has seen animals “dropped, thrown, dealt with roughly, crushed, chased and scared by contestants”.
“The present’s messaging and the potential to immediate folks to attempt to copy the ‘bushtucker trials’ at home for leisure can be worrying,” it provides.
“We really feel that intentionally portraying sure species as nasty or horrifying or as objects that can be utilized purely for leisure relatively than sentient, residing creatures sends out completely the fallacious message.”
The charity stated greater than 20,000 folks “took motion” to complain about the usage of animals on I’m A Celebrity final 12 months.
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An ITV spokesperson advised Sky News: “We are at all times totally clear about our protocols and now we have a really strict environmental plan in place on the present.
“As a manufacturing, we adjust to all regional and nationwide legal guidelines regarding the usage of bugs, animals and reptiles.
“Welfare and security is at all times the first precedence on any of our programmes, and at any bushtucker trial that options animals, now we have certified and skilled animal handlers on website always.”
Ant and Dec are but to remark publicly on Packham’s letter.
