ITV has been fined 3000 Australian dollars, for the killing of a rat on their TV show I’m A Celebrity …..Get Me Out Of Here.

Chef Gino D’Acampo and Stuart Manning killed the rat and cooked it for their fellow campmates during the show show last November.

Chief Inspector David Oshannessy, from the RSPCA, revealed that ITV were fined 3,000 Australian dollars and will have to pay a further 2,576 dollars in costs.

He said: “It’s a reasonable result. It reflects the fact that all animals are protected by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

“The animal was killed for a TV show – that’s not appropriate. The raw footage indicates that, from the first attempt, it took about 90 seconds before it actually died.

“The legislation says that an animal can be killed for human consumption provided it does not cause unnecessary suffering. Had it been killed and it was over and done with, we might not be having this conversation.”

An ITV spokesman told The Mirror: “ITV has apologised for the mistake which led to this incident.

“The production was unaware that killing a rat could be an offence, criminal or otherwise in New South Wales, and accepts that further inquiries should have been made.

“This was an oversight and we have since thoroughly reviewed our procedures and are putting in place a comprehensive training programme to ensure that this does not happen in future series.”