**I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner Gino D’Acampo and Stuart Manning face charges of animal cruelty after cooking and eating a rat in the show.**The RSPCA in New South Wales, Australia, said it was “not acceptable” that a rat had been killed by the pair as part of a performance.
Police confirmed they had issued court attendance notices for 3 February 2010.
The Italian chef and actor ate the rat after they were “exiled” and reduced to rations of rice and beans on the show.
Gino, 33, told the show’s video diary room, the Bush Telegraph: “I saw one of these rats running around. I got a knife, I got its throat, I picked it up.”
The “exiled” group, including 30-year-old Stuart Manning, ate the rat as part of a meal.
Ch Insp David Oshannessy, from the RSPCA in New South Wales, said there was a “code of conduct” which dictated how animals could be used.
“The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable,” he said.
The charity sends staff whenever animals are used for filmed or live performances, he said, and so had been in contact with the programme’s producers before the rat was killed.
A spokesman said: "Police from Murwillumbah yesterday issued field court attendance notices to two men aged 30 and 33 for the offence of animal cruelty.
“They are due to attend court at Murwillumbah local court on 3 February 2010.”
ITV was unavailable for comment.