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ITV has been fined £1,660 for animal cruelty after celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo killed and ate a rat on reality TV series I'm a Celebrity Get Me Of Here.

The Italian chef, who was crowned King of the Jungle last December, came under fire from the RSPCA in New South Wales, Australia, after he and fellow contestant actor Stuart Manning caught, killed and cooked the rodent.

The killing happened while the pair was sent into exile and put on meagre rations of rice and beans, which prompted them to eat the rat to get "more protein".

A court in Sydney heard that the rat was initially stabbed with a knife but took a minute and a half to die suffering unnecessary pain in the process.

While D'Acampo and Manning were originally charged with animal cruelty themselves, the charges were dropped after ITV admitted that production staff allowed them to kill the rat.  Apparently their only concern was whether eating the rodent would make them sick, rather than whether they were breaking any laws.

ITV was fined $3,000 (£1,660) and ordered to pay $2,500 (£1,390) in costs.

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner Gino D'Acampo says he doesn't regret killing and eating a rat on the programme, despite being charged with animal cruelty.

The TV chef, who was crowned King of the Jungle after winning the reality TV show on Saturday, has been presented with a court attendance notice for 3 February 2010 after he and fellow contestant actor Stuart Manning caught, killed and cooked the rodent.

The RSPCA in New South Wales, Australia, said it was "not acceptable" that a rat had been killed as part of a performance.

Chief Inspector David Oshannessy said: "The allegation is that an animal was cruelly treated on the set. It was a rat that was killed. There is a code of conduct in New South Wales that dictates how animals can be used. The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable."

However, the D'Acampo said he has no regrets.

"I don't regret one single thing I did in the jungle to feed my campmates. It was the best recipe I ever did. It was beautiful," he told The Sun. 

TV chef Gino D'Acampo has been crowned King of the Jungle after winning the final of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

The Italian chef beat television presenter Kim Woodburn and snooker star Jimmy White to second and third places after three weeks in the Australian jungle.

During the course of the reality TV show D'Acampo was forced to eat rotten eggs, cockroaches, a crocodile's tongue and rhino beetles to win a dinner for his fellow contestants.

the chef told presenters Ant and Dec he was excited to be getting back into "some kind of civilisation very soon".

"These three weeks have been crazy, up and down. I don't think there's ever been a day when I've thought, 'what am I doing here, I should be at home doing something else' - I really enjoyed every bit of the experience," the chef said.

D'Acampo is the third celebrity chef to have appeared in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! after Antony Worrall Thompson (2003) and John Burton-Race (2008) whose wife famously shut his New Angel restaurant in Dartmouth while he was on the show.