MasterChef set to be locked up

MasterChef NZ winner Aaron Brunet is among a cast of 40 high-profile Kiwis who will be locked up in a cage for 40 hours to protest factory farming.

The participants will be ushered into the Caged Beings social experiment with just 1.4sq m each in a cage measuring 7.5m by 7.5m.

The event, at 63 Great North Rd, is being organised by animal rights group Safe and creative agency Manifest and runs from 10pm on Friday to 2pm on Sunday.

Brunet, who is doing it with his “passionate eco-warrior” daughter Ariana, is psychologically fascinated and cares about the cause. He said factory farming had grown from people keeping animals in a downto-earth way to being “taken to the extreme” with cruel practices used for greedy profits.

Brunet urged people to vote with their wallets and only support food that was ethically produced.

“A lot of us are very disconnected from the source of our food. We see not to be part of it by how I spend my money. We can all do that.

“I don’t expect everyone to go vegan, but if everyone ate half as much meat there’d be half as much factory farming going on.”

Safe says most factory-farmed animals suffer anxiety, illness and degradation, with no sunlight, no room to move and no way to express their natural behaviours.

Brunet, 47 and Ariana, 17, have been vegan for two years since they watched the documentary

together. They will be joined in the experiment by actor Emmett Skilton from The Almighty

three-time world champion street unicyclist Christian Huriwai, Trade Me founder Sam Morgan, comedian Tian Tan and musician Franko Heke.

Participants will be “grain fed” muesli and soy milk four times a day. There will be an emergency escape button but the experiment is meant to be uncomfortable, says Safe.

— Sarah Harris