Critter challenges are cruel – on us
I realise that it is almost sacrilege to criticise anything involving Ant and Dec, but it’s time that I’m A Celebrity – which has seen contestants such as Scarlett Moffatt and Lisa Snowdon enduring challenges with snakes and critters – was axed. It’s taking advantage of people who are so desperate to be on television that they will endure just about anything. Those people who find it amusing are a strange bunch.
J. Foster, Birmingham The producers of I’m A Celebrity have run out of ideas, as each season looks like a rerun of the previous one in its vile treatment of animals. After more than a decade of the same tired and tacky ‘challenges’, people are no longer wondering whether a celebrity will win silly plastic stars but whether the show might ever try something original, witty or smart, instead of bullying living beings for a cheap laugh.
All animals – not just those seen as cute and cuddly, and no matter their shape or size – feel pain and fear, so stunts in which they’re harmed have no place in the entertainment industry.
We live in an age of innovation, when film-makers and television producers worth their salt can entertain audiences without having to resort to abject cruelty. This makes ITV look even more out of touch – and I’m A Celebrity in even greater need of being axed.
Olivia Jordan, Peta UK