Advertisement

I'm A Celebrity row over 'vegan' Fleur East eating wallabies but not worms

Fleur East has been spotted eating wallaby
Fleur East has been spotted eating wallaby

I’m a Celebrity... has come under fire from vegans after contestants were accused of using their diets to avoid challenges, as well as eating meat.

Viewers were shocked when singer Fleur East, who has widely publicised her veganism in the past, was seen tucking into wallaby wings on Monday night’s episode. Reports suggested she would not be taking part in the Busktucker trials that involved eating bugs and insects.

In September last year, Fleur East excitedly told her Twitter followers: "So I've been vegan for over a month now and I feel amazing." 

She has also posted about eating vegan food with her father, and promoted the restaurant Zizzi's lentil ragu.

One viewer tweeted: “HANGGGGGG ON. Fleur is not doing the eating trials because she’s ‘Vegan’ but I’ve just seen her chowing down on a wallaby wing?”

Another angered vegan wrote: “Wtf though fleur was vegan? Why’s she eating f---king wallaby what an absolute let down.”

However, show insiders  told The Telegraph that Ms East has ditched her veganism for the series and will eat whatever is put in front of her.

Fleur East’s team added: “Just to address, Fleur is not a vegan. For health reasons she has in the past followed a vegan diet, but she is not adhering to this in the jungle.”

One contestant who may be avoiding the challenges is James McVey, a singer from band The Vamps, who has requested to be given tofu instead of meat during the nightly meals.

If the camp wins the appropriate stars, he will be given a portion of tofu, while the others have to prepare meat from native Australian animals.

Producers added that vegetables are always given to the campmates with the meat - and that it is the camp’s choice how to allocate them.

While no one has yet requested to be exempt from trials on the grounds of being vegan or vegetarian, campmates have the choice not to eat meat in the trials or to exit the trial altogether.

During the eating trial, the contestant is presented with something unappetising to eat, and told if they can stomach it, they win a ‘star’, representing a meal for the camp.

ITV exempts celebrities from challenges on medical grounds but has not had to do so for vegans since the show’s inception, as celebrities can merely refuse to eat the meat on offer.

Celebrities choose between themselves who gets sent off to do the trial - so it is unlikely they would be sending the tofu-eater off to compete in the eating challenge.

Vegans have protested I’m A Celebrity for using animals in their trials. In some challenges, contestants are asked to eat fish eyes, live bugs, cockroach milkshakes and crocodile penises. Other trials involve tanks filled with live animals, including snakes and spiders.

The Vegan Society has asked the show to make the jungle “vegan friendly” and implored it to “stop using animals for entertainment,” while hundreds of animal rights activists have complained about the show’s use of animals on Twitter.