Animal lovers slam I'm a Celeb after Fearne McCann eats live spider

Animal activists have slammed I'm a Celebrity Get Me out of here after reality TV star Ferne McCann was asked to eat a live spider as part of the series finale last night.

The Only Way is Essex star ate the Australian waterspider as part of her last Bushtucker Trial - and we don’t know about you, but we watched the entire segment from behind a pillow.

A spokeswoman from PETA said: "Time and time again, this programme has shown a complete disregard for sentient life and a lack of creativity, evidenced by the fact that it has repeated the same tacky and inhumane stunts for more than a decade.

"All animals - not just the ones who are considered cute and cuddly - want to live free from harm”.

The organisation also threatened to take legal action against the show: "It's time for the producers to be called not just before the court of public opinion but also before a court of law."

The star - who finished in third place - was first given the option to tuck into some profiteroles instead but decided that she would prefer to secure a last meal for her camp.

Fearne also devoured a live witchetty grub, lamb’s brains and a bull’s penis, as part of the task.

And it wasn’t just PETA that expressed their distaste:

Got a proper sweat on watching Fearne McCann eating a live spider on I'm a Celeb #whatahero

— Vicki Stewart (@vickistewart86) December 6, 2015