SYDNEY?Australian animal rights activists Tuesday welcomed a cruelty fine for British broadcaster ITV, after contestants killed and ate a rat on hit reality show "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!"

The RSPCA took ITV and contestants Stuart Manning and Gino D'Acampo to court over last year's stunt, in which a rat was stabbed to death, cooked and eaten.

Series winner D'Acampo captured the rat for residents of the so-called "exile camp," explaining in a video diary that he, Manning and the others needed "some kind of protein... some kind of flavor," to supplement their diet of rice and beans.

ITV pleaded guilty in a Sydney court Monday to committing an aggravated act of cruelty on an animal, and admitted that production staff had given permission for the rat to be killed.

A Downing Center Local Court spokesman said magistrate Mark Buscombe fined the network $2,600, plus $2,500 in costs.

"The conviction confirmed that the manner in which the rat was killed, in association with the production of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' was unacceptable," RSPCA's chief inspector David O'Shannessy told AFP.

"In that while animals can be killed and prepared for human consumption, this must be done in a manner that inflicts no unnecessary pain, distress or suffering on the subject animal."

The rat reportedly took more than a minute to die.

Given ITV's admissions, O'Shannessy said the RSPCA would withdraw its case against Manning and D'Acampo.

ITV apologized at the time that charges were laid, admitting it had only considered whether eating the rat would be harmful to the contestants' health.

"The production was unaware that killing a rat could be an offence, criminal or otherwise, in New South Wales and accepts that further inquiries should have been made?this was an oversight," the network said in a December statement.

"ITV apologizes for this error, and to the celebrities concerned, and will put in place procedures for next year's series to ensure that this cannot happen again."