LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s leading animal welfare body and the country’s farming union condemned Channel Five’s TV reality contest "The Farm" as reckless and irresponsible on Tuesday.
The show, which aired the first episode of its second series on Monday, pits minor celebrities against each other as they struggle to learn farmyard tasks such as cutting wool from sheep and conducting internal examinations on cows.
The programme’s first series last year gained notoriety after it showed Rebecca Loos, a woman who claims to have had an affair with England soccer captain David Beckham, using her hand to collect semen from a pig.
"This is not reality television, it is shabby television, and it is irresponsible because there is a great danger of causing distress and suffering to the animals, all in the name of entertainment," said Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA’s Farm Animals Department.
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National Farmers Union Vice President Meurig Raymond said: "operating a modern farm business is a highly skilled profession governed by strict regulations covering everything from animal welfare to environmental stewardship.
"Celebrities playing farm does not reflect that reality."
Channel Five said it and the programme’s producer, Endemol, had consulted the government’s agriculture department, DEFRA, for the first series and had found no problems with animal welfare.
It said broadcast regulator Ofcom had also reviewed and passed the programme.
"As with last year’s show, our first priority is ensuring that the highest possible standards of farming are met and that all livestock is treated with the utmost care and attention," Channel Five said.
Contestants on the programme, now its second series, include former Hungarian porn star and Italian MP Cicciolina, actress Emma Noble -- the ex-wife of ex-Prime Minister John Major’s son -- and Charlene Tilton, who played Lucy Ewing in 1980s TV soap "Dallas".
