Gone Grub! I'm A Celeb... producers have taken witchetty grubs off the Bushtucker menu in case they offend aboriginal Australians who enjoy eating them

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Blended cockroaches, whisked up fruit flies and amalgamated camel hoofs have all been consumed by contestants on the current season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

But one recurring delicacy that has been noticeably absent from this year's Bushtucker Trial menus is the infamous witchetty grub.

Producers have decided to strike them from the show because of their cultural relevance in Australia.

The large, pale cossid moth larvae, named after the roots of the witchetty bush they feed from, are evidently considered every day fare for aboriginal Australians. 

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Gone Grub: I'm A Celeb... producers have taken witchetty grubs off the Bushtucker menu in case they offend aboriginal Australians who enjoy eating them

Look what's coming to dinner: Blended cockroaches, whisked up fruit flies and amalgamated camel hoofs have all been consumed by someone on the current season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Ray Mears, who is a bushcraft expert, has previously said that forcing the contestants to eat these creatures is 'disrespectful of the culture'.

Mears said that punishing a non-Australian by making them eat a grub is the equivalent of making a non-Brit eat a roast potato; he said: 'The witchetty grub that the aboriginal people depend upon is a vital, important source of protein.

'It was a very important thing and it has a religious significance and so for us to go and make fun of that without showing any kind of respect is very disrespectful.'

Mears also previously hit out at survival reality shows such as I'm A Celeb... as a genre.

'The survival stuff has taken a different angle on television, which I'm not really very comfortable with,' he said. 'I like to deal with the real subject, not the hype.'

This year's series of the immensely popular show has featured Bushtucker Trials involving downing insect-laden concoctions, walking a plank from a skyscraper, inserting celebrities' heads into boxes rats and swimming through cages filled with eels and water lizards.

However, the 16th season is yet to outdo last year's most shocking trials, which saw the likes of Ferne McCann eat a live spider and lie still as a snake coiled itself around her neck.

She McCann do it: Last year's third place contestant Ferne was one of the last to experience the taste of a witchetty grub on the series

Disrespectful: Ray Mears, who is a bushcraft expert, has previously said that forcing the contestants to eat these creatures is 'disrespectful of the culture'

Treading carefully: The expulsion of the witchetty grubs come a week after the series was slammed for disrespecting Australians as a nation, let alone singling out Aborigines

The expulsion of the witchetty grubs comes a week after the series was slammed for disrespecting Australians as a nation, let alone singling out Aborigines.

Presenters Ant and Dec were filming the reality show in Queensland, and appeared to brand citizens of the country ‘uncouth layabouts who barely wash’.

Speaking about Scarlett Moffatt's installation as camp president, Dec, 41, began: ‘As you know this job is about ruling over a group of uncouth layabouts who rarely wash and can barely light a fire.'

To which Ant, also 41, replied: ‘Basically, it’s like being the Australian prime minister!’

The banter certainly did not impress Australian Senator James McGrath, who said: ‘That’s a bit rich coming from a pair of TV presenters. I wonder what was the last book they read that didn’t need crayons.’

Loose lipped: Queensland MP George Christensen said ‘Far be it for me to take offence of the inane ramblings of some reality TV show star wants to spew out'

Australian entertainer Roland Roccichiolli took particular exception to the slight and added that it was his home nation that invented the shower.

He said: ‘Australians are drunks and layabouts and they don’t wash?

‘We invented the shower! Australians invented it. When I first started going to England, there was no air conditioning and no shower.'

He added: ‘It was such a silly comment to make. I think it is disrespectful, and I thought it’s ill-bred. I would never go to England and make a comment like that.

‘I think they’re loose-lipped anyway. If you watch them on the television it’s what I call smart alec television. They’re really loose-lipped and quick witted and sometimes the mouth goes into action before the mind goes into gear.

Compare and contrast: Mears said that punishing a non-Australian by making them eat a grub is the equivalent of making a non-Brit eat a roast potato

Queensland MP George Christensen said: ‘Far be it for me to take offence of the inane ramblings of some reality TV show star wants to spew out, but actually there’s a long-standing joke in Australia about the Brits not washing, so.

‘Well I don’t know if it’s based on b*****t or historical fact but the story goes that you don’t need to shower over there because it’s so cold. Here in Australia we shower twice a day because it’s that bloody hot!

‘A joke is a joke, but it’s a bit daft to be in our country and be making remarks like that to say Australians are not the stereotype that people have. I think most British folk would understand, we do love a drink, that’s for sure. But we do wash as well. ‘

An I’m a Celebrity source said: ‘The comment was made in jest to the Australian crew in a lighthearted tone that viewers would recognise as being a long established part of the past 15 years of I’m a Celebrity and was delivered in that spirit.’

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! airs nightly on ITV from 9PM.