Gogglebox viewers were left divided by a scene featuring a dog on Friday evening’s episode, with many calling it “cruel” and “callous.”
After hundreds of comments flooded social media, Ellie Warner apologised for roughly pushing her pet away, saying: “Sorry everyone.”
The incident happened at Ellie and Izzi’s flat, when they were eating dinner. Ellie spilled baked beans on her lap and jumped up as she complained about being burned by the hot food.
As she did so, she pushed her puppy, Mick, away – a move that many animal lovers were upset by.
One viewer tweeted: “WAY TOO ROUGH. CALLOUS.” As a second moaned: “Please be careful, this breed is so fragile 😓💔.”
Another said: “Not a good way to treat her dog! She is a monster.” While another furiously added: “Very cruel treatment of that little dog and done in a way that suggests it’s frequent and acceptable. Those girls should not have a pet.”
A fifth wrote: “Don’t like her pushing the dog away like that. The dog should be outside the room when they are eating.”
Others thought it was especially mean as the Italian Greyhound is only six months old, with one complaining: “Not a nice way to push that poor puppy. It’s your own fault!” A second blasted: “Way too rough with that puppy. Doesn’t deserve a dog. Not the dog’s fault.”
Some even claimed to have spoken to the RSPCA, tweeting: “Animal mis-treatment will not be tolerated even for cheap laughs on this show, this has been reported @RSPCA_official.”
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Ellie took to Twitter to explain her actions, writing: “Sorry everyone, was scolded by burning hot beans, the foot stool is literally a foot from the floor so Mick was not hurt. I love my dog and would never hurt him and I also would not let him eat Kentucky fried chicken as it is not suitable food for dogs.”
Many others rushed to defend the TV star, with one fan commenting: “Never doubted you for a minute!!! Mick is so cute 😍.”
Another said: “No harm done. Would have been more harm to him if he had got to that chicken dinner. Well, I say harm but I mean your soft furnishings lol.” A third wrote: “I’m sure she is training him, she’s had him months. Give her a break man.”
A fourth added: “You can clearly see the dog is fine!” While one more moaned: “Ohh give it a rest with the RSPCA stuff, the dog ain’t abused, I hate when dogs come sniffing around. #Gogglebox.”
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This clearly hit a nerve with people. There are a lot of animal lovers out there…
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