An adventurer competing on a survivalist reality TV show said he was driven to eat a protected bird by a “very deep need to eat”.

Spencer “Corry” Jones and team-mate Oliver Dev were disqualified from the Race to Survive show in New Zealand after killing and eating a weka, or Maori hen – a flightless and plump brown bird about the size of chicken.

The white water river guides from the US were racing other teams around checkpoints on New Zealand’s South Island with only what they could carry.

In footage from the show, Mr Jones apologised for disrespecting the country by eating the bird.

“It was shortsighted, it was foolish,” he said, before adding that “a very deep need to eat” was behind the breaking of the rules.

“We did have strategies in place for the racing but we didn’t prepare for hunger,” he explained, adding that the “mindset of starvation mode” took over, slowing down their thoughts and cognition.

New Zealand’s department of conservation has issued a written warning to the reality TV show following the incident.

The killing and consumption of a weka, a protected species, happened as Mr Jones and Mr Dev were battling the elements to survive and win a gruelling race.

The show, by Original Productions, thrusts nine teams of two into the New Zealand wilderness, tasking them with navigating rough terrain while also sourcing their own food and water.

The last team to reach any given checkpoint is eliminated until the show finds a winner. The winning team is awarded $500,000.

In a statement this week, New Zealand’s department of conservation said that it was aware that “cast members were fatigued and suffering from significant hunger, in an unusual group dynamic situation” but that killing and eating a native protected species was still “unacceptable”.

The authorities said they had been clear with the production company that protected species could not be harvested or consumed and that it had put the show “on notice” about the need to follow conservation rules, Radio New Zealand reported.

The department confirmed the company had alerted it about the incident shortly after it occurred.

The Telegraph contacted Original Productions for comment.

On its website, it warns that contestants “will need to endure physical pain” to win the prize. “The pairs must choose between the fastest route or the safest as they strive to cross the finish line,” it says.