Former I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Aggro Santos has called for rape suspects to be given anonymity until they are convicted.

The 24-year-old Brazilian-born rapper, who was cleared of two counts of rape earlier this month, said being named in the press had “tarnished” his reputation, despite his acquittal.

He was accused of raping two girls he had taken back to his hotel rooms after performing at gigs at the University of Chichester summer ball in 2011 and at a club in Somerset in 2010.

Santos, who appeared in ITV’s Australia-based jungle reality show in 2010, said defendants should be “protected” until any conviction.

He told ITV’s Daybreak programme that his ordeal had been like living in a “mental prison” for almost two years and accused the media of writing about his case as if he had been found guilty.

He said: “It is fair to do a trial with a jury. But I think the people accused have got to be protected until they are found guilty. I went through the whole trial system, I was acquitted, but it doesn’t change, it was reported and it is still there.”

Standing under his real name Yuri Santos, the jury at Chichester Crown Court acquitted him in less than two hours of both charges after a seven-day trial. His friend and co-defendant, Tyrelle Ritchie, 22, was also found not guilty of a sexual offence.

The pair said the sex with the two women was consensual.