Ant and Dec reveal why they’re ending Saturday Night Takeaway

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Ant and Dec have spoken out on their causes for ending their long-running TV present, Saturday Night Takeaway.

The presenting duo, each 48, introduced final 12 months that the twentieth season of their primetime selection present could be their final.

With the brand new season launching on Saturday (24 February), Ant and Dec expanded upon their determination to wind the present down, in a brand new interview with The Independent.

“Twenty series just feels like a natural point to pause,” says Dec (Declan Donnelly).

“We don’t want to say we’ll never do it again. But we’ve both got families now. Our lives have changed dramatically. We want to step off the hamster wheel, catch our breath and decide what’s next.”

Ant, aka Anthony McPartlin, added: “It will be bittersweet, with lots of tears, but it feels like the right thing.”

Dec has been married to their former agent, Ali Lister, since 2015, and they share a daughter and a son. Ant is anticipating his first youngster with his second spouse, Anne-Marie Corbett.

At the time of their preliminary announcement about Saturday Night Takeaway’s finish, the pair hinted that though there have been no concrete plans to increase the present additional than season 20, the door isn’t closed on a return sooner or later.

“We still have a momentous 20th series to look forward to first so we will do our best to go out (for now) with a bang in 2024,” Dec explained at the time.

The best friends and long-time entertainment partners first launched Saturday Night Takeaway in 2002.

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Although they co-hosted programmes prior to this, including the Saturday morning kids’ TV present SMTV Live, Saturday Night Takeaway marked the primary time that they’d had possession of one in every of their exhibits.

“We conceived it, we co-produce it, and it’s our names on the door,” Ant instructed The Independent, later including: “To have our own show, with our names in the title, in the heart of primetime felt like a huge feat for two lads from Newcastle.”

The pair will proceed to host exhibits corresponding to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win and Britain’s Got Talent.

Elsewhere within the interview, out on Saturday (24 February), Ant and Dec reveal their dream reserving for the programme, in addition to their causes for pulling one other grand prank on TV music choose Simon Cowell.

The twentieth (and presumably remaining) collection of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway launches on Saturday 24 February at 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX.