Ant McPartlin once genuinely feared his co-star and best pal Declan Donnelly ‘was a goner’ after a stunt went wrong.
The Geordie TV presenters are back on our screens this week with the 20th series of the beloved ITV show Saturday Night Takeaway.
Ant and Dec will then be taking a hiatus from the beloved weekend entertainment show, as Ant becomes a dad and Dec spends time with his wife and two children.
Ahead of the new series, the Britain’s Got Talent presenters, both 48, did some reflecting on years gone by, including the stuff that worked and the stuff that, well, really didn’t…
While they love Saturday Night Takeaway with all their hearts, Ant and Dec actually had a brush with death.
Speaking to The Independent, Ant said: ‘Remember the White Helmets motorcycle display team who were always on Blue Peter? They trained us to jump through a ring of fire on motorbikes.
‘Dec went first, while I was put in a soundproof booth so I couldn’t see his leap distance. I waited and waited. Eventually, I thought, “Something’s gone wrong here.”
‘I came out to see that all the White Helmets had formed a ring around Dec, who was lying on the ground.’
It was at this point that Ant feared the worst.
‘I was like, “Oh my God! It’s going to end like this?” For a split second, I genuinely thought he was a goner. Thankfully he was ok.’
While Dec was ‘ok’, he didn’t escape unscathed.
‘Well, I broke my arm, my thumb, and suffered a concussion,’ said Dec. ‘But I wasn’t dead.’
‘He’d come off the bike, flown through the air, and landed badly,’ Ant shared.
‘They hadn’t formed a circle out of respect for a fallen comrade. It was to hide him from any lurking paparazzi.’
The stunt was for their super competitive Ant vs Dec slot, where the pair go head-to-head in challenges.
‘I tend to lose, which is deeply annoying,’ Ant joked, laughing about how he ‘definitely wouldn’t have lost anymore if Dec died.’
‘By default, my death would mean you’d won. Unluckily for you, I’m still here,’ Dec quipped.
For the 20th series, Ant and Dec have brought back old favourite SNT segments, including Ant vs Dec as well asLittle Ant and Dec, who have been recast after the previous ones, well, grew up.
And Ant himself is going to have his very own Little Ant in his life very soon.
The Byker Grove alum is expecting his first child with wife Anne-Marie Corbett, 46, with their baby expected to arrive in June.
While pregnancy rumours have been swirling for a while, the couple remained tight-lipped on their news.
However, Ant finally acknowledged his impending fatherhood for the first time in an interview with Fault Magazine ahead of the series launch.
Ant explained how both he and Dec – who has a daughter and a son with Ali Astall – needed a break after this new season because of childcare duties.
‘Part of the reason we’re pausing Takeaway is we need a break ourselves, and we need to spend some time with our family,’ he said.
‘We’ve both got children that we need to spend time with for a little bit.’
Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway airs Saturdays on ITV1 and ITVX.
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