Saturday Night Takeaway returns to our screens once again this evening, ahead of hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly retiring the ITV show in order to spend more time with their loved ones.
Ant and Dec, both 48, have hosted Saturday Night Takeaway since 2002, but the latest series will the final offering from the Geordie duo for the foreseeable future.
“We love making Saturday Night Takeaway, but reaching the milestone of 20 series seemed like the perfect time to pause for a little while and catch our breath,” Ant admitted when announcing the shock news last year.
Speaking earlier this week, Ant spoke further about the reason for calling time on the popular series.
“On a more personal level, part of the reason we’re pausing Takeaway is we need a break ourselves, and we need to spend some time with our family,” the TV star admitted. He added to Fault magazine : “We’ve both got children that we need to spend time with for a little bit. We need time to think and, and time to step back and look at the bigger picture and just see where we are now.”
Ant shares two stepchildren with his wife Anne-Marie Corbett, after tying the knot with his former PA in 2021. However, Ant and Anne-Marie’s love story hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The Britain’s Got Talent presenter split from his former wife Lisa Armstrong in 2018. Just six months later, he was happily in a relationship with his ex-PA Annie, 45. This sparked a lot of gossip, but Ant insisted there was no betrayal involved.
“I don’t feel the need to defend Anne-Marie but I will say you’ve got to be careful judging other people’s relationships or what you think is the truth that’s been put out there,” Ant previously told The Sun. Friends close to Ant made it clear that Anne-Marie played no part in his split from his ex-wife Lisa, and likewise, Ant wasn’t involved in the end of Anne-Marie’s previous marriage.
Anne-Marie, who used to be Ant’s PA, has two daughters from her old marriage to businessman Scott Corbett. They split up in 2017, and now Ant is their step-dad. Talking to The Telegraph previously, Ant shared how he feels about being a step-dad as he and Dec started a new media course for young people without many chances, working with The Prince’s Trust.
“I’ve got two step-daughters, 13 and 15 and they are more socially aware at that age than I was in my mid-20s,” Ant said. “Than I still am.” He added: “It’s not going to be our generation that saves the world. Look at Greta Thunberg, single-handedly almost making the world aware of climate change. It’s that kind of energy that this generation has got and they’ll save the rest of us. We’re just trying to make it easier for them.”
