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BREAKAWAY
Ant and Dec sensationally QUIT Saturday Night Takeaway after 20 series leaving fans devastated
ANT and Dec are stepping down from Saturday Night Takeaway after 20 years, The Sun can reveal.
The duo want to “rest” the multi-Bafta-winning show from next year - and will work on new formats.
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Tonight Ant, 47, said: “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.”
Dec, 47, added: “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.”
The duo released a video on Instagram at 6pm tonight confirming the news.
Dressed smartly in suits to deliver the message, the pair said: "The show takes up such a lot of our year. We just feel we need a little bit of a breather."
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They signed off by exclaiming: "Let's get to work."
Fans were devastated by the news.
One wrote: "Noooooooo this show is my sat night! Don’t rest it too long."
Another said: "SNT is my favourite show! What will I do with my Saturdays nights after 2024."
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A third posted: "What I am devastated close to flipping tears happiest show on tv as well but u deserve a rest."
A fourth said: "Awww you deserve a break from it but please don't let it be too long! Xxx."
The popular Geordie duo will film a full-length series, as normal, in 2024 before stepping back to pursue other projects.
Their £30million golden handcuffs deal with ITV will continue until at least 2025, and they will continue to host I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, Britain’s Got Talent and Limitless Win, all of which air across ITV1 and ITVX.
A source added: “Ant and Dec have been at the forefront of British TV for the past 25 years, and remain absolutely at the top of their game.
“But they do not take their success - and the endless NTA awards - for granted, and know that they can never get complacent.
“They constantly want to innovate and produce amazing, fresh content that appeals to all demographics and every generation.
“Neither Ant or Dec would ever want Takeaway to look tired and have seen other shows, like The X Factor, became slightly stale and look dated.
“Much like when James Corden quit The Late, Late Show, they want to go out on a high, with the public still wanting more.
“And this is exactly what they’ve done. But it really is the end of an era - and there will be a gaping void in ITV’s Saturday night schedule come 2025.”
The smash series has spawned several iconic segments including Win the Ads, Undercover (featuring a raft of household names), Get Out Of Me Ear, The End of Show Show and the Happiest Minute of the Week.
The most recent series launched in February with ITV1’s biggest overnight audience of the year - 6.4 million viewers - and the biggest entertainment audience across any channel.
The series, which has featured celebs including Victoria Beckham, Simon Cowell, Kevin Costner, Daniel Radcliffe, Robbie Williams, Michael Buble and Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, and previously took a pause in 2009. The rejigged show returned four years later in 2013.
And it has managed to stand the test of time despite some controversies along the way.
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Most notably, it was found guilty of fraudulent activity in 2007 due to the way it selected finalists for its competitions following an external investigation.
The hosts publicly apologised and the show remunerated competition entrants and donated profits from the next series to charity. The financial cost was reported to be an eye watering £18 million.
Saturday Night Takeaway's Best Bits
2013 – Victoria Beckham
Using their school-age counterparts, Little Ant and Dec for an interview with Posh Spice made for television gold.
The mini-me’s, played by James Pallister and Dylan-McKenna Redshaw, asked: “My mum says that you called your son Brooklyn because that’s where he was conceived. What does conceived mean?”
Grimacing, she replied: “Conceived means where I was when Brooklyn ended up in my tummy.”
2014 – Louis Walsh
One of Ant and Dec’s best ever Get Out Of My Ears segment involved the then X Factor judge Louis.
As he welcomed a team of unknowing decorators into his home, Ant and Dec fed lines into his ear – including: “You’re made it through to judges’ houses” as they walked over the threshold.
2016 – Simon Cowell
Ant and Dec’s Who Shot Simon Cowell became one of their best mini-movies on SNT.
The miniature series followed a whodunit murder story with Ant and Dec in the frame for the crime.
Absolutely no one saw the real culprit, Pudsey the dog from BGT, coming.
2018 – Gordon Ramsay
The Geordie duo pulled off an epic undercover on Gordon.
After dressing up as two dodgy handymen the pair locked the sweary chef in his dressing room and then pretended to be suffering from food poisoning in his private toilet.
Ant and Dec later said: “Gordon Ramsay was quite angry. He kind of got it, but he’s just an angry man. He’s just quite terrifying when he’s staring right at you.”
2020 – Bradley Walsh
The Chase host was caught out twice by Ant and Dec – and both times he failed to rumble them.
Ant and Dec first fooled Bradley in 2005 and left him so angry he had to be “driven around the block” a few times to calm down.
They returned 15 years later to do the same again, this time speaking to actors playing contestants and making them say ridiculous things.
Then as the game reached a huge climax, a fire alarm went off – with Ant and Dec rushing in dressed as firemen to cool off Bradley, who knocked their heads together.
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