Ant McPartlin lathers hands in sanitiser as Saturday Night Takeaway fans slam live audience amid coronavirus crisis

ANT McPartlin lathered his hands in sanitiser in tonight's Saturday Night Takeaway as he poked fun at the coronavirus pandemic.

The presenter smiled as a crew member squeezed hand gel onto his palms before he rubbed them vigorously together.

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⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

Meanwhile Declan Donnelly recreated the Namaste sign he and Ant used to greet Prince Charles with earlier in the week.

The show opener received a mixed response, with some finding it amusing while others found it insensitive.

One viewer wrote on Twitter: "@itvtakeaway Only @antanddec can take the Mickey out of the Coronavirus and yet make me [laughter emojis]."

While another said: "Lads, Ant & Dec just opened with hand sanitiser getting poured into their hands... In front of the hundreds of people in their live audience. Wtf?."

Others criticised the show's decision to go ahead with a live studio audience after the cancellation of many large gatherings.

Saturday Night Takeaway's finale in Florida has been cancelled due to coronavirus.

The comedic duo planned to fly 300 fans out to Disney World Orlando on April 4, but the park has since made the decision to shut its doors.

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A statement from ITV read: "We will no longer be broadcasting the Saturday Night Takeaway finale from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

"Walt Disney World has made the decision to close, beginning on Monday 16 March until the end of the month.

"The wellbeing of all our prize winners, as well as our production team, is always our number one priority.

"All recipients of a ‘Place on the Plane’ prize will have their prizes honoured and flown by Virgin Holidays for a 5-night stay at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida at such later date when it is practical for Virgin Holidays and Walt Disney World Resort to fulfil the prize."

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Earlier this week it was revealed that Disney World Orlando is closing for the month following 42 cases of coronavirus reported in Florida.

It came after President Donald Trump banned all travel from Europe to the country.

Saturday Night Takeaway went ahead this evening with a live audience despite an in-house memo alleging the “preferred option” would be for producers to air shows without audiences.

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Amid ongoing coronavirus concerns, a statement from ITV said that the "wellbeing" of guests and the production team is "always our number one priority" but that they would not be cancelling the 200-strong crowd for this weekend's episode.

The show relies heavily on audience participation, however,  reports that the decision comes after a memo was sent in-house to staff revealing that network bosses were “assessing all productions” and calling on producers to note that the “preferred option” would be no audience.

The Sun Online contacted ITV for comment.