Saturday Night Takeaway viewers fear it will be cancelled next week after Dec says they’ll ‘hopefully’ be back
SATURDAY Night Takeaway fans have been struck with fear the ITV entertainment show will be axed after host Dec Donnelly mused they would "hopefully" be back.
The panic over the weekend tea time show comes as the UK is gripped in a coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed the lives of 21 people, with more than 1,000 infected.
The live show went ahead - amid much controversy due to the mass gathering of a studio crowd - yesterday, with host Ant Mc Partlin seen dousing his hands in sanitiser ahead of transmission.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a ban on mass gatherings in an attempt to stop the spread of the airborne virus, in light of which Dec made a telling comment as he closed the show.
Shortly before the credits rolled, he told the camera: "We will hopefully be here next week."
Viewers were quick to pick up on the vagueness of his wording and took it as a hint the live series would not return next Saturday.
One cited Dec's words and replied: "Praying you will be @antanddec. I really want to see that Bradley Walsh undercover #SaturdayNightTakeaway."
Another mused: "Dec hinting that if there’s a ban on studio audiences (which there’s likely to be) that #SaturdayNightTakeaway might not air at all."
A fan then typed: "Ant & Dec saying at the end of tonight's @itvtakeaway that they would be “hopefully” back next week is perhaps a bad sign that ITV may be set to pull the plug on live TV shows within the next few days..."
One suggested: "Hopefully you are on next week! Could you do it without an audience?
"Like do live feeds to people’s homes for win the ads (which was the only audience interaction tonight)? I would rather have that then no show to be honest."
Another made the sweet comment: "Thanks @antanddec for cheering us all up, needed a giggle, hopefully see you next week but if not, look after yourselves xx"
Meanwhile, coronavirus was the buzzword underpinning Saturday Night Takeaway's live studio competition this week, where a woman was accused of deliberately losing so she could scoop a toilet roll as the booby prize.
Audience member Tara was plucked from the crowd for the lucrative Win The Ads quiz, presented by hosts Ant McParlin and Declan Donnelly.
The last place prize has always been one roll of loo roll - something which is now in huge demand due to coronavirus-sparked panic buying in shops across the UK.
Many stores have begged shoppers to stop bulk purchases of the bathroom product, as well as pasta and long-life milk, for fear "stock will run out."
As Tara failed to secure the major win in the segment, by getting a question wrong, she was instead rewarded with a roll - which some believed was a deliberate, strategic and savvy move.
ITV presenters Ant and Dec showed their sorrow at her loss, but one viewer quipped on Twitter: "Tara with her loo roll: I think we know who the real winner is here don't we?"
Another mused: "She just got that question wrong on purpose just for the toilet roll."
One ranted: "Lassie on Win The Ads on #SaturdayNightTakeaway just lost everything and won the toilet roll. Ordinarily, a s**t prize by all accounts. Not this week.
"She’ll sell that toilet roll and end up with more cash than all of the lost prizes were worth together..."
Another joked: "Tara answered wrong on purpose for the loo roll, we all know it #SaturdayNightTakeaway."
One then surmised: "That toilet roll is probably more valuable than all those prizes atm tbh #SaturdayNightTakeaway."
Yet it was not the only time during the show fans called out coronavirus.
They also highlighted the huge irony of a 'win a week off work' competition as coronavirus-sparked self-isolation takes hold.
Co-host Stephen Mulhern, who presents a gameshow spin-off , sparked a swell of reaction when he announced the ordinarily dream scenario for workers in the UK.
Yet, with the coronavirus pandemic in full force, already causing a total of 21 deaths in the country as well as sparking self-isolation and working from home measures, viewers of the ITV series were left calling out the irony.
It came on a day where the amount of cases of people suffering from the airborne illness in Britain hit 1,140, while the killer bug risk level was raised to high.
The UK is now in the delay phase, with social restriction measures to be introduced to try and slow the rate of spread.
Working from home procedures have already been implemented by some companies - sparking SNT fans to call out the competition's actual benefit.