Ant McPartlin jokes I’m A Celeb medic Bob will replace Declan Donnelly in next series of Saturday Night Takeaway

ANT McPartlin lined up I'm A Celebrity medic Bob to replace Declan Donnelly on Saturday Night Takeaway.

The veteran jungle medic was called into action to rule Rebekah Vardy out of the Fear Factory Bushtucker Trial, before turning his attention to Dec.

With a concerned look on his face, Ant said to Dec: "Oh no, you're looking a bit peaky yourself. Can we get Bob, can you look at him for a second?"

The medic cast his eye over the Geordie funnyman and jokingly ruled him out of presenting the next link.

A put out Dec loitered in the background as Ant smiled, threw his arm around Bob and said he'd be a worthy replacement on Saturday Night Takeaway after he stepped in and read the link.

Earlier this week Ant and Dec have confirmed they will return to TV screens for a new series of Saturday Night Takeaway.

The announcement came after speculation that Ant may decide to scale back his telly work following his stint in rehab during the summer.

But staying true to form, Dec confirmed the show would still go on while ribbing his best pal.

Ant had made a remark about the sheer number of different T-shirts this year's camp mates have been wearing.

When asked who was paying for them all, Dec replied: "You! Has nobody told you?

"You've given up your fee for the next series of Saturday Night Takeaway."

Ant asked: "So I'm doing the whole next series of Saturday Night Takeaway for free?"

Continuing with the joke, Dec replied: "Don't be daft. You're getting one of these T-shirts with Kez's face on."

A member of the crew then tossed Ant one of the bright blue tees.

The news will delight fans, as it was feared the Geordie duo may put a halt to the popular TV show following Ant's health woes.

In the summer, Ant spent two months in rehab to treat an addiction to painkillers.

The presenter's descent into dangerous prescription drugs came after he damaged his knee in 2014, then had a botched operation on it the following year.

Speaking to The Sun On Sunday in August, he said: “Initially I was prescribed co-codamol, codeine, the normal stuff you would get, and then a lot of opium-based stuff. As a general rule, anything that is opium-based can be addictive.

“I would go for it first because it would make the pain disappear and kind of numb it.

“But then we found my pain had been caused by a hole in my knee bone — it was shot.

“I was moved on to tramadol, which is where the real problems started.”

He added: “I was at the point where anything — prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs — I would take.

";And take them with alcohol, which is ridiculous. The doctors told me, ‘You could have killed yourself’. ”

Now clean, fans were delighted to see Ant return to Australia earlier this month for the launch of this year's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!.

In the opening episode, Dec was seen hugging his BFF as he told him: "It's good to have you back!"

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