Declan Donnelly has confirmed he will return to ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’, to present the rest of the series without Ant McPartlin.
Earlier this week, Dec’s usual co-presenter stepped down from all TV commitments to return to rehab, after being arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.
While this weekend’s episode of ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ was pulled from the schedules as a result, Dec has now issued a statement to say he will return on 31 March to present the remaining two episodes of the series without Ant by his side.
“Whilst I never thought I’d be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we’ve decided that the remaining two shows of this series of ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ will go ahead,” he said.
“We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.
“Everyone at ITV and the ‘Takeaway’ team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.”
An ITV spokesperson added: “ITV can confirm that Saturday Night Takeaway, presented by Declan Donnelly, will return on March 31, and the series finale will be taking place at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida a week later.”
However, ITV has not confirmed if he will be joined by a new co-host, or will present the show alone.
Meanwhile, it still remains unclear what ITV has planned for the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ live shows, which Ant was due to present with Dec in May. Auditions for the upcoming series were already filmed earlier in the year.
The pair had previously vowed one would never work without the other, revealing details of a pact in their 2010 autobiography, ‘Oh What A Lovely Pair’.
Ant said: “We made an agreement – whatever happened, we’d be mates forever and neither one of us would ever be on our own out there.
“If it all ended tomorrow, we’d still speak ever day, we’d still see each other all the time and we’d still be best mates,” Ant wrote. “And that’s something we’re both very proud of.”
Ant was released under investigation in the early hours of Monday morning (19 March), after crashing his Mini into two other cars in Richmond, south west London on Sunday.
The star has had a difficult year after spending two months in a rehabilitation facility for an addiction to prescription painkillers last summer, following a botched knee operation.
In January, he also announced his split from wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong.