Ant and Dec might be the nation’s favourite presenting duo, however, that doesn’t mean they haven’t had to overcome failure.
The duo, made up of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, first rose to fame as actors in Byker Grove. However, they morphed into popular television presenters and have been entertaining the nation for several decades.
Currently, Ant and Dec are appearing on our screens each week for the latest series of Britain’s Got Talent.
‘I think it’s the failures that shaped us the most’
From SM:TV, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway to BGT, Ant and Dec have fronted many household-name TV shows. That said, there was one show that didn’t go down well that many have forgotten about.
In a 2020 interview for Glamour Magazine, Ant admitted that it’s their “failures” that have “shaped us the most”.
He continued: “We have a show very early on called Slap Bang on a Saturday night and it didn’t work. It started off peak time and started getting earlier and earlier in the schedule. I think that that taught us you have to adapt. We went back, licked our wounds and went back to it.”
In defence, Dec added: “Not everything you are going to do is going to be a hit. I think you learn every day. You can’t buy experiences; all these experiences shape you.”
Ant and Dec learned ‘how far we could push things’
During the early days of their presenting career, Ant revealed they learned a lot while doing panto gigs.
“We learnt how far we could push things and the show was all the better for that. I think that taught us you really have to know your audience because you could see how they would react to things,” he said.
He insisted that “knowing your audience” early on in your career is “so important”.
Read more: Ant and Dec ‘working on Saturday Night Takeaway replacement’: ‘This is sure to be another success’
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