I’m A Celebrity hosts Dec Donnelly and Ant McPartlin are the glue that have held the reality show together for the past 20 years.
They have only been separated on screen for one run across the 22 series that have aired.
That came in 2018, as Ant took a break from TV for a year as he focused on his health and personal issues. Holly Willoughby stepped in to partner Dec in Australia instead.
Dec has previously opened up about feeling “hurt” and “angry” about Ant actions. And he even admitted he thought their decades-long friendship might be over.
I’m A Celebrity Dec on being ‘hurt’ by Ant
Ant and Dec first met as young teenagers on Byker Grove. They went on to have chart success as PJ and Duncan before moving into TV presenting.
But following Ant’s drink-driving incident in early 2018 that saw him fined £86,000, Dec wondered whether their partnership might be over.
Speaking during Ant and Dec’s DNA Journey, which aired in 2019, Dec confessed: “It has been a tough couple of years and it has tested the bond we have shared since we were 13 years old.
Ant never came to me and that hurt me a lot.
“I was incredibly angry at the start, so angry. Disappointed that he didn’t ever come to me and say ‘I am struggling, I need you’ because that is what I would do if the shoe was on the other foot.
“He never came to me and that hurt me a lot.”
‘I thought that was it’
The fallout – which also saw Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway temporarily rested – even left Dec pondering whether their bond was finished.
He explained: “There was a point where I thought that was it.
“There were times where I wasn’t sure it was going to survive. Times where you didn’t know it needed to survive or you wanted it to survive.”
Dec continued: “All the while he was away I wasn’t sure where his head was at. Or if he was going to say ‘none of this is for me’.
“I didn’t know what he wanted to do and for the first time in 30 years I had to think about what I was going to do and if I was going to go out on my own. The thought of that filled me with fear.”
And an affected Ant also reflected at the time: “The last few years have been quite emotional, hard.
“They have been testing, I would say. In terms of how strong your love is and how strong your friendship is.”
Thankfully their TV partnership has recovered – and Ant returned to I’m A Celebrity in 2019.
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I’m a Celebrity 2022 continues tonight, Tuesday November 15, on ITV at 9.15pm.
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