TV presenter Stephen Mulhern has credited Ant and Dec for his upcoming ITV show that “celebrates the great British public”.
Appearing on Friday’s Good Morning Britain, the 41-year-old tipped his hat to his Saturday Night Takeaway colleagues for the spin off show – In For A Penny – he will front when it airs next spring.
And with SNT’s 2019 series postponed as Ant takes time away from telly work, it is rumoured that In For A Penny could replace the show it originally appeared on in the TV schedules.
“Look, this is the idea of Ant and Dec, this is not my idea,” Stephen told Kate Garraway, Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins.
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“They came up with it, we did it on Saturday Night Takeaway.
“Thank goodness it went down well, we’ve spent the last six months recording it.”
Describing the programme, which sees Stephen stopping people in the street to play silly games – as long as they have a penny on them – for a cash prize of a thousand pounds as a “good laugh”, the entertainer also pulled on his golden sequinned jacket for an impromptu round with the GMB hosts.
Challenging them to guess exactly how long 15 seconds is by counting in their heads while he timed them with a stopwatch, Kate and Richard were both very determined but ultimately unsuccessful.
Read more: Stephen Mulhern says ITV refused to replace him when he became ill during BGT auditions
To prevent accusations of cheating, they even removed their earpieces which help producers communicate with the hosts during the show.
Charlotte, however, managed to nail the 15 second stopwatch challenge – and Stephen generously agreed to make a donation to the Motor Neurone Disease Association to mark her feat.
He also emphasised how the appeal of In For A Penny lay in seeing winners receive their winnings.
“I think people forget how much a thousand pounds means to people,” said Stephen.
“You’ve got shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire where you can win huge amounts of money – but one grand to give to somebody, you see their reaction.”
Britain’s Got More Talent fave Stephen also spoke about his upcoming hunt for the best Nativity play in the UK.
A panto veteran of 17 years himself, Stephen revealed he would be the Narrator for the live transmission of the winning production, due to be broadcast to an audience of 4 million.
“I’m really excited about it,” he said.
“It celebrates everything about Christmas, it celebrates everything about happy times.”
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