Saturday Night Takeaway bosses have crisis talk over Ant McPartlin’s arrest

OHMYGOSSIP — ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ bosses are still undecided about how Declan Donnelly will address his co-star Ant McPartlin’s absence from tonight’s (31.03.18) show.
The live light entertainment show returns to screens this evening with just Dec, 42, fronting the programme following his friend’s decision to check back into rehab after his drink-driving arrest, an offence he has now been charged with by police.
But producers are still deciding whether Dec will apologise for the incident, say nothing about the arrest but wish Ant well in rehab or ignore it entirely.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “Explaining Ant’s absence has been the hardest part of planning. The bosses are torn in regards to how they can hit the right tone.
“They want to be respectful to people involved in Ant’s car accident, while not bringing down the mood of the show. ‘Takeaway’ is all about having fun and they fear a sombre start may seriously effect the quality of the output.”
This will be the first time in 20 years that Dec has had to present without Ant by his side, so he’s understandably feeling the pressure ahead of tonight’s show.
An insider explained: “It’s going to be a strange feeling fronting the show on his own. But Dec is professional and is determined to do a good job.”
ITV made the decision to pull last week’s episode of ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ following Ant’s arrest but the broadcaster later confirmed that the final two episodes would be aired as normal but with Dec presenting for the first time on his own.
Speaking about going it alone, Dec said in a statement: “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.
“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.”

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