Dec to have new I'm a Celebrity'¦Â co-host while Ant recovers, ITV boss reveals
A new co-host has been chosen to replace Ant McPartlin, ITV's director of television Kevin Lygo told the Edinburgh TV Festival, but he declined to reveal who it would be.
Donnelly's long-time presenting partner will be taking the rest of the year off after stepping back from TV commitments and public appearances following a drink-driving conviction which saw him banned from the road for 20 months and fined £86,000.
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Hide AdThe duo have presented the programme in the Australian jungle together since it began in 2002.
Lygo joked: '˜It's going to be Piers Morgan. No, I don't know, it could be Jeremy Corbyn. I can't say.'
Speaking about McPartlin, Lygo said: '˜The good news is that he's doing really well, he's doing everything he should be doing to get better.
'˜We collectively thought, let's give it a good amount of time off, this is a slow procedure, that's what we've decided to do.'
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Hide AdThe duo's programme Saturday Night Takeaway will not air next year while McPartlin takes his break.
Lygo said: '˜With Takeaway, it's not coming back because we do an enormous amount of work for it now before it airs in February and March, and it's a lot of work and I think it was important for Ant, from his point of view, to not worry about doing any work.
'˜They're so amazing and honest and professional and fastidious about their shows.'
Lygo reckoned Ant and Dec's favourite show is Saturday Night Takeaway: '˜They're so proud of it and they want it to be perfect and bigger and better.'