Ant and Dec’s emotional finale of Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have given an emotional farewell to Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend, leaving both the pair and viewers in tears.

The concluded the episode with a special musical performance alongside McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.

On social media, one fan wrote: “Ant’s crying, Dec’s crying, I’m crying 😭😭 #SaturdayNightTakeaway”

Another added: “Awwww this is so wholesome!! I’m not crying you are!!🥹#SaturdayNightTakeaway”

And a third posted: “I can’t cope with the boys crying 💔😭😭 Going to miss this show so much”

Speaking about the show’s conclusion, Ant expressed a mix of excitement and nostalgia.

“I can’t quite believe it will be the last show, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed making this final series. I know it’ll be an emotional night but we intend to give Takeaway viewers a party to end all parties!” he said.

Dec added: “It’s been mixed emotions all week as we’ve been planning and rehearsing this final show. Saturday Night Takeaway is very special to us. We’ve made this two-hour finale show a real celebration of all things SNT from over the years.”

Both hosts hinted at a significant yet temporary farewell, with Ant stating, “It will be a big goodbye,” and Dec adding, “…for now!”

Speaking before the the last episode, Ant shared of the epic two-hour finale: “It’s genuinely the biggest Saturday Night Takeaway we’ve ever done! We’re taking over the whole of TV Centre, it’s going to be chaotic, unpredictable and hopefully very entertaining….anything could happen!”

Dec detailed the logistical scale of the final episode. “Everything is supersized for this very special live farewell show – we’ve got 3 stages, our main studio stage and two brand new purpose-built stages outside TV Centre.”

The episode included last instalment of ‘GOOME Revenge’. Ant said: “It’s truly horrific! After the office revenge that we showed last week, Dec and I were sent to a restaurant for dinner and had no idea which celebrities would be in our ear. The minute I heard Gino D’Acampo and Davina McCall for our starters I knew the night would go downhill very quickly!”

Dec recounted the challenge: “I still can’t remember what made us think this would be a good idea! Gino & Davina, Oti & Olly and Rylan, Holly & Cheryl all took it in turns to give us the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. It was excruciating. I think the audience will enjoy watching us squirm!”

In addition to the pranks, the finale featured the biggest ‘Happiest Minute of all time’, the final ‘Win the Ads’, a supersized ‘Singalong Live’ with Kaiser Chiefs, Tony Hadley, and S Club, and an upgraded ‘Ring My Bell’.

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway airs on ITV1 and ITVX.