Ant and Dec will host I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2019, it’s been confirmed.
TV host Ant McPartlin missed 2018’s series after taking a year out from TV work.
Holly Willoughby stepped in to help co-host alongside Declan Donnelly but Ant and Dec will reunite in the autumn.
ITV producer Richard Cowles has confirmed Ant will definitely be back this year.
He said at a talk at BAFTA: “We love what Holly did, but we’re very much looking forward to Ant coming back and I think it’s going to be an amazing series. I think the job is for us to create a series and cast where everyone wants to come back and watch more, so I’m not worried [about ratings].
“I’m looking forward to seeing Ant and Dec back again.”
According to The Sun newspaper, this week the pair filmed a promo for the series.
A source shared: “The boys are in a boat which has got lost on the way to Oz, it ends up going through all sorts of different continents and they get bombarded by bad weather, snow, rain, blistering sunshine and everything in between – before finally make their way to Australia in time to host the show.”
Ant previously admitted he found it hard to watch last year’s show.
However, he still found out how Dec and Holly got on thanks to an awkward blunder by an ITV executive.
“I’ll tell you a funny story. I told the senior executive at ITV that I’m not going to watch the show because it will be hard for me,” he said. “I turned me phone on and a text came through from a senior ITV executive. It just said: ‘Congratulations on a hilarious opening, well done you two. He’d clearly gone to text Holly and Dec but texted me.
“I replied: ‘Funny, I didn’t see it myself.’ But I let Dec know about it. It was funny. I was fine by that point.”
Ant went on to tell The Sun: “I’ve seen bits since I’ve got back. I thought they’ve done a great job. I thought Holly was fantastic. I thought she was a real tonic for the show.
“Me and Dec are long in the tooth now — we’ve seen every Bush Tucker trial there is. So to see someone’s reaction for the first time. I knew she’d be a success. The line-up was brilliant.”
Meanwhile, Ant said about returning for the next series: “That was the great thing about Holly. It was a one-year gig. That was the brief, a one-off.
“I was thankful that it was her because she was looking after my mate out there and looking after the show. And she doesn’t need the work — she can’t get off the telly!”
I’m A Celebrity airs on ITV.
Celebrities rumoured for the new series include footballer John Barnes, TOWIE’s Gemma Collins and singer Frankie Bridge.
