Dec will NOT host I’m A Celebrity alone, ITV announce

Declan Donnelly will not host I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here alone, it’s been announced.

Dec’s usual co-host Ant stepped down from TV commitments earlier this year to seek treatment in rehab and recently confirmed he would not be back on TV until 2019.

In a statement (on August 9), Ant said: “My recovery is going very well and for that to continue having spoken to Dec and ITV, I have made the decision to take the rest of the year off. I’d like to thank both Dec and ITV for their continued support and I look forward to getting back to work in the new year.”

Dec added: “Whilst I am obviously sad at the thought of being without my best friend in Australia this year, I am proud of the work Ant has been doing privately and I am fully supportive of his decision. I’m looking forward to us both being reunited on screen in 2019.”

Now ITV have confirmed that Dec will be getting a new co-host for I’m A Celebrity this year.

ITV’s director of television Kevin Lygo made the announcement at the Edinburgh TV Festival, joking: “It’s going to be Piers Morgan. No, I don’t know, it could be Jeremy Corbyn. I can’t say.”

Speaking about Ant, he added: “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.

It was previously confirmed Scarlett Moffatt will NOT join Dec on I’m A Celebrity for this year’s series, despite rumours.

Instead, former Queen of the Jungle Scarlett will be back to host the Extra Camp spin-off for a second series.

She’ll be joined by comic Joel Dommett and regular Joe Swash down under.

Holly Willoughby is reportedly the favourite behind the scenes to join Dec.

Although Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway co-star Stephen Mulhern has been rumoured, but sources say producers are keen for a woman to join Dec.

A source explained: “Producers feel like whoever replaces Ant needs to be a woman to make a difference to the show, otherwise it would just look like a like-for-like replacement. That would risk it falling short for viewers.”

I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here typically launches in November on ITV.