Why Little Ant and Dec left Saturday Night Takeaway

Here’s why Little Ant and Dec won’t be back on Saturday Night Takeaway this year (2018).

The tiny duo are now a bit too big for their roles, and won’t be replaced.

DigitalSpy reports that Little Ant and Dec – real names Neil and Haydn – are instead going to focus on their school studies.

They are the second mini-mes, after the original Little Ant and Dec who appeared on the show when it aired in the 00s.

“Ant and Dec are funny guys and often add their own jokes but most of the time this team of five writers are the ones who make them shine,” a source added to the Daily Star.

“They prefer being behind the scenes and just beaver away coming up funny one-liners and banter for the lads. They just want to make the show a success.”

Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway concludes its latest series on TV this evening.

While Little Ant and Dec won’t be appearing, we can still expect plenty from the full sized Geordie duo including big name showbiz guests, high octane stunts and challenges, ambitious undercover set ups and a whole host of live shocks and surprises to unleash upon both the studio audience and us viewers.

But what else is in store? This year’s new series features a star packed blockbuster whodunit. After ‘Who Shot Simon Cowell?’ and ‘The Missing Crown Jewels’, this year will see another epic series of sketches.

Ant and Dec will be seen trying to rescue David Walliams who has been kidnapped by a mystery baddie.

Olly Murs, Katie Price and Holly Willoughby will all be involved in the sketches.

“The boys’ whodunnit sketches are a really closely guarded secret,” a source told The Sun newspaper. “But they always manage to milk their contact books and get the cream of the crop of the industry to appear in them.”

They added: “They put a lot of time and effort into making them a key part of the series and fans seem to love them.”

Meanwhile, This year the Geordie duo will once again be joined by I’m A Celebrity winner and Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt, who first appeared on the show last year.