Ant will be off screen until 2019
… and Saturday night show won’t return for over a year
ANT McPartlin has pulled out of co-hosting I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! months after his drink-driving charge.
The presenter will leave his sidekick Declan Donnelly to present the programme without him for the first time since the show began in 2002.
McPartlin, 42, also announced he and Donnelly had made a ‘joint decision’ to put Saturday Night Takeaway on hold next year as he takes a break from TV commitments until 2019.
The TV host, who entered rehab for the second time following the crash and has had the Alcoholics Anonymous symbol tattooed on his arm, was banned from driving for 20 months and fined £86,000 after pleading guilty to being more than twice the legal limit.
He said in a statement: ‘ 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.’
McPartlin, who earns around £6.7million per year, added: ‘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.’
Donnelly, 42, said: ‘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.’
It is not clear whether Donnelly will present I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here, which starts in November, on his own or with help from another presenter.
ITV director of television Kevin Lygo said the channel was ‘completely supportive of Ant taking as much time as he needs in his recovery and of the mutual decision to rest Takeaway in 2019’.
He added: ‘Ant is clearly making good progress and we wish him all the very best and look forward to him returning to ITV next year.
‘An announcement on I’m A Celebrity plans will be made in due course.’
Following his drink- driving charge in March, McPartlin has stepped back from hosting duties and public appearances.
This saw Donnelly host the Britain’s Got Talent live shows solo for the first time earlier this year.
He also hosted two Saturday Night Takeaways by himself. Until then, Donnelly had not appeared on TV without his friend since they met on the set of Byker Grove nearly 30 years ago.
The news comes days after McPartlin was pictured enjoying a trip to the cinema with his girlfriend Anne-Marie Corbett on Sunday night.
McPartlin, who was dressed in a baseball cap and shorts, announced his split from wife Lisa Armstrong in January.
Miss Armstrong, 41, who married McPartlin in 2006, is thought to be devastated by the TV star’s new relationship with their former personal assistant. She was said to feel ‘betrayed’ by Miss Corbett, 42, who split from her own husband only in October.
Miss Corbett was understood to have been helping McPartlin since his arrest.
She is also said to have a good friendship with Donnelly’s pregnant wife and former manager Ali Astall.
Miss Armstrong, a make-up artist on Strictly Come Dancing, has criticised her former friend Miss Corbett on Twitter.
She claimed to have found out about her estranged husband’s new relationship only through media coverage.