Dec: Ant’s my only Bush mucker
I’m a Celeb host rules out fronting hit show without his battling ‘brother’
DECLAN Donnelly has told friends he “would never” host I’m a Celebrity without Ant McPartlin.
Dec, 41, is confident his co-star will make a full recovery from prescription drug and drink problems.
Reports suggested This Morning’s Holly Willoughby could join Dec in the jungle this year on the ITV show. But a friend said: “Dec wouldn’t work on screen without Ant on any major show and he has said the last thing he would do is go to Australia without him.
“To say he’d consider working with Holly was ridiculous. He’s a good friend of hers but he’d not do that to Ant. Ant and Dec are a team with a huge emotional bond, they are like brothers.
“They’ve got months to sort things out. The hope is Ant will bounce back.”
Ant checked into rehab last month, after he revealed his problems to wife Lisa and Dec. While suffering chronic knee pain, he became hooked on the drug Tramadol and went on binges.
ITV bosses have said that if he did not recover before November they could get new hosts or delay the show.
A TV source added: “It is business as usual, trying to sign up celebrities and think of new Bushtucker trials.”