Ant’s back
TV’s most popular double act reunite for Britain's Got Talent
ANT McPartlin has spoken of his delight at returning to work, telling fans: “I’ve missed you, it’s good to be back.”
The TV star, 43, yesterday made his comeback on Britain’s Got Talent, co-hosting with pal Declan Donnelly after almost a year off.
Ant stepped away from his screen roles last March following his arrest for drink-driving.
But the duo were all smiles as they arrived at London Palladium theatre, and were greeted on stage by chants of “Ant! Ant! Ant!”
Dec said: “We’ve got our judges back, our golden buzzer and someone else is back. My co-host, Ant.”
Ant responded: “Oh God, I’m really emotional now. I’ve missed you all. What a great show to come back to.
“Let’s move on before I cry. It’s good to be back.”
Earlier in the day, the pair shared a photo as they travelled together to the theatre, captioned: “BGT 2019. Audition day 1. The boys are back in town!”
Show boss Simon Cowell told the audience ahead of the day’s auditions: “I’d like to say welcome back, Ant. We missed you. It’s just not the same without you.”
Referring to fellow judge David Walliams, he added: “Even though Dec was brilliant, it just wasn’t the same. It would be like me not being with David, I’d be happy but not as happy, if that makes sense.
“So you’re back, we’re back, we’re family,”
Dec, 43, hosted BGT’s live shows alone last year. Ant was in pre- recorded audition episodes, but stepped down after his arrest for being more than twice the limit.
In April, he was banned from the road for 20 months and fined £86,000, and went in to rehab.
Ant, who also stopped hosting Saturday Night Takeaway, had previously struggled with painkiller addiction after knee surgery.
At the end of last year, Dec co-presented I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! with This Morning’s Holly Willoughby instead.
She reacted to the reunion by tweeting: “Woooohooooo!”
The BGT team, including judges Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden, have six days of auditions in London and four in Manchester.
Simon got off to an awkward start by leaving his car with his jeans’ zip open.
He later encouraged Ant and Dec to get back on stage for an audition involving maypole dancers, with all the judges joining in except for Simon.