ITV offers Ant a year off... but he’ll still get £5m
So will co-star Dec have to go it alone?
ITV may have to do without their star presenting doubleact Ant and Dec for a year, it emerged last night.
Ant McPartlin has been offered a sabbatical as he battles an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol.
Six months after ITV agreed the terms of a three-year, £15million ‘golden handcuffs’ deal, the broadcaster has given him its full support – and the prospect of a paid year off.
it means his on-screen partner Declan Donnelly may have to go solo for the first time in 23 years.
the offer is expected to relieve much of the anxiety the 41-year-old feels as he prepares to spend his third day in a £6,000-a-week rehab facility.
Last night a television insider said: ‘it is all still too early to say for sure what will happen, but all anyone wants is for Ant to get well again.
‘he and Dec are the backbone of the ITV family... Ant has the network’s complete and utter support.
‘Formally, Ant has no work commitments until November and obviously the hope is that he will be completely better by then, and able to fulfil them. But ITV will not rush him in any way, and the feeling is he must take as long as he needs. if he wants a 12-month sabbatical, frankly he deserves it.’
Should the Britain’s Got talent star decide to take ITV up on its offer, it leaves the possibility of Donnelly, 41, presenting alone.
A friend of the duo yesterday insisted ‘no conversations’ about the possibility had yet occurred, adding: ‘At the moment it is not an issue.’
McPartlin shocked fans at the weekend by revealing he was entering an exclusive residential clinic.
it follows a botched operation on his leg two-and-a-half years ago that left him with a fractured kneecap – and led him to develop a dependency on painkillers such as tramadol.
Yesterday, Scots TV presenter Lorraine Kelly told of her own ‘horrible’ experiences after being prescribed the drug following a horse riding accident at a charity event in 2012.
On her ITV show Lorraine, she said: ‘When i had my really bad accident i was on tramadol, and it’s seductive... it makes everything fantastic but your head is full of cotton wool and it’s horrible and it’s not real.’
the 57-year-old added: ‘if someone like Ant can get depressed through an injury, and all of that spirals out of control, if it can happen to someone like that, it can happen to anybody.’
McPartlin has no work commitments lined up until i’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of here! returns in November. the pair’s show Saturday Night takeaway resumes in February, as does filming for BGT.
the star is understood to have promised his family not to take on any unnecessary projects.
A friend said: ‘Ant knows his health is the number one priority. he will be more selective about the things he says “yes” to going forwards and presumably will be turning down far more work than he accepts.
‘he loves his job but doesn’t want to burn out again.’
Last night, an ITV spokesman said: ‘We are sending Ant our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and, of course, he has our full support.’