Saturday Night Takeaway fans were left angry and disappointed after Ant and Dec confirmed that the show is being cancelled next week.
On Thursday, ChronicleLive reported that next Saturday's episode of the Geordie duo's much loved ITV programme had been cancelled to make way for live coverage of England's Six Nations rugby game against France.
The rugby will take over the channel for over three hours, meaning the final of new talent show Starstruck is also being delayed.
Plenty of Takeaway fans had already voiced their upset about the scheduling change prior to this week's show, but there was even more reaction after Ant and Dec confirmed the bad news live on air.
READ MORE: Saturday Night Takeaway cancelled by ITV next week
As cameras rolled after an ad break, the presenters were seen talking to crew members, with Dec saying: "You may have heard that there is no show next week because of he rugby," as boos and sighs sounded out around the studio.
Dec added that, with next week's episode scrapped, they were treating the Takeaway team to 'a middle of the series party, with Ant joking it was all going on Dec's credit card.
Twitter was quickly awash with angry tweets about the rugby replacing Saturday Night Takeaway, with one viewer using a string of crying emojis to highlight their sadness, adding: "No #SaturdayNightTakeaway coz of rugby...would rather my Saturday night takeaway."
Another fumed: "Just heard that Saturday Night Takeaway is not on next week because of bloody sports. Takeaway is popular and millions people like it why can’t they put the rugby on a different channel. Ruins my Saturday night telly," with a third reacting: "Should put the rugby on itv4 not on itv people should be able to watch Saturday night takeaway not everyone likes rugby."
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