Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are reportedly set to clinch a £30million ‘golden handcuffs’ deal with ITV to keep the beloved Geordie duo on the broadcaster for three more years.
The Saturday Night Takeaway stars’ current contract reportedly ends next year, but ITV is said to be determined to keep the pair from rivals like Amazon and Netflix.
Ant and Dec, who are both 46, are fresh off their latest BAFTA entertainment award win, after years of fronting the likes of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain’s Got Talent and Limitless Win.
The Geordie duo’s new deal, which is said to be £15million each, will see them through to their 50th birthdays as two of the best-paid stars on television, according to insiders.
A source told The Sun : “They both still seem to have the Midas touch when it comes to making programmes.
“Keeping them on board is a shrewd move for ITV, who view them as their two biggest stars — with no sign that’s going to change in the near future.”
They added: “Execs at the channel are also conscious of the fact that competition in TV is fiercer than ever and there are some big streamers with deep pockets waiting in the wings.”
Ant and Dec took home the entertainment award earlier this month at the BAFTA TV Awards for another successful series of Saturday Night Takeaway, which aired during the pandemic.
This comes after Ant and Dec paid a heartwarming tribute to the Queen as part of her Jubilee celebrations.
The dynamic duo bagged themselves a high-profile gig leading the coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday on ITV in 2016.
It turns out that the Queen actually personally requested the popular Geordie’s to lead the celebrations.
On the Graham Norton Show, the pair revealed that they were asked to host the event because the Queen had wanted them.
"Apparently she’s asked for us to do it," they explained. "We don’t really know how it happened but can only imagine she’s called Charles and asked if he knew anyone that could do it?
"And he’s said, 'I’ve just met a couple of lads who’ve been following me around for a year.'"
The revelation came after Ant and Dec presented the ITV documentary When Ant and Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years of the Prince's Trust.
They said: “We were invited to stay at [Prince Charles'] house in Scotland. It was the weirdest thing. We thought it would be a massive place and we would stay in another wing but it is a house and we stayed in rooms next to Charles.”
But from what they have to say about their cheeky antics during filming, it may come as a surprise that they left such a good impression on the royals.
The pair continued: "We shared a butler and as we were going to bed he asked if we’d like anything else and we asked for two bottles of wine.
“We then got drunk with our wives but we were very conscious that Charles was down the corridor so as we got louder every now and again one of us would go, ‘Shush, he’s in bed!’ It was very bizarre."
