Ant and Dec are returning for the 20th season of Saturday Night Takeaway, which has been described as a "final-for-now".
After entertaining the nation since 2002, with a short pause between 2009 and 2013, Ant and Dec have decided the 20th season is going to be the last one for now, with the future of the series uncertain.
They're taking a break to spend time with their respective families, but have promised that season 20 will be a great send-off, and will include them revisiting an old Undercover victim to prank them for a second time.
Unsuspecting Simon Cowell is back for the new season, where Ant and Dec decide to prank him again, echoing when they got him the first time back in 2003, which is a fitting end for the segment.
In a press release confirming Simon's return, Dec said: "We are ending the Undercovers where we started… with Simon Cowell! Our first ever Undercover was on Simon in LA when he was a judge on American Idol.
"So we've gone back and got Simon Cowell again. We went out to LA and gave him the day from hell whilst he was judging on America's Got Talent."
Ant added: "It was even sweeter getting him the second time around because we also got him during his downtime as he’s riding his bike around Malibu, it’s very, very funny."
Meanwhile, in an interview with us, Ant and Dec spilled the beans on how the idea came about, with Ant saying: "We want it to be the biggest send-off, a celebration of the last 20-odd years. And who better for the final Undercover than Simon Cowell?
"He was one of the first celebs we pranked in 2003, posing as rappers at the American Idol auditions in Los Angeles. We decided to finish Undercover by getting him for the 20th series."
Dec teased that he fell for it a second time, adding: "He was not happy! We had different disguises but got him. We appealed to his ego, saying he was the first and now the last, so that calmed him down a bit."
A first-look clip of Simon's new prank has been shared to YouTube, where they're secretly watching Simon as he's riding his bike. They instruct a man dressed as a police officer to start tailing him, and it goes from there!
Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway returns to ITV1 at ITVX on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 7 pm.
