A 16 year old girl has given her family an "out of this world" experience after they appeared on Saturday Night Takeaway so that she could ask her step dad a very special question. The family, from Hucknall, appeared on the show on Saturday, March 11, so that Rihanna Dudley could ask Nick Dudley, 35, if he would adopt her.
Nick and Rihanna's mum, Katie, have been together since 2019 and he was thrilled to be asked and they are now in the adoption process. Many fans were left in tears during the emotional episode, and Rihanna had lots of help from Notts County FC, family, friends and the studio audience.
The football team were shown holding a giant banner that read 'Will', followed by the audience holding signs up to read 'You' before family and friends set off a drone display that read 'Adopt Me'. Rihanna then asked the big question, and he replied "Of course I will" before tearing up.
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Katie and Rihanna had organised the whole thing with ITV over the course of six months, multiple phone calls and visits to the studio. Initially Katie had seen a post on Facebook looking for people wanting to ask a big question, as as adoption was something Rihanna had been asking about for some time, Katie sent the organisers a message looking for more information.
She explained she was "surprised" to find out the post was organised for ITV and they ended up having around fifteen phone calls about everything and the "ins and outs of why Rihanna wanted to be adopted." Katie explained that Rihanna's dad sadly passed away when she was only eight weeks pregnant.
Katie said: "Then they said can we come down to ITV so we can talk to you a bit more about it. I went down before Christmas, but I had to lie to my husband and say I was going Christmas shopping in London.
"Me and Rihanna had been planning it with ITV for about six months if not a little bit longer. He didn't have a clue, and it was the hardest thing keeping that kind of secret."
Rihanna described the whole experience as "fun" although it was a bit "nerve kicking" once the cameras were on. She added: "It's exciting that I got to practice with Ant and Dec and they were really supportive.
"It was really good and I did enjoy it." She went on to say that loads of her mates cried after watching the episode. Nick, a funeral service operative, originally thought he was going on the show to play 'Win the Ads' which is a competition on the show.
He said: "I remember my wife saying you need to wear a suit, and that's where I was thinking I watch the show pretty much every week and all these contestants that play Win The Ads don't wear the suit, but I thought ok I'll go along with it. We got placed in our seats, had a few sound checks and rehearsals.
"Then about 15 or 20 minutes into the show, there was a segment saying ask a question." He explained there was a few segments of other people asking big questions ad then the camera spun onto him.
Nick stated: "Ant and Dec said there's someone that would like to ask you a question, but we'd like to pull you onto the sofa. I go down onto the sofa, Ant and Dec start to ask a few questions and then Rihanna comes on stage.
"She had concluded with Notts County, family and friends and studio audience to ask me a question. She could have asked me at home, she could have asked me at the park, she could have asked me in the car it still would have meant the same."
He described it as "a surreal moment" and was "almost like reading a Hollywood script." Following the show, Nick, Katie, Rihanna and her little sister Demi, 11, all got to go to Universal Studios in Orlando for a week's holiday and to film the End of Show Show.
Katie said: "The end of show show was amazing. It was an out of this world experience to be fair. The being on TV and the going to Florida it was all a really nice bonus don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the whole reason as it was for the adoption more than anything else."
Nick said: "We went for a week, we went Easter Bank Holiday weekend it was the Monday to Monday. It was the end of show show. We had our itinerary and our schedule but we had ample time free in the park, so we had like four days family time."
During their time there they also had an exclusive party at Volcano Bay and got to spend more time with Ant and Dec. Nick added: "Nothing was ever too much trouble for them.
"Ant was going round the water park with his own family." Rihanna added: "Yeah it was really good to be honest, and they were more down to earth than anything else and it was really fun."
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