Lorraine Kelly has given her thoughts on Declan Donnelly’s decision to continue presenting without Ant McPartlin.
Dec, 42, announced on Wednesday that he will front the final two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway without Ant, 42, who is returning to treatment after being charged with drink-driving.
Read more: Ant McPartlin charged with drink-driving
Discussing the situation on her ITV show on Thursday, Lorraine said: “We were talking about this yesterday and I said, ‘Why not? He could go on.’
“Who knows what will happen. Nobody knows what will happen. It will take Ant as long as it takes to get better. And hopefully he will.
“Dec is a good presenter. He could end up being the Bruce Forsyth of this world, you don’t know.”
Lorraine also spoke about Ant’s decision to return to treatment; he first entered rehab last year for an addiction to prescription painkillers stemming from a painful knee op.
“Ant just needs to get better and he needs to take as much time as he can,” she said.
“There are suggestions he came back too quickly. I know it was his decision to come back to do I’m A Celebrity, of course it was, but he came back too fast so he just needs… there is no time, you can’t put a time limit on it.
“Everyone is different and everyone’s experience is different.”
Ant was charged with drink-driving on Wednesday, after being involved in a three-car collision in South West London on Sunday afternoon.
He is scheduled to appear at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on 4 April.
The star’s representative has said Ant will return to treatment and take time off work for the foreseeable future.
A statement said: “Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments. He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future.”
This weekend’s Saturday Night Takeaway has been cancelled.
The final two episodes of the series, including the finale in Florida, will go ahead as planned with Dec taking the reigns.
In a statement, Dec said: “Whilst I never thought I’d be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we’ve decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead.”
“We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.
“Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.”
He signed off: “Dec x.”
A similar statement issued by ITV confirmed that Dec will present the final two Saturday Night Takeaway episodes without Ant.
It read: “ITV can confirm that Saturday Night Takeaway, presented by Declan Donnelly, will return on March 31, and the series finale will be taking place at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida a week later.”
This will mark the first time Dec has presented without his TV partner.
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