Ant McPartlin forced to apologise after 'golden' rule broken in final ITV Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant and Dec welcomed fans onto the show on Saturday night as the final episode following a 20 year run on ITV aired.

The final episode of ITV Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway descended into chaos tonight - after Ant McPartlin was forced to apologise for swearing. Ant and Dec welcomed fans onto the show on Saturday night as the final episode following a 20 year run on ITV aired.

During the final episode on Saturday April 13, Ant and Dec - the Geordie duo - brought back some of the show's most popular segments, including Ring My Bell, which gave three members of the audience the chance to win an eye-watering £500.

While chatting to the trio, Dec explained they would have to bring a duvet, a hat and a wheelie bin to the door to win. And Ant explained that the neighbours would need to ring the doorbell again and say the right phrase.

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It caused one guest to tell him: "Oh s**t'" Ant quickly said: "Apologies for any swearing from Mr Stevenage there." Ant and Dec stunned fans in May last year when they dropped their bombshell news that the 2024 season of Saturday Night Takeaway would be the last.

Taking to Instagram, the pair shared the shock news in a joint video statement. Ant began: “We love making Saturday Night Takeaway, but reaching the milestone of 20 series seemed like the perfect time to pause for a little while and catch our breath."

Dec then said: “We still have a momentous 20th series to look forward to first so we will do our best to go out (for now) with a bang in 2024.” Ant continued: “Next year in 2024 it will be the 20th series of Saturday Night Takeaway and we’ve got some very special look-backs planned, as well as some very exciting new items."

And Dec added: “And we’ve also decided that our 20th series next year will be our last one for a little while. The show takes up such a lot of our year, we just feel we need a little bit of a breather, and that the show is going to take a little bit of a rest.”