Little Ant and Dec now after awkward axing and replacement of child stars
The original little Ant and Dec will be missing from Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend.
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly's mini-me duo appeared on the ITV show several times over the years but the Geordie duo previously confirmed they were on the hunt for a new team to take over. From 2013, Neil Overend and Haydn Reid were the ones impersonating Ant and Dec, but prior to that James Pallister and Dylan McKenna were causing trouble as the presenters' pint size lookalikes.
ITV have decided to bring the duo back as the show gears up to take a break after its upcoming 20th series. Saturday Night Takeaway previously took a pause in 2009 before returning four years later in 2013. The original mini-mes were replaced in the tenth series in 2010 by Neil and Haydn.
The original mini-mes got up to a lot of hilarious mischief including dressing Katie Price in a fat suit, getting Ewan McGregor to teach them how to play the bagpipes and making Hugh Grant wear a pair of massive ears. On a shopping trip with Victoria Beckham, they cheekily tried to sign their son Brooklyn up for their beloved football club Newcastle United.
Little Ant and Dec met Tony Blair (PA)Then they attempted to dupe David Beckham into playing for their home team. They also got in hot water with Will Smith for jokingly making him wait over an hour while they mucked around in the swimming pool ahead of the Venice Film Festival.
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Little Ant and Dec even once visited 10 Downing Street to talk politics with then Prime Minister Tony Blair. After five years with the series, the original duo went back to their normal lives at school. Not only were the original too old to return when ITV bosses decided they wanted to bring back Little Ant and Dec – but Dec admitted the pair were both now "six-footers" and towered over the Geordie duo.
As the original duo moved on, neither of the pair moved away from the North East - with James going on to work as a vehicle technician for BMW before joining the RAC to help drivers in distress. Dylan even started his own nutrition business, helping people with weight loss, muscle gain and sports performance.
James went on to work for RAC (James Pallister/Facebook)
Orignal Little Ant and Dec star Dylan grew too tall for the Geordie duo (Dylan Mckenna-Redshaw/Facebook)Speaking about his change of career, James previously said: “I absolutely love my job. There’s nothing better than being out on the roads helping people who have broken down. I really pride myself on being able to fix most of the cars I go out to.”
During a reunion in 2013, Dylan snapped himself enjoying a beer with the actual Ant and Dec. He said: "It’s always good to see Ant and Dec again. They were shocked when they saw us, it’s been a few years since we have caught up and we are much taller!
"It was a really good experience. Me and James used to joke with Ant and Dec. They were great teachers! Looking back I guess we were able to be more naughty and cheeky than they would have got away with. Times have changed. I don’t think I look like a Little Ant now but I really enjoyed the experience and it's something I’ll never forget."
The original duo returned to Saturday Night Takeaway for the 10th series to meet their replacements – Neil and Haydn. The new duo also got up to trouble including beating Jennifer Lawrence in an arm wrestle, putting footballing legend Wayne Rooney through his paces on the pitch as well as having a tea party with Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson.
Speaking about the hunt for the new mini-mes, Ant said: “The original Little Ant and Dec obviously got very tall and older and were no longer very little and then the same thing happened with the second incarnations.” Dec added: “Everybody loved Little Ant and Dec so we thought, ‘Let’s bring them back one more time’. The great thing about them is they can go meet celebrities and ask those cheeky questions that we aren’t able to do.” Ant then said: “So we’ve found some new cheeky little Geordies to run riot on series 20 and we can’t wait for you to meet them.”
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