25 February 2024 , 11:30
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Declan Donnelly was left in agony after he had an accident during a challenge on Saturday Night Takeaway.
The 48-year-old reunited with friend and long-time presenting partner Ant McPartlin for the latest series of the game show on February 24, before they both take a hiatus from the show.
Last night's instalment of the show started with the Geordie duo on the roof of the studio, dressed in colourful suits and challenged to climb two tall towers, racing to press the buzzer on top first. The Ant vs Dec challenge went without incident - that is until it took an embarrassing turn for Dec, who was left in excruciating pain when his harness got wedged at an unfortunate angle between his legs.
Dec was left grimacing in pain after his harness malfunction (ITV)Stephen Mulhern, who was the Guest Announcer, was left concerned, saying: "Oh he looks in pain!" Ant asked Dec: "Are you OK?" Dec reassured them that he was OK.
Ant pressed him, asking: "Did you get your b***s stuck?" Dec nodded as they all started laughing. When he was asked about the challenge, Dec said: "It was alright until I got to the ledge and turned around, it’s really high up!"
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The pair announced that the show would be taking a break after 20 series, saying the "milestone" felt like the "perfect time" to take a break to focus on their families - with Ant set to become a dad this year.
Dec opened the show, saying: "Hello and welcome to a brand new series of your Saturday Night Takeaway." After being greeted by applause, Ant said: "You're a brilliant audience welcome to the show everyone and welcome to series 20."
Donnelly added: "I actually can't believe the first episode of Saturday Night Live was almost 22 years ago," before showing a photo of the pair from June 8 2002 - their first show. They also showed photos of their hand-picked audience, showing snaps from years ago of people sitting in the studio and at home watching the live show.
Before they kicked off with the challenges, a couple of Saturday Night Takeaway superfans were surprised with tickets to watch the show from the studio as it was kicking off. The pair also revealed they selected every member of the 411-person audience, which was filled with foster parents and fundraisers. To thank their incredible live audience, who they announced had raised £40 million for charity between them, they gifted them all a getaway prize.
The series previously went on hiatus in 2009, before returning four years later in 2013.