- Music
- 20 Mar 18
After video footage of him ploughing his car into another vehicle went viral yesterday, Ant McPartlin of Ant & Dec fame is stepping down from his ITV show to seek treatment for his addiction issues.
Ant only got out of rehab recently, but will once again be taking time off for "the foreseeable future", according to his publicist, in an effort to deal with his battle with prescription pills.
He was reportedly under the influence of alcohol and/or certain substances when the crash occurred.
The accident, which saw Ant questioned on the scene by police before being formally arrested, resulted in a three-year-old child being taken to hospital to be treated for injuries.
Prior to this new incident, Ant had already faced a “tough year” by going into rehab and then separating from his wife.
ITV will now not be able to air 'Saturday Night Takeaway' this weekend and will now have to consider how they will handle a further two more episodes of the seasons scheduled to be screened in the coming weeks.
The final episode was to be filmed in front of a live audience in the USA, but Ant made the decision to pull out of filming it after a long conversation with his sidekick Dec.
"Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments," stated his publicist.
"He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future. As such, Saturday Night Takeaway will not be going ahead this Saturday."
ITV said in a statement: "ITV has taken a joint decision with Ant and Dec’s team not to broadcast Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend.
“We will be reviewing options for the last two episodes of the series ( March 31 and April 7 ) which would not feature Ant who is taking time off to seek treatment. We very much hope that he gets the help that he needs.”
Ant is not the only high profile star to crash his car while under the influence in recent days. Irish international football star has been suspended by his club Sunderland after being arrested on drink-driving charges.
This is the second time that the Northern Ireland-born footballer has been arrested for drink-driving and, according to media reports, he now faces the realistic possibility of being axed by his club.
The Board and chairman are understood to be against the idea of offering the former Man U player a new contract and will allow him to leave when his current expires, according to reports this morning in the British media.
Sunderland chief executive Martin Bain said: "We expect the highest standard of behaviour from our players.
"Should any individual fall short of those standards then robust action must be taken."