Ant McPartlin will not be back fronting live TV until next year, Stephen Mulhern has suggested.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, hosted by McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, is due to air later this year and traditionally kicks off in November.
But Mulhern, who hosts Britain’s Got More Talent, told Best magazine: “Fingers crossed, Ant will get the treatment he needs and be back to his old self for next year.
“But he does need the rest and to be left alone, and given the time to recover.”
Stephen Mulhern hosts Britain’s Got More Talent (Joe Giddens/PA)
ITV has already confirmed that Donnelly will be hosting the live Britain’s Got Talent shows without his TV partner of almost 30 years.
Mulhern said: “I think that Dec has been incredible about the situation, and he’s doing so well on his own.”
McPartlin, 42, was banned from driving for 20 months and fined £86,000 after pleading guilty to driving while more than twice the legal limit following a crash in Richmond, west London, on March 18.
The TV presenter said he was “ashamed and mortified” after crashing his car while drink-driving with his mother in the passenger seat.
McPartlin’s barrister said his client had been seeking help for “alcohol and emotional issues” at the time of the incident.
Best is on sale now.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here