Ant and Dec explain real reason why they are stopping Saturday Night Takeaway after 20 seasons

Ant and Dec have revealed the real reason they aren't filming Saturday Night Takeaway anymore.

The iconic presenting duo announced last year that they will be stepping away from their Saturday night flagship show after 20 seasons.

The season finale aired on 13 April after a two-hour extravaganza, and it’s clear that the boys were emotional.

Ant and Dec first launched the show in 2002 and have co-produced as well as presented it each year.

And since their initial announcement, both presenters have opened up on the reasons why they have decided to end the show.

‘We will do our best to go out (for now) with a bang in 2024’

The first announcement came in the form of an Instagram video back in 2023.

Ant began the video by saying: “Hi everyone.

“You see, in 2024 it will be our 20^th series of Saturday Night Takeaway, and we’ve got some very special look-backs planned, as well as some very exciting new items.”

Dec then followed up by saying: “And we’ve also decided that our 20^th 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 bit of a rest.”

However, they said their final series would take place in 2024, so it wasn't the end just yet.

Ant and Dec announced in 2023 that they would be taking a step back from their iconic show. (ITV)

‘It’s a nice time to turn the page’

In an interview with Fault Magazine in February, Ant elaborated further on why they decided to take a break, saying: “I feel like it’s a nice time to turn the page, and it will give us time to reflect.

“You can’t think of a different version of Saturday Night Takeaway while Saturday Night Takeaway is on air. You need to be away from it.”

His co-host agreed: “I think what happened when we took a break last time, we started to miss it.

“We started coming up with lots of ideas and going, ‘Oh, that would be amazing’.

“We want to give ourselves that same opportunity this time to miss the show and just see how we feel and where that takes us.”

Reflecting on their monumental careers on TV, Ant said: “When you’re in it, you don’t get a chance to look back at what you’ve done because you’re always looking at what’s next.

“Now we’re going into the final one; we’ve been able to look back at some of the stuff that we’ve done.”

'Our lives have changed dramatically'

Talking to the Independent in February, Ant said ending the show 'will be bittersweet, with lots of tears, but it feels like the right thing'.

Dec added: “Twenty series just feels like a natural point to pause, we still have a momentous series to look forward to first.

“So we will do our best to go out (for now) with a bang in 2024.”

Talking about the real reason they are taking a hiatus from the much-loved show, Dec said: “We don’t want to say we’ll never do it again.

“But we’ve both got families now. Our lives have changed dramatically.

“We want to step off the hamster wheel, catch our breath and decide what’s next.”