Declan Donnelly has said he was keeping his Bafta-winning shows “warm” for Ant McPartlin until his co-star was ready to return to TV.
The presenter said he was simply trying to do his best for his friend and on-screen partner until McPartlin returned from his hiatus following a drink-driving conviction.
Donnelly said that, following the Bafta success of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here and Britain’s Got Talent, that he is “cool” for work.
He said: “It’s been a tough year personally and professionally. I was just trying to do my best, and just keep the shows warm for him for when he was ready to come back.
“And they have both won Baftas, so how cool am I?”
I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! wins for Reality & Constructed Factual! 👏 🐨 #BAFTATV pic.twitter.com/HKps8z61Dq
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 12, 2019
Donnelly also said that audiences can go to Question Time for conflict following a peaceful last series of I’m A Celebrity, to which he confirmed Holly Willoughby is unlikely to return.
He said: “We we are in the world socially, it was nice that there wasn’t any of the arguing. There’s too much of that. Just watch Question Time for that.”
Donnelly said that his co-presenter Willoughby considers her time Down Under a “one year thing”.