Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have responded to Piers Morgan’s attempt to dethrone them at the National Television Awards, asking: “Piers who?”
The annual ceremony is taking place on Thursday night at London’s O2 Arena, with comedian Joel Dommett on hosting duties.
Geordie duo Ant and Dec have won best TV presenter for 19 years in a row but Morgan has set his sights on stopping them from making it 20.
Asked about the challenge on the red carpet, McPartlin told the PA news agency: “Piers who?”
Donnelly joked: “Was he the guy who used to be on telly?”
McPartlin then said: “Oh yeah him. I think I remember him.”
Morgan was nominated following a turbulent first half of 2021 which saw him depart Good Morning Britain over incendiary comments about the Duchess of Sussex.
He is also up against Bradley Walsh and This Morning stars Holly Willoughby and Alison Hammond.
McPartlin admitted he was more “more nervous tonight than normal”.
“Because it would mean a lot – 20 out of 20 – it really would,” he added.
Donnelly said: “We know the run will come to an end at some point. We just hope it is not this evening. It would be nice to get to 20. But you never quite know. But let’s see. We have got everything crossed.”