Ant and Dec nearly quit Britain’s Got Talent as show was becoming ‘waste of their time’

Geordie pair were left concerned by lack of screentime on show

Ant and Dec nearly quit Britain’s Got Talent after becoming concerned that they were being sidelined.

In their new joint autobiography, Once Upon a Tyne, the pair reveal that they had “serious conversations” with Simon Cowell in 2012 about whether to continue on the show, The Sun reports.

The pair apparently claim that they were spending hours every day filming jokes, reactions and interviews with the show’s auditionees, but that much of their material wasn’t being used in the show itself.

“We found that when the show went out on TV, we hardly seemed to feature in it at all,” they write. “We began to feel that we were wasting our time doing the auditions because all the footage of the work we were doing was ending up on the cutting-room floor.”

They continue: “The experience left us feeling like we were being sidelined … At that stage, it felt like it may as well have been anyone hosting the show and we said that when our current contract expired, we thought it was time to move on.”

After discussing their problems with Cowell, Ant and Dec ultimately decided to stay on Britain’s Got Talent. Cowell, however, had promised that the pair would be utilised more on the show, with their work no longer being edited out.

The pair have hosted the show since its debut in 2007, most recently presenting its 14th season.

Ant and Dec at auditions for ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ in early 2020 (Peter Byrne/PA)

Ant and Dec will soon return to ITV screens with the new season of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!

Unlike every other season of the show, which is shot in the Australian outback, it will reportedly be filmed in a castle in Wales due to coronavirus.