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Ant and Dec expertly shaded by unsuspecting prank victim on Saturday Night Takeaway

Hosts were left in hysterics by the prankee’s unexpected response

Jacob Stolworthy
Sunday 05 March 2023 10:13 GMT
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Ant and Dec expertly shaded by unsuspecting prank victim on Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant and Dec were expertly shaded by a prank victim on Saturday Night Takeaway.

On Saturday (4 March), the latest episode of the entertainment series was broadcast on ITV, and one segment saw the hosts trick guests at a London Premier Inn while they checked in.

As the hotel customers tried to get their room key, they were instructed to use an automated machine – however, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were hidden just yards away.

However, the presenters were overshadowed by an unsuspecting holidaymaker named Ernest after the pair revealed their identites.

Ernest’s initial reaction to the automated machine had audience members in stitches.

After pressing all the buttons, he ended up breaking the microphone, to which Ant, speaking behind the machine, told him: “Stop touching me.”

“I should be so lucky,” he fired back.

When Ant and Dec finally revealed they were behind the machine, Ernest, instead of appearing shocked in the slightest, immediately told them: “This is a bit of a down market job for you two. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

His response left the presenters, as well as viewers at home, in hysterics.

“Ernest on Saturday Night Takeaway was an absolute joy. What a guy,” one viewer wrote on Twitter, with another adding: “Ernest is the STAR of Saturday Night Takeaway.

Ernest on ‘Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’ (ITV)

Meanwhile, another viewer agreed: “Ernest on Saturday Night Takeaway was mint.”

A “cruel” prank featured in the first epsiode of the new series, which aired last month, was criticised by viewers for robbing a first-time parent of a special moment at his baby’s first scan.

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