Cat Deeley humiliated Declan Donnelly by playing prank on him in first meeting
Cat left Dec red-faced the first time they ever met but they went on to forge a two-decade long friendship
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Cat Deeley and Declan Donnelly have been great pals for more than 20 years, but she has finally revealed the story of how the pair’s friendship actually began.
The pals formed an instant connection after Cat humiliated Dec in a cruel prank at their first meeting – cementing their banter-filled relationship which has stood the test of time.
Cat, 43, shared the story with Zoe Ball on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Thursday morning.
Ant McPartlin, Dec and Cat were on the show to announce a special one off SMTV reunion show as they relive their fond memories from the iconic Saturday morning kids show when Dec goaded Cat to reveal how their friendship began.
Dec, 44, told host Zoe: “Ask her the time she stitched us up on the first ever meeting with her [when they were auditioning for a co-host].
“We met Cat, she was the first person we met.
“She stitched us up a treat and we thought, if you’ve got that much brass neck, you’ve got the job!”
Cat, who recently upped sticks and quit living in Los Angles after 14 years to move back to London to raise her kids, explained how that meeting unfolded.
“So basically what happened was, we’ve got mutual friends in common, and I knew that one night they’d been out to this Chinese restaurant in Chiswick and Dec had behaved a little bit badly and been a little bit rude to this couple sitting next door on the next table… you know, just being a bit cheeky,” the telly star began.
“Anyway, they said to me ‘Look, you’ve got to pretend that you’re the girlfriend of person that…’.
“I said I can’t do that, I can’t do that. They’re like seriously, just go for it.
“They won’t remember, it will be great, and I was like ‘No, no, no, I can’t do it’.
“Anyway I met them and had such a lovely time and were laughing so much and we instantly got along and I thought, you know what, I’m going to do it… and I said to him ‘Actually Dec, we have met each other before. I don’t know if you remember, but you were actually really rude to my boyfriend who we were sitting next to you at that table’.”
Cat struggled to contain her giggles as she recalled how Dec went bright red – mortified at himself.
She continued: “He went bright [red], I’ve never seen, I mean they don’t get embarrassed very easily.”
Cat told how Dec held his head in his hands and repeatedly told her “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” before Cat finally put him out of his misery and revealed the prank.
“I let it go for about 30 seconds and then I was like ‘Nah, not really!’
“Ant was absolutely cracking up and was like ‘She got you, she got you!’”
The prank had the desired effect as Cat recalled how she got a phone call while in her cab home and was told to come in for a screen-test as the duo didn’t want to see anyone else.
“And so began a beautiful friendship. Thank goodness,” Zoe commented.
Cat confessed their friendship has been based on “taking the mickey out of each other permanently” ever since.
While on the airwaves with Zoe, Ant and Declan confirmed they have already filmed their SMTV reunion show that will air later this year.
MirrorCeleb