Ant and Dec lost power struggle with ITV over I’m A Celeb UK location

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly lost a power struggle against ITV over where the upcoming 2020 season would film.

The long-running reality celebrity popularity contest was thrown in to chaos this year due to the coronavirus pandemic forcing filming in Australia to be abandoned.

Show bosses are said to have committed millions to transforming Gwrych Castle, at Abergele in North Wales, into a filming location for the new series.

However, it seems 44-year-old hosts Ant and Dec were forced to eat some humble pie as producers ignored their pleas to film the upcoming 20th season close to their native Newcastle.

The Sun claims "long-serving hosts Ant and Dec hoped their status as the show's long-running hosts would give them sway in saying where it was filmed."

And the boys pitched castle ideas close to Tyne and Wear where they were both raised.

But Dec admitted to Steve and Karen's Breakfast Show on TFM: “I said we should put them all on Holy Island, let’s all go to Lindisfarne (castle), get them all there.”

While Ant said: “You’ve got Warkworth castle, we pitched a lot of castles – we tried."

The requests fell on deaf ears with the show now set to take place in the “haunted” grounds of Gwrych Castle this autumn.

With filming taking place in the UK for the first time ever, the show hosts admit they are as anxious as regular viewers to see how it will turn out.

Ant said: "There is going to be a real curiosity for what it’s going to be like, from us more than anybody.

"It’s going to be fun, everybody loves I’m a Celebrity and we are used to it being one way and we are doing it a different way – let’s see what happens."

While the official 2020 line-up is yet to be revealed, an inspired cast of rumoured contestants has been debated for the past few weeks.

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Declan DonnellyAnt McPartlinI'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of HereITV