Ant and Dec have spoken out on Twitter after Saturday Night Takeaway’s Florida finale was canceled due to coronavirus.
After the number of confirmed cases soared in the US there was speculation that the final episode of the new series, which would see the Geordie lads present live from Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Florida, would be under threat, and on Friday night, show bosses revealed it had been pulled.
An ITV spokesman said: “We will no longer be broadcasting the Saturday Night Takeaway finale from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Walt Disney World has made the decision to close, beginning on Monday March until the end of the month.
“The wellbeing of all our prize winners, as well as our production team, is always our number one priority. All recipients of a ‘Place on the Plane’ prize will have their prizes honored and flown by Virgin Holidays for a 5-night stay at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida at such later date when it is practical for Virgin Holidays and Walt Disney World Resort to fulfill the prize. ”
After a number of American shows made the decision to film their episodes without audiences as coronavirus spreads, there has been speculation UK shows might follow suit but Ant and Dec
have confirmed Takeaway will go on as normal, tweeting: “On our way in to prepare your # SaturdayNightTakeaway for tonight. We ‘re business as usual and will be for as long as we are able and allowed. We’ll do our best to bring you a few smiles. ”
Their tweet has been met with widespread support from fans.
One reacted: “You always bring us smiles and we all thank you for that, let’s just enjoy it while we’ve got it and whatever happens happens, “and another tweeted:” Thank goodness! We could all do with a bit of a laugh in the current situation . “
Given the current climate, we think our favorite tweet so far has to be:” Is the toilet roll in ‘win the ads’ now the star prize ? “
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