This was a brilliant moment.
I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! returned to our screens on Sunday night and so too did everybody’s favourite pair of presenters.
The image of Ant and Dec, together again, greeted viewers at the beginning of the 2017 series and it was a welcome sight.
“We’re here for the next three weeks,” Dec started. “Your hosts with the most. Me and… the gorgeous Holly Willoughby.”
Look who's back! 😄🎉 Try not to put the Celebs through too much this year, boys… unless it's really funny #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/lqOUtE9TMx
— I'm A Celebrity… (@imacelebrity) November 19, 2017
With that, Dec put his finger to his ear as if to make contact with a producer.
“Oh guys, that’s the wrong script,” he continued. “You’ve put the wrong script in the teleprompter. Nobody was sure if you would make it or not! We didn’t know if you’d be here.”
Cue faux offence from the returning Ant, who promptly embraced his television soulmate and insisted that he was “always going to make it back.”
“It’s good to be back!”
The joke was an ice-breaking reference to the fact that Ant has been away from the spotlight for several months after checking himself into rehab in June for drink and drug addiction.
The 42-year-old revealed in the summer that he’d been battling depression and an addiction to prescription painkillers following knee surgery.
And while the subject is obviously a serious one, Dec made his returning buddy feel as though nothing had changed by taking the mick again towards the end of Sunday’s show.
Lol. Fair play @antanddec 👍 pic.twitter.com/Gjs9LDCSlO
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) November 19, 2017
Thankfully, Ant looked happy and healthy when he returned to our screens on Sunday night and viewers couldn’t have been more pleased.
Love that they acknowledge about Ant being back on the show and healthy #cute #ImACelebrity2017
— Louise Beadle (@Louise_Alice92) November 19, 2017
LOL at Dec taking the piss out of Ant's possible non-appearance!! #imaceleb
— N I C K I E (@nickieohara) November 19, 2017
OMG so nice to see them laughing and joking about ant, so glad he’s better #imaceleb
— leanne (@eternalxleanne) November 19, 2017
Love the Holly Willoughby gag to welcome back Ant – good to see him back on top! #ImACelebrity
— Matt (@imattg5) November 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/shannonae23/status/932354311702614024
So happy to see @antanddec back together and back on top form. And a cheeky joke about Holly Willoughby replacing Ant…#ImACeleb
— Lucy Jones (@ByLucyJones) November 19, 2017
#ImACelebrity only ant and Dec could open with a joke like that…so happy to see ant in fit form
— eoghain fitzgerald (@eoghainfitz) November 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/LowriBuckley/status/932354507052371969
This is what I love about Ant & Dec – Ant has been through one of the toughest times of his life & yet they can still joke about it – actual friendship goals 🙌🏻 #ImACeleb
— Lucy Inman (@LucyInman31) November 19, 2017
Ant & Dec wouldn't expect anything than them cracking a joke about Ant to kick off the show, class #imaceleb
— Garry Taylor (@GJDTaylor) November 19, 2017
