Viewers were unimpressed after Ant McPartlin "reluctantly" joined Declan Donnelly on stage as they scooped two gongs at this year’s BAFTA TV Awards, months after McPartlin was charged with drink driving.
The Geordie duo joined the cast and crew of Britain’s Got Talent to accept the Entertainment Programme Award and Reality & Constructed Factual for I’m A Celebrity at Sunday night’s bash.
“Thank you very much,” McPartlin said on collecting the gong for BGT. “I suppose we’re speaking on behalf of everyone. Thank you to BAFTA, thank you to ITV, thank you for voting for us. Thank you to the judges… a little bit.”
Donnelly continued: “Thank you to all the people that come along to audition. Without them there really is no show without them. We did it again gang – look at that!”
Viewers were left questioning why McPartlin spoke when he has been absent from TV for the last year. He left Donnelly to present the BGT live shows solo last year as well as Saturday Night Takeaway. He was replaced by Holly Willoughby on I’m A Celebrity.
One viewer tweeted: “Britain’s Got Talent, the show, won the #BAFTATV why are a&D talking and not someone from the production team?”
Another posted: “#BAFTATV Rewarding Ant or Dec for drink driving behaviour.”
A third wrote: “It annoys me when Ant speaks when accepting an award. I appreciate he's gone through personal demons but he should keep quiet for a couple of years to earn it again. It should really be 'Dec & Ant' now, too. #BAFTATV.”
McPartlin joined the cast and crew on winning the Reality & Constructed Factual gong and ushered Willoughby to collect the award.
Explaining McPartlin’s appearance on stage, Donnelly said: “Ant has reluctantly come up here tonight. He’s still part of the team so we wanted him up here with us.”
BAFTA TV Awards 2019 red carpet: In Pictures
