History is made on the new series of Ant and Dec’s popular game show – when the duo give away even than the £1million won by Helene and Charlie this time last year.
“We have the highest ladder climb in Limitless Win history,” admits Declan Donnelly, 49. “We get above £1.5million. I’m not going to tell you how it goes after that. You’ll have to watch and see…”
Four series into this Saturday-night quiz, Ant and Dec reveal that it’s hearing the winners’ stories of what they will do with their money that really warms their hearts.
“We’ve helped people do IVF because they won on the show, we’ve helped people start the adoption process, others have been able to pay for their wedding,” smiles Ant McPartlin, 49.
“We love to hear that it’s genuinely changed someone’s life. We’ve given away some very big numbers but just as important are the £10,000 to £50,000 prizes because they are all life-changing sums of money.
“Everybody has a different figure in mind. Somebody’s £50k could be someone else’s £1million.
“We had a couple called Tina and Tracy who are sisters, and Tina says she no longer has to take a calculator with her to do the weekly shop because of the money she won.”
“It’s an incredible feeling when somebody next to you wins that life-changing amount,” agrees Dec. “It’s a special thing that we’ve shared with those contestants.”
Viewers will know that the Geordie pair can’t resist getting involved in the game themselves as they do their best to help the contestants in the Take Two lifeline round. But if there was any other game show they could participate in, what would it be?
“I’d be good at Catchphrase!” claims Ant. “But Limitless is a good one because you don’t have to go into it with loads of knowledge. T
“he answer to every question is just a number, so if you stay there or thereabouts without going over the correct number, you can stay in the game.”
“With something like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? you need to have a wide range of knowledge,” agrees Dec. “Getting up to that £250,000, £500,000 or £1million question, they’re really difficult questions.”
“What’s that quiz you like? Question Time?” asks Ant.
“That’s not a quiz,” laughs his comedy partner of more than 35 years.
“People ask questions and people answer questions,” counters Ant.
“Yes, but you never get the right answers on Question Time,” says Dec, drily.
Last year was another busy one for the best pals as they hosted their two regular favourites, Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity, as well as returning with Limitless Win.
It feels almost wrong to ask, but do they ever need a bit of time apart these days?
“It’s not that we need time apart, but we live in different parts of the city [of London] now, so we see each other at work a lot, then we’ve both got families and kids,” explains Ant, who has a son with his wife of four years, Anne-Marie.
“The kids take up a lot of your time, and we rush home to our families to see them when we finish working.”
“We used to spend a lot of time together,” says Dec, who has two children – Isla, six, and Jack, two – with his wife and manager Ali. “Our lives have changed over the past five or six years.
“We still meet up on days off to have a game of golf or go out for dinner. We’re just not joined at the hip….”
“But we’re joined at the ankle,” quips Ant.
Considering it is hard to remember a time when they weren’t on our tellies – all the way back to their 90s BBC children’s drama Byker Grove, legendary pop double act PJ and Duncan, and riotous presenting and sketch-show fun on SM:TV Live – it’s no surprise to hear that they are recognised wherever they go.
What is more surprising is which shows they are most recognised for depending on where they happen to be in the world.
“It always takes us by surprise when we’re recognised overseas,” says Dec. “Britain’s Got Talent is shown in a lot of other countries, and it’s really big on YouTube.
“Somebody in Australia recognised us from World Idol [watched globally by 100 million viewers in 2003/2004], which was a bit of a throwback. I don’t really remember doing it!”
“We get recognised for very old stuff because of YouTube,” says Ant.
“One time it was New Year’s Day and I was in Dubai. I didn’t want any fancy- pants hotel food, I just wanted a burger, so I went to the food mall. I was eating this burger, and a guy starts pointing and saying: ‘It’s you, it’s you, it’s you!’ I said: ‘Yes, it’s me.’ He said: ‘You’re Susan Boyle Boy!’
“Basically, he’d seen the Susan Boyle Britain’s Got Talent clip so many times that he referred to me as the Susan Boyle Boy. There’s a cut away of me [after Susan first sang I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables] going: ‘You didn’t expect that, did you?’ So if I am known as Susan Boyle Boy in the rest of the world, I’d like to stop that now.”
“I still call him that every now and again, just for the LOLs,” grins Dec.
Weird and wonderful fan encounters aside, what else do they have on the horizon for 2025?
“Well, we have no Saturday Night Takeaway,” shares Dec, since they shelved the hugely popular series indefinitely after 20 years.
“So we are developing stuff with our company Mitre, both for us and for other people. We’re excited about that.”
“We’ll hopefully have a couple of big announcements in 2025,” Ant reassures us.
“We probably won’t be presenting anything new in 2025, but maybe something in 2026. Watch this space…”
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