Dermot O'Leary wants Ant & Dec to retire according to the hosting duo.
The 'Britain's Got Talent' duo - who were honoured with the Landmark Award for their illustrious TV careers at the National Television Awards last night (22.01.14) - believe the 'X Factor' host secretly wants them to call time on their long-running careers so that he will finally be acknowledged as Best Entertainment Presenter, an award won by the pair at the ceremony for the last 13 years.
Ant - real name Anthony McPartlin - joked to BANG Showbiz backstage at the NTAs: "[I was thinking] is this one big massive thing? Is this Dermot? Has Dermot set this whole thing up just so we can retire and he can win the award next year? I knew it!"
The loveable hosts shot to fame on the children's drama series 'Byker Grove' - and as pop music duo PJ & Duncan - before carving out a successful presenting career fronting both 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' and 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway', in addition to 'Britain's Got Talent'.
However, Dec - real name Declan Donnelly - insists they have no plans to retire just yet.
Quizzed if the duo will scale back, he said: "I hope not. That's the weird thing ... We worked out this is 25 years that we've done television - not together, I think we've worked together 25 years next year - but 25 years since we both got our first job in telly. It was lovely to hear Sir Bruce Forsyth say the next 25 are the hardest."
Tagged in Ant And Dec Declan Donnelly Dermot O'Leary