British TV talent are usually lining up to host the Brit Awards every year – but that’s not the case for Ant and Dec.
The Britain’s Got Talent hosts have revealed that they’ll “never” present the Brit Awards again after struggling to “wrangle” tipsy crowds on previous occasions.
The duo have fronted the music award ceremony three times, taking on the gig first in 2001 before returning in 2015 and 2016.
However, Ant McPartlin has now revealed why they haven’t been back to host in the last 10 years.
Speaking on their podcast, Hanging Out with Ant & Dec, the duo opened up about the Brits – with Dec teasing Ant: “Are you gutted you’re not hosting it?”
After both agreed that they’re not, Ant added: “We’ve hosted three times – never again.
“The reason why we always say never again is not because we don’t believe in the awards – I really do,” he said. “I think they’re really good for British music.
“It’s actually a really good night if you’re there as somebody who’s been nominated because we’ve been nominated for a Brit back in the day. That was a fun night. We didn’t win that night.”
The duo were nominated twice under their former performing name, PJ & Duncan, receiving a nod for Best Song in 1994 for “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” and again the following year for the British Breakthrough Award. They lost the latter to Oasis.
Ant continued by saying that he was put off hosting by the awards’ drunk crowd of celebs.
“It’s a fun night if you’re nominated. It’s a fun night not necessarily if you’re hosting though because everybody in the room just wants to get drunk and have a good time,” he said.
“And you’re trying to wrangle the whole crowd and you’re also trying to present a TV show.”
He added that bands and artists who agreed to be interviewed before the show “always change their minds”.
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“They’re like, ‘In the middle of the show, Coldplay are going to do an interview with you.’ You’re like, ‘Great, it’s going to be a great show.’
“Come to the night, 10 minutes before you go live, they said, ‘Coldplay – they don’t want to do an interview before they perform.’”
The Brits has seen some truly rock’n’roll moments over its 49-year history – from Jarvis Cocker’s arrest after hijacking Michael Jackson’s performance in 1996 to Danny Dyer’s expletive rant aimed at Keir Starmer.
This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Jack Whitehall, who is back for his sixth time in the role.
The comedian revealed in February that his sketch idea for the ceremony was rejected by Harry Styles’ team, admitting that it wasn’t “appropriate”.
“There was one that was me, trekking for days to try and find him, and he’d been living in a hut, and he looked like Hagrid,” he said on The Jonathan Ross Show. “And then it had me shaving him. It was maybe like a fantasy of mine, but that got a hard no from his team.”
The Brits will air on ITV on Saturday 28 February.
