Ant and Dec Hit Guinness World Record During National Television Awards
ITV Reading Time: 2 minutes
Another National Television Awards ceremony, another statue for Ant & Dec…but not without some controversy, and a commemoration of a milestone.
The 2019 “Most Popular TV Presenter” award marked the 18th presentation award for Ant & Dec, a world record. They won “Most Popular Entertainment Presenter” at the NTA’s from 2001-2015 (except for in 2009 since the NDA’s were not held that year) and have won in the category revamped as “TV Presenter” every year since.
While the duo were unfortunately not able to be present at the NDA ceremony due to filming the audition round for the upcoming season of Britain’s Got Talent this spring, they thanked their fans from on location.
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There has been a lot of backlash since the ceremony about Ant & Dec’s victory; many people are upset because Ant didn’t actually do any hosting last year due to his arrest for driving under the influence and time off to seek treatment for his issues with addiction. He acknowledged this head-on in the acceptance speech, giving full credit to Dec for handling double the hosting duties by himself while he was away.
A lot of people were still upset about the result, calling the NDA’s nothing but a popularity contest. And that…is exactly what they are, since the winners are determined by a fan vote. It is what it is, but I can see how it might have been a tough pill to swallow for the nominees who were able to work last year.
This award marked a milestone for both Ant & Dec and the NDA’s: they became the first people to receive 18 awards for presentation from the organization. The two were presented with their official Guinness World Record certificates on the set of BGT!
Ant & Dec will be back hosting TV together soon, when Britain’s Got Talent Series 13 premieres in a few short months on ITV.
