Dec has a touching message following Ant’s earlier announcement

These two.

Earlier today, Ant McPartlin announced that he would be taking an extended break from television presenting. This means he won't return to work until 2019 and will miss this year's series of I'm A Celebrity and Saturday Night Takeaway, two shows that he co-presents with Dec. Following on from this news, Dec also made a statement and it's a touching show of support for his "best friend".

"Whilst I am obviously sad at the thought of being without my best friend in Australia this year, I am proud of the work Ant has been doing privately and I am fully supportive of his decision. I’m looking forward to us both being reunited on screen in 2019".

Lovely words and it's clear that these two really are the best of friends.

Statement: https://t.co/lyo3AkWhvo

— antanddec (@antanddec) August 9, 2018

I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here will go ahead this year but Ant will not present and instead Dec will take the helm. It's expected that another presenter will replace Ant and a further statement is expected in due course. However, both Ant and Dec have decided that Saturday Night Takeaway won't air in 2019 and instead it will return "bigger and better" in 2020. The series was due to kick off in February which meant that filming would have commenced by now. This led to a decision that it would be best to let the show rest for a year in order not "to compromise the quality". Earlier this year, Ant pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was given a £86,000 (€100,000) fine and banned from driving for 20 months. He subsequently entered rehab and finished treatment earlier this month.