Dec Donnelly left in agony after nasty accident during terrifying live Saturday Night Takeaway challenge
DECLAN Donnelly was left in agony this evening after an unfortunate incident as Saturday Night Takeaway returned to TV.
The 48-year-old managed to get his manhood trapped in a harness after losing out to co-host Ant McPartlin in the first Ant vs Dec of the series.
Stephen Mulhern, who made a dramatic return to the programme dressed as character Dr Evil from the Austin Powers film series, tasked the pair with climbing two tall towers and pressing the buzzer on top first.
But after Ant descended, Dec was seen struggling in the background.
Stephen remarked: “Oh he looks in pain.”
Concerned Ant asked him: “Are you ok?” to which he meekly replied: “Yeah”.
Ant continued: “Did you get your balls stuck?”
Dec nodded as they all started laughing, and Stephen remarked about the joys of live TV.
Speaking about taking part in the challenge after, Dec said: “It was alright until I got to the ledge and turned around, it’s really high up.”
Looking back
The pair kicked off the 20th series of the show by reflecting on their first show over two decades ago.
The Geordie duo will take a break from the show at the conclusion of the series, after saying the 20th “milestone” seemed like the “perfect time to pause for a little while and catch our breath”.
Dec opened the show, saying: “Hello and welcome to a brand new series of your Saturday Night Takeaway.”
After they were greeted by rapturous applause, Ant said: “You’re a brilliant audience – welcome to the show everyone and welcome to series 20.”
Dec added: “I actually can’t believe the first episode of Saturday Night Live was almost 22 year ago” before they showed a photo of the pair from June 8 2002 – their first show.
Audience treat
They also turned the tables on their audience, showing pictures from years ago of people sitting in the studio and at home watching the live show.
Before they started normal proceedings, they surprised a couple of Saturday Night Takeaway superfans with tickets to watch the show from the studio as it was kicking off.
The duo also revealed they handpicked every member of the 411-person audience, which was filled with foster parents and fundraisers.
As a thank you to the live audience, who they said had collectively raised £40 million for charity, they gifted them all a getaway prize.
Comedian and actor Stephen Merchant joined the show as the guest announcer for the week.