Where original Little Ant and Dec are now as Saturday Night Takeaway returns to screens this week
WITH the show's final ever series just around the corner, time has flown since audiences were first introduced to both sets of little Ant & Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway.
Across its mammoth 20-year run, the show has employed two sets of youngsters to play the "little" version's of the TV presenting duo.
With the stars now all grown up, they look worlds away from their time on the ITV programme.
The first duo to be employed as the kids version of the Britain's Got Talent pair were James Pallister and Dylan McKenna-Redshaw.
However, James, 30, was quick to shun a showbiz lifestyle and instead opted to take up a new career as a patrolman for the RAC.
He has worked for the recovery service since 2015.
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He covers the Sunderland and Durham area and lives in Chester-le-Street with his fiancé Nicole and their two sons.
James has even been the face of RAC patrol recruitment with a 70ft photo of him appearing on the side of the the firm's HQ on the edge of the M6 at Walsall in the West Midlands.
Speaking about his change of career, James previously said: “I absolutely love my job. There’s nothing better than being out on the roads helping people who have broken down.
“I really pride myself on being able to fix most of the cars I go out to.”
Meanwhile his co-star Dylan started his own nutrition business, helping people with weight loss, muscle gain and sports performance.
Recalling their time on the show, Dylan said: "Me and James used to joke with Ant and Dec. They were great teachers! Looking back I guess we were able to be more naughty and cheeky than they would have got away with.”
James added: “Times have changed. I don’t think I look like a Little Ant now but I really enjoyed the experience and its something I’ll never forget.”
In 2013, the show took on some more recruits for the role in the form of Neil Overend and Haydn Reid.
The new duo remained on the show until 2018 before they out-grew their 'characters'.
In news set to delight fans, Little Ant and Dec will be back for a third time.
The initial pair of mini-mes shot to fame as they conducted interviews with Hollywood stars, with conversations often descending into chaos.
But the original duo, James Pallister and Dylan McKenna-Redshaw, had to step aside after a growth spurt meant they matched diminutive Ant and Dec in height.
From 2013, a second duo called Neil Overend and Haydn Reid took over.
Ant laughed: “The original Little Ant and Dec obviously got very tall and older and were no longer very little and then the same thing happened with the second incarnations.”
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Dec said: “Everybody loved Little Ant and Dec so we thought, ‘let’s bring them back one more time’. The great thing about them is they can go meet celebrities and ask those cheeky questions that we aren’t able to do.”
Ant added: “So we’ve found some new cheeky little Geordies to run riot on series 20 and we can’t wait for you to meet them.”
