'We've designed our own Christmas hats!'
Ant & Dec, Phillip Schofield & Holly Willoughby and Christine Bleakley & Paddy McGuinness join forces to bring you this year's ice-xtravaganza, Text Santa - live on ITV, Friday 20th December!
To help raise funds for this year's charities, Ant & Dec show off their Hattitude by each designing a Santa hat, available in Morrisons stores across the UK.
“The great thing about Text Santa is the charities are changed each year so we can help new ones" say the boys. "They are all home grown charities and they all do fantastic work. I think that is a good a reason as any why, hopefully, people will be able to pick up the phone and donate.”
Smiling, Ant & Dec also reveal there is a great buzz on Text Santa because not only are they helping others, but it’s also a chance to catch up with their fellow ITV presenters, Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Christine Bleakley and Paddy McGuinness, and have some fun.
Over the past two years, both have been first to get the show started and urge viewers to pick up the phone and Text Santa. On the first Text Santa, they did an I'm A Celebrity style Bushtucker Trial, which saw them make their way up a slippery slide, touching a giant star down on four markers, and last year, the pair promised to swap places on the stage from their legendary positions – Ant always on the left, Dec on the right.
It was a pledge that went down a storm with you guys! “We didn’t realise that would work so well!” chuckles Ant.
So are they prepared to do something even madder this year to up their game? “We are always up for anything!” declares Dec. “This year there is a whisper we may be taking part in an Ant v Dec challenge live on the show. That’s been floating around but we have no idea what we will have to do. It will be a surprise to us.” “I bet it will be scary,” interjects Ant, laughing.
Will they be secretly competitive with each other to win the challenge? “Not very secretly,” chuckles Dec as Ant declares: “We are very open about it” Agreeing, Dec adds: “I want to win it but it makes me shudder to think what we will be doing. Look at Saturday Night Takeaway and all those challenges!” “My favourite bit of last year’s Text Santa was Phillip wearing a dress!” says Ant, roaring with laughter as he does. “Yes he was a bit too keen wearing that dress!” agrees Dec.
Fresh from hosting I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! when they front Text Santa, Ant & Dec admit it is very much a family affair when it comes to their own Christmas plans this year. Both are planning to return home to Newcastle to visit their family, but despite both sets of relatives living nearby, they aren’t planning to hook up together over the festive period. “We see enough of each other the rest of the year,” explains Dec. “I will be going home to see my family. I have got a massive family and we all get together. It’s a chance to chill out, eat turkey, drink wine and watch the telly!”
Both are keeping tight-lipped as to what they plan to give each other for Christmas this year but burst out laughing as they talk about the gifts they gave last year. “We bought exactly the same thing!” reveals Ant. “It was an Atari console you put your IPad on to play games. We both saw it in New York and it was surreal we ended up getting the same present!”
“I remember seeing it and thinking Ant would like that and I would like one myself,” adds Dec. “And we ended up buying it for each other. We did laugh a lot when we realised.”
Very much embracing the Christmas spirit, both enjoy nothing better than settling down to watch a classic film over the festive period. “I watch loads,” says Dec. “I always watch the Morecambe and Wise Christmas special, which I think I have watched so many times. I still tune into it….I often find that with the big film, I always fall asleep -that’s down to the turkey and overeating..!” And given this year’s theme for Text Santa is to encourage the nation to wear a hat, what kind of hat will they both be wearing on Christmas Day? 5
Find out more about Text Santa and get all the details to donate.
