STEPHEN Mulhern dramatically pulled out of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV last night as he was unwell, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
The TV host, 47, informed producers on the morning of the live show he was not up to going in to the West London studios.
ITV chiefs confirmed he would be absent but would not discuss the nature of his illness.
In 2022, Stephen was forced to take a long break from TV presenting after undergoing a medical procedure in hospital — which The Sun on Sunday revealed at the time after Saturday Night Takeaway fans began asking where he was.
His withdrawal from last night’s show meant presenting duo Ant and Dec, both 48, had to rewrite his segment to feature I’m A Celeb winner Jordan North, 34, instead.
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The penultimate episode of the big budget ITV primetime entertainment show was set to feature Stephen in a comedy skit with the pair, but their team was forced to change the plan and edit him out.
A source close to the host said: “Stephen was due to be on a small section of the show, but sadly he was feeling a bit too poorly to perform.
“When he realised he would be too under the weather to show up he called first thing on Saturday morning to let the team know.
“They were able to rejig the format and make it work without him.”
ITV confirmed that Stephen is still set to take part in the last ever episode of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway in a special two-hour Farewell Spectacular next Saturday.
On the night, he is due to crown the ultimate champion in the decider of Ant Vs Dec.
The Geordie duo, both 48, made history during their penultimate show as they revealed Lenny Rush was their youngest-ever Star Guest Announcer.
They then revealed their plans to "take over ITV" for the final ever episode of Saturday Night Takeaway.
Speaking on the show, Dec said: "Next week is your last episode of your Saturday Night Takeaway.
"But the good news is it's a live two-hour extravaganza, basically it's going to be the mother of all parties.
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We're taking over the whole of television centre."
Ant then continued: "It's going to be absolutely epic, we've got a super singalong live with Tony Hadley, we've got 7 Club, Kaiser Chiefs."
They also confirmed Ant Vs Dec will be back with Stephen Mulhern for one final outing before Girls Aloud make an appearance.
The Sun was first to reveal how Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle would make an appearance.
