Dec Donnelly admits he only lasted a week of dry January as his ‘feral’ children drove him to a glass of wine – as Ant McPartlin shares how his New Year’s resolution is inspired by young son Wilder

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Declan Donnelly has promised to focus on his health this year. He jokingly admitted to Ant McPartlin, his longtime friend and colleague, that his recent attempt at giving up alcohol only lasted eight days.

The popular pair from Newcastle have started a new podcast, expanding their work beyond television.

In the first episode of I’m A Celebrity, the hosts talked about their New Year’s resolutions. Dec, age 50, shared that he’d tried to stop drinking alcohol.

The father of two admitted he only managed to stay away from alcohol for eight days. After his children returned to school, they became very energetic and difficult to manage, leading him to have a glass of wine.

He admitted he’d tried to get in shape, saying, ‘I was aiming for a healthy start to the year, but it almost slipped away.’ He explained he’d attempted ‘Dry January’ – giving up alcohol for the month – but only managed to stick with it for a week, which showed how well it was going.

Dec explained that a difficult day with his children had thrown everything off track. He said they’d been particularly wild and unruly ever since.

After the New Year and the first week back at school, I was glad to see some discipline and routine return to their lives. I thought it would be a positive change.

The kids were really wild all week, and the weekend just fell apart. I’d planned to do Dry January, but after getting them to bed on Saturday night, I ended up opening a bottle of wine.

Ant, age 50, playfully congratulated the person, saying, ‘That’s fantastic, well done! I’m really proud of you, especially knowing you’ve been sober for eight days. As someone who’s been sober for almost eight years myself, I understand how big of an accomplishment that is.’

Dec shares two children with his wife Ali Astall; daughter Isla, seven, and son Jack, three. 

Ant explained he’s determined to expand his vocabulary and stop swearing so much, as his young son Wilder, who he shares with his wife Anne-Marie Corbett, is beginning to learn how to speak.

Ant shared that his son, Wilder, is now 20 months old and quickly learning new words every day. He recently learned the word ‘bumble,’ which Ant was happy about.

‘Which is the name of one of our dogs, But he just came out with it. Bumble, Bumble.

He mentioned it, and it made me realize I needed to stop swearing so much. I’m trying to find better words to use, both when I’m upset and just in general. So I downloaded an app that sends me a new word each day to help me expand my vocabulary.

Ant and Dec recently received criticism from fans after sharing a social media post promoting their new podcast. The post featured a picture of feet in the air, which some viewers didn’t appreciate.

They were forced to pull the trailer after they were accused of being insensitive to suicide. 

The image initially showed them suspended by a line, depicted with only their shoes and legs visible above the ground, and was shared with their 5.9 million followers.

Ant and Dec announced the launch of their new podcast, “Hanging Out With Ant and Dec,” on January 22nd. They shared the news with a post featuring a vintage microphone and starry-eyed emojis.

The video was posted on Friday evening but by 11am on Saturday morning had been removed.

Ant and Dec’s representatives said the pair didn’t intend to offend anyone with their recent promotional video, and they apologize if it caused upset. They’ve removed the video after listening to feedback.

You can now listen to the ‘Hanging Out With Ant & Dec’ podcast on all your favorite podcast apps! You can also watch it on Spotify and Belta Box.

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2026-01-22 13:03