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£20m game show deal for Ant and Dec
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Ant and Dec have signed a new, exclusive two-year deal with ITV, thought to be worth around £10 million each to the presenters.
The Geordie pair have been working on a family challenge game show with the working title Push The Button, which will air on ITV1 next year.
ITV declined to comment on reports the new contract is worth around £10 million each to the pair, who are thought to be taking a 10% pay cut.
The deal takes Ant and Dec's long-term relationship with ITV through to December 2011.
Ant said: "We are delighted to sign with ITV for another two years to continue to make the programmes we love like Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain's Got Talent and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! - there is no better home for our shows."
Dec added: "We're particularly excited about the new media opportunities, which will allow us to make fresh and exciting content for online, and also launching our brand new entertainment show Push The Button in 2010."
The duo rose to fame as teenage actors on BBC children's show Byker Grove before a stint as pop singers. They joined ITV in 1998 presenting the Saturday morning shows SM:TV Live and CD:UK and they have been exclusively signed to ITV since 2000. Their production company Gallowgate is behind the format for the new prime time show Push The Button. It is thought that some challenges on the programme will entail pushing a button to stop a clock.
Ant told the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August that the pair were prepared to take a pay cut in the recession-hit industry.
He said: "You have to be realistic. If the whole of the industry is suffering it would be naive to assume that we would not suffer, too."
Peter Fincham, ITV director of television, channels and online, said: "Ant and Dec are without question two of the UK's most talented television stars who have helped make ITV the home of entertainment. They have a unique appeal and a very special quality which means that they are loved by young and old alike. After more than a decade on ITV, I'm delighted that they will continue to exclusively work with us on our hit shows and in developing new programmes and formats."
