Dec Donnelly says he lasted a week of dry January over ‘feral’ kids

Declan Donnelly has vowed to get fit this year as he revealed he lasted just eight days off booze in a candid conversation with his best pal Ant McPartlin.

The Geordie duo have launched their very first podcast as they branch out from their usual television roles.

During the first episode, the I’m A Celebrity presenters discussed their New Year’s resolutions, where Dec, 50, revealed he had attempted to give up alcohol.

However, the dad-of-two revealed he lasted just eight days before he reached for a glass of wine after his kids went ‘feral’ following their first week back at school.

He said: ‘I’ve got to get fit and healthy in 26, hey, it nearly happened. Well, I was doing dry January. The clue to how it’s going was I was doing it. I lasted a week.’

Explaining how his plans were derailed, Dec continued: ‘I had a very stressful day with the kids. Very stressful day. They’ve been feral since.

‘Since New Year, and they went back to school for that first week of back at school, and I thought, oh, it’s good a bit of discipline and a bit of routine is back in their lives, It’s going to be lovely.

‘They were feral all week and then the weekend was a disaster. So I was going to do dry January, in the end, Saturday night, put them to bed and opened up all the wine.’

Ant, 50, had jokingly said: ‘Wow, well, well, well done. I’m proud of you. As someone who’s been sober nearly eight years, I’m very proud of you. I’m proud of your eight days.’

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

Ant then went on to say how his resolution is to improve his vocabulary and limit his swearing as his toddler Wilder, who he shares with wife Anne-Marie Corbett, is learning to talk.

Ant explained: ‘Because Wilder is 20 months now and he’s starting to say a lot more words rapidly, day by day. He learned the word bumble the other day, which is good.

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

‘But he said that, and I thought, “I’ve really got to curb the swearing”. So I’ve just got to at least improve my vocabulary and think of other ways to discipline him and cuss. So I download an app, which gives you a word every day.’

Meanwhile, last week Ant and Dec faced backlash from fans over their social media post showing feet suspended in the air to plug their new podcast.

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

It had showed them dangling from the line with the opening image – a shot of shoes and trouser legs dangling above the ground -with their 5.9 million followers.

Alongside the beginning of the clip, they wrote: ‘Our brand-new podcast Hanging Out With Ant and Dec is launching on Thursday 22nd January,’ followed by an old fashioned microphone and starry eyed emojis. 

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

Representatives for Ant and Dec, both 50, responded saying: ‘We did not mean to cause any offence with this promo video and we are sorry if it has upset anyone. We have taken on board the comments and have deleted the video.’

Hanging Out With Ant & Dec is available across all podcast platforms now. Watch the podcast on Spotify and Belta Box.