TV fans refuse to believe Declan Donnelly’s real age after milestone birthday

Declan Donnelly has reached a milestone birthday (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty)

It’s always tough to accept your own mortality – and it’s even harder when celebrities like Declan Donnelly have the temerity to get older while remaining as baby-faced as ever..

The ITV presenter and former actor officially celebrated a massive milestone birthday on Thursday, leaving his fans in disbelief over his age.

Dec rose to fame alongside Anthony McPartlin in the early 90s as the characters PJ and Duncan on the children’s drama series Byker Grove, before embarking on a short pop career in their early 20s.

Ant and Dec have maintained their youthful boyish looks as the years have gone by – and that’s clearly caused a crisis among Dec’s Instagram followers this week.

In a post on the photo-sharing website, Ant and Dec shared a video that showed Ant preparing for Dec’s ‘big birthday surprise’ to mark his 50th celebration, and holding onto some gifts.

Underneath the video, several of their 5.3million followers commented, expressing their shock and dismay over Dec turning 50 this month.

Patricia Casswell commented, ‘Surely you’re not 50!’ while a Gemma Collins fan account declared that the veteran presenter didn’t ‘look a day over 39’.

Sam Shearer sent birthday wishes: ‘Wow – the big 50th! I had no idea until I saw Ant’s video on Facebook! Happy big birthday Dec! Love you both.’

Cat Buchanan put it the best, wishing one of her her favourite TV hosts a ‘Happy 21st birthday’ but with an additional ’29 years experience’.

It’s a BIG birthday for Declan – the BIG 5-0 (Picture: Instagram) The TV host has turned 21 again – but with 29 years experience (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

In the video, Ant greets Dec, who is sitting outside while enjoying a hot chocolate – Ant reacts with surprise because apparently Dec enjoying hot chocolate has been a recent development.

Dec is then given two presents – one was a t-shirt emblazoned with pictures of Dec’s dog Rocky, and the other a hilarious t-shirt with Ant’s face all over it.

‘So, when we’re not working together, you can have me on your t-shirt, and then hopefully nobody will call you Ant from now on,’ Ant joked as he handed the present over.

Dec also received, erm, a second present from Ant… (Picture: Instagram

‘Or,’ Ant carried on, ‘they might call you Ant because you’re wearing the t-shirt. Though they’ll see my face [on the shirt], so they won’t get us confused ever again’.

After Ant said, ‘Happy birthday, we’re not allowed to mention the number but it’s a big one,’ Dec then sported the Rocky t-shirt and gave the camera a big smile.

The pair are currently in South Africa filming for I’m A Celebrity All Stars, which is set to return at some point in 2026, four years after the first edition.

ITV are hoping that bringing the series back will produce more positive results than the first season, which pulled in just half the number of viewers compared to the normal I’m A Celebrity contest.

The winner of the South Africa series was Myleene Klass, beating Jordan Banjo and Fatima Whitbread to the crown to become Queen of the Desert.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Comments