Stephen Mulhern is one of the most likely TV presenters to fill in for Ant McPartlin on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! later this year, according to bookies’ odds.
McPartlin has halted his TV work until 2019 and will not co-host the jungle-based ITV reality series with his partner Declan Donnelly for the first time since 2002, when the show began.
Mulhern, who hosts Britain’s Got Talent companion show Britain’s Got More Talent and appears on Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, is the favourite to fill McPartlin’s space with 2-1 odds, according to bookmaker Coral.
Other TV regulars who might co-host alongside Donnelly include Scarlett Moffatt, Cat Deeley, Caroline Flack and Keith Lemon.
Former Gogglebox star Moffatt, who hosts I’m A Celebrity’s spin-off show, has odds of 3-1, while Ant and Dec’s former SMTV Live co-star Deeley is at 5-1.
Love Island presenter Flack is currently at 6-1, and Celebrity Juice star and comedian Lemon is at 8-1.
The likes of Jeremy Kyle and Bradley Walsh are among other candidates for I’m A Celebrity.
Coral spokesman Harry Aitkenhead said: “We think that Stephen Mulhern and Scarlett Moffatt are set to battle it out to partner Dec on the 2018 series of I’m A Celeb, and at the moment we just favour the former to get the nod.
“Caroline Flack’s been hugely popular on Love Island, one of ITV’s most popular shows of all time, so it would be easy to picture her striding into camp to deliver some bad news to the stars in the jungle.”
The past few months have seen McPartlin step back from TV commitments and public appearances following a drink-driving charge earlier this year.
He was banned from the road for 20 months and fined £86,000 after pleading guilty to driving while more than twice the legal limit.
ITV director of television Kevin Lygo said that an “announcement on I’m A Celebrity plans will be made in due course” for the series, which is believed to air in November.