Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ant and Dec: Old BGT clips forced us to confront dodgy clothes and hairdos

Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly at the Bafta TV awards (Matt Crossick/PA)
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly at the Bafta TV awards (Matt Crossick/PA)

Ant and Dec have said filming Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions forced them to confront the “dodgy clothes and dodgy hairdos” they sported during their early years.

The pair have hosted Simon Cowell’s acclaimed talent show series since it began in 2007 – with the show’s high profile helping rocket them to fame.

The Saturday Night Takeaway duo said watching old clips of themselves during recording at Wembley’s SSE Arena had made them realise how much they had aged.

Ant McPartlin said: “Oh God, I’m just seeing some dodgy hairstyles.

“Actually they’re not too dodgy, it’s kind of the pre-Britain’s Got Talent hairdos, it’s more Byker Grove days that we had the dodgy clothes and dodgy hairdos.”

Declan Donelly added: “You can tell the ageing process throughout watching the show.

“That’s the problem we’ve got, it’s not just watching the last 10 years of Britain’s Got Talent clips – it’s all the stuff before that.

Ant and Dec arriving for Britain’s Got Talent audtions in 201
Ant and Dec arriving for Britain’s Got Talent audtions in 2013 (Yui Mok/PA)

“So we’ve got a lot of dodgy hair and dodgy outfits out there.

“It’s amazing as well because Connie Talbot’s 12 years older and we would look 12 years older, yet Amanda looks 12 years younger. Simon is looking good at the moment, isn’t he?”

The all-star spin-off series pits former contestants and winners against each other, and will be the first time Cowell has aired a British version of the Champions format.

It will see the judging panel of Cowell, Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon return to pass judgment on an array of performers.

Amanda Holden comments
Returning judge Amanda Holden (Ian West/PA)

McPartlin said the live recordings had felt like “a cross between the Olympics and Eurovision every night” because the acts had been pooled from across the globe.

He also remarked on Cowell’s recent dramatic weight loss, saying: “He’s lost a bit of weight.”

Donnelly added: “Yeah, he’s looking good.

“He’s gone all vegan… vegan shepherd’s pie, vegan sausages, what’s that about?

Britain’s Got Talent – London
Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, with Anthony McPartlin, David Walliams and Declan Donnelly (John Stillwell/PA)

“Is that the secret? I’ll have to look into that.”

Music mogul Cowell said Holden had told him she felt like a rock star at Wembley.

He said: “Amanda said she felt like a rock star walking out on that stage, she loves all that! I think we all got a buzz.”

Holden, however, said arriving for the first show nearly reduced her to tears.

“When I walked into Wembley Arena for the first time and just saw the hugeness of it, I nearly burst into tears, I’m not even joking,” she said.

“I felt really emotional because having been on the show from the very beginning and to see it grow into this sensational, epic juggernaut it is now, it’s just amazing.”

She added: “I felt like a member of BTS or One Direction walking out on that stage.”

“You walk on to the stage and everybody just goes nuts.”

Walliams said he had found it “odd” to judge acts that had already proved themselves on the international stage.

The Little Britain star and children’s author said: “It feels odd to critique them too much when they have already done so well.

“With the international acts, it’s a chance to get to know them, and ask them a few questions.”

Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions begins on ITV on Saturday August 31.