Ant and Dec to front US gameshow
Monday, March 19, 2007
Ant and Dec set to take over the US
Ant and Dec are set to conquer the US after signing up to host a new gameshow.
The duo will present Wanna Bet, in which members of the public wager that they can pull off bizarre or extraordinary stunts.
The show will also feature celebrity interviews and musical performances.
US broadcaster ABC has ordered a pilot episode - which could be turned into a series if the Geordie pair prove a hit.
The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! presenters - full names Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly - are best known to US viewers from their brief cameo role in the film Love Actually.
TV executives have been "aggressively" courting them for some time, according to Variety magazine.
The show's executive producer Phil Gurin told the trade journal: "They've got an instant chemistry that you can't manufacture. The British people watched them grow up on TV. These are two people who really like each other."
Gurin has a good track record for importing British talent - he also brought Anne Robinson to the US to host The Weakest Link.
Wanna Bet is a reworking of a hit German format.
Gurin said: "Less than 24 hours after I got on the phone with Ant and Dec, they said, 'We love it, this is the one.' They like the tone of the show and what it can be. I was pinching myself, I can't believe it."
The duo's former SM:TV colleague Cat Deeley has made it in the US as host of TV talent contest So You Think You Can Dance?
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