Why Becoming Dads Is Ant & Dec’s Proudest Achievement

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0:56Declan Donnelly:We're on the air. Trying to walk in with good posture. My wife says me posture's bad on the podcast. Oh, really? Yeah. Your posture's terrible. Is that better? It's better, but you look a bit stiff. I feel a bit stiff. Apparently I'm a bit like that. Yeah, but that's what it is. You're just hanging out, man. Take it easy. We're just taking it easy. Relax and chat. I'm relaxing chatting. Hello. Good morning, good evening. Welcome back to the hangout. What we're doing? We've got a voice note episode. Oh, good. Oh! Only the second time we've done this, but we really did like it. I'm surprised it hasn't come back sooner.

1:30Declan Donnelly:There's the banana phone. There it is. We've got tons of your voice notes to get through. Thanks for sending them in. If you want to send us any more for the next time we do this, please do. Hanging out at ButlerBox.com. Let's dive straight into the first voice note, shall we? Okay. If you say so. If that's what you want. I do. Because that's what'll happen. I do want. Hi, Ann and Dirk. Me and my boyfriend recently got a really cute kitten, and I know you're dog lovers, but I was wondering what your opinion on cats is. Thanks. Hate them. Do you hate them? You hate cats? Disgusting. I don't think you'd hate any animals.

2:09Declan Donnelly:Well, other than birds. We know you hate birds because you're scared of them. Hate's a bit strong. Okay. I'm allergic to cats. And you found this out? I found this out. Backstage Britain's Got Talent. What? Well, we had cats turn up one day to perform and I started streaming, started sneezing. This wasn't the cast of Cats the Musical. This is actual cats. It was actual cats. So I started streaming backstage Britain's Got Talent with actual cats. I don't remember this. We had Cat Agility on the show. Cat Agility on the show. Well, I remember. I only remember because... You started streaming? I started streaming.

2:44Twitch? No, it was stream on the internet. My eyes started streaming. On Twitch. I started screaming about it. And doesn't Isla want cats? So Isla wants a cat. She can't have a cat. And she says to people as well, I want a cat, but my daddy's allergic. But she went round to a friend of hers house on a play date and the friend has got cats. And she came home and I started streaming, not on the internet. My eyes started streaming and I started crying, sneezing. Crying. Not crying. Sneezing.

3:17Declan Donnelly:I hate cats so badly. I didn't start crying Cats make me sneeze Cats make me sneeze I started sneezing from her school uniform Crying I didn't know things could be crying over cats I didn't start crying I'd love to love cats but I'm allergic So cats and me do not get on I on the other hand don't hate cats I don't hate there's no animal I don't hate them I am more of a dog No I don't hate them I'm just allergic I am more of a dog person, but... Would you have a cat? Yeah, in the future. Yeah, probably would. I would have a cat. Would you? I mean, I don't think you get the same love, do you? From everyone I've talked to who has a cat, they say not.

4:00Declan Donnelly:Fiona, you're saying... You do get love from a cat. What's your cat called? Let's name check the cat. Susie Birdie. Susie Birdie? Susie Birdie. Okay, and Susie Birdie... Disappointing. Yeah, Susie Birdie gives you love. Yes. And she sits on your... Tell me. Cuddles me, follows me. What a dog wouldn't do, a dog wouldn't leave your house at night and go and live at another person's house as if that's their family as well, which cats do, don't they? Cats have like three or four families. They do. And everybody thinks that they own the cat, but the cat's like, no, you don't. Nobody owns me, fool. Isla's got a book about that.

4:38About what? A cat that has lots of families. It's called Six Dinner Sid. Six Dinner Sid? And the cat goes and has six dinners every day. Oh, lucky cat. Yeah. But then he gets found out because Sid gets a cough.

4:51Declan Donnelly:Right. So the people at number one take Sid to the vet. The people at number two also take Sid to the vet. The people from number three also take Sid to the vet. And the vet's like, this cat's been in before. Cat's on loads of medication. Cat's on loads of meds. Loads of food. Loads of meds. And then they all realise that the cat's got six families. And Sid gets rumbled. And then what happens to Sid? Sid moves to the next street and starts all over again. Does he? Yeah. So Sid doesn't even learn his lesson? No. Because he's a cat. Sid goes, I'm going to ditch these six family losers. And start again.

5:22And start and get some more families. That's cats, you see. Does that answer your question? I hope so. I don't hate them. I'm just allergic to them. Let's have another one. Hi Ant. Hi Dec. It's Sam here. Is it true you bought houses next door to each other in Newcastle?

5:37Declan Donnelly:No. No, that's not true, Dan. No, Dan, it's not. Our houses aren't Sam or Dan? Sam. Our houses aren't next door to each other in Newcastle. No. Never were. We did live next door to each other in London when we first moved to London years ago when we were like 19, 20. We shared a flat. We shared two flats where we both moved out of the flat and then we bought houses in the same mews. And then I moved out of that mews and Dex followed me and got a house two doors down. So we were two doors away. Then I moved. Not to get away from him, but then he followed me. He says that. he followed us and moved two doors down again.

6:17Felt quite pointed when he moved.

6:19Declan Donnelly:I moved again out of London. So let's see what happens. What's this space? Stoker. But yeah, when we first bought houses, we moved out of our flat that we shared in and we decided it was time to invest, put down some roots and invest in property. So I found this little muse and I found a house was available in there. So I went to see it and I said to aunt, will you come with me? And I'd love your opinion on it. So he came with me and he said, yeah, it's really cool. It's really nice. I said to the estate agent, are there any more of them? And the estate agent said, there's one more for sale over there.

6:52And it was two doors away. I went, can I have a look? So we had a look. And he went, right, I'll take it. So we both bought houses. I was at number six. And you were at number three. Number three. So there's two houses in between.

7:06Declan Donnelly:And we couldn't actually afford these houses until we were offered Panto and Sunderland Empire. because before that, all of our kind of money that we'd made from the music wasn't a lot, wasn't enough to put down a deposit on a house. And it was our first home, but we'd done Panto and Sutherland for good money. And that got us a deposit for a house. Yeah. Then you Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. That's what it was. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. We were dwarves, thank you. Bashful and sneezing. No, we weren't. We were Ant and Dec. We were Dame Dolly Donut's nephews, Ant and Dec, who came to live in the castle for a bit or something?

7:46Yeah, yeah.

7:47Declan Donnelly:Something like that. So I don't know where this room has come from, Dan, Big Dan Bird, Sam. Sam. Sam and Dan. That we live next door to each other in Newcastle. We didn't even live near each other growing up in Newcastle. No. We went to rival schools. Dec went to an all-boy Catholic school. Now went to the comprehensive school. Kind of, not even over the road, just down the road. Down the road, yeah. But yeah, and we lived in different areas growing up. I lived in Fennam. We lived in Cruddys Park. So I don't know where this has come from. don't know who's been telling you don't know who's been spreading these lies Sam that's it see it's what you get when you're a celebrity just people make up stuff put on the internet it's hard for really hard sometimes isn't it it's hard hard to deal with hard yeah yeah thanks Sam really brought this mood down should we have another voice note yeah should we have another one hi Ant and Dec I'm Anna I'm Farrol I hope you're good I just wondered who would be your absolute dream guest for Get Out Of Me I still haven't recovered from Cheryl so I'd love to know who'd be next thank you no thank you and she said that with a smile she did she smiled all the way through that almost like she was going to laugh like she couldn't believe she was falling in a podcast like she couldn't believe it couldn't give her luck where's she from Hull Hull what was her name Anna and what was the question what does that I want from Hull who is your dream guest but I'm a celebrity get out of my ear go on His Majesty the King shut up can you imagine that shut up oh that would be brilliant he'd do it I reckon he'd write a math what a frisk what a frisk that would be he's got a great sense of humour he has just pop a little earpiece in there and just do as we say just oh we'd have that would be good wouldn't it it would be brilliant imagine just he's one of them lineups and just like I've always hated you what are you doing here him or George Clooney would be good Clooney would be good because he's up for a laugh yes he's a prankster apparently Yes.

9:40Declan Donnelly:We met him at the King's Trust Awards actually and we were on stage and we were doing our little link and then we came off to wait in our side of the wings and over the other side He was the other side of the wing. was George Clooney and he was like he waved at us didn't he? I was like you know when you turn around and go he's waving at me he's waving he's waving at me I was waving at me I turned around and there was Ant and he was waving at Ant Hi George. We'd have fun with Clooney and Pitt Can we make that happen? We don't do, we're not doing the show at the moment. That's a good point. We could have our own show, Fun with Clooney and Pitt.

10:18Declan Donnelly:Fun with Clooney and Pitt. Fun with Ant and Deck and Clooney and Pitt. Okay? I'm standing inside to feed out. Okay? Ten. Ten episodes. Live every Saturday. Million pounds in episodes. Clooney and Pitt do it just for fun. They're rich enough. They don't get paid, they just get to work with us. I don't know why I'm typing on a typewriter. First time I think I've come up with TV show ideas on a typewriter. Yeah. Were there any that you tried to get and couldn't? Most people we got eventually. Like a lot of people would say no, and then we kind of wear them down over time. So eventually people said yes.

10:59Declan Donnelly:Like Cheryl Cole, for example, like that, the woman said, took a bit of persuading. But once she did it, she was all in. She was really good fun. Richard mainly took a little bit of persuading as well, didn't he? Do you remember? Yeah. He has done quite a lot and he said no. And then eventually when he did do it, it was one of my favourite ones ever. If you haven't seen the Richard Madeley one, honestly, go to the Belterbox YouTube channel. Is it on there? Yeah, they're all on there. It's so good. I cried. Oh my God. Laughing at Richard Madeley. When he puts his foot in the swimming pool with Guy's shoe on.

11:27It's so good. Yeah, definitely check that one out. But we got most people eventually. A lot of the time it was down to diaries. The one person we never got, I'll tell you who'd be fun. Who? Elton John.

11:37Declan Donnelly:No. I know. Sir Elton. We emailed him and said, would you come on the last ever episode of Saturday Night Takeaway and sing, Saturday, Saturday, live in the studio. And he said no. He couldn't do it, which is a shame because that would have been a real fitting end, wouldn't it? Yeah. Next one. Next vice note. Okay. Hi. So my question for Ant and Dec is, what was it like to be a dad for the first time? and did it change you like in any way, in a positive way, or hopefully not negative, but anywho. I just want to know like a little, I thought a deeper question would be quite nice. So yeah, what was that like?

12:19Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, anonymous lady.

12:22Declan Donnelly:Very good question. It's a lovely question. And yeah, it is a bit deeper, but we don't mind that. We can delve a bit deeper. We can do deep. We can do that. Yeah, it is the best, the absolute best being a dad. and I was lucky enough to be stepdad to my girls a few years before my son was born. So I feel like I had a really great introduction to fatherhood because I got to be able to talk to them straight away. I could converse with them. I could have fun with them. We could go out and the feedback was immediate. And then when Wilder came along, I got to do all of the baby toddler stuff that I didn't get to do with the girls.

13:03Declan Donnelly:So I've had kind of the best of both worlds, really. And it changes you for the better. All of the sleepless nights, the early mornings, the tiredness is worth it. It's all worth it. It's all worth it. It's the greatest thing I think you can do. It far surpasses anything that we've achieved in our career. I think it's our biggest achievement. Yeah. Everything that we've done professionally, actually, it's the thing that we've I think got the most from the most satisfaction most rewarding and also when they first come along you don't realize how much they change your life but for the better the absolute better and it's almost like when they do come along like you've discovered the meaning of life yeah and you find you find levels of love within you that you didn't realize that were there.

13:58And for me, I was lucky enough to have two, have a girl and a boy. And I was a bit worried before Jack came along because I thought, God, am I ever going to be able to love him as much as I love Isla? And do I have to half my love to both of them? Do they both get half of my love? Because she's got it all at the moment. And then he came along and you realise then, oh, no, you don't half anything. You get double the love. It goes again. You reach another level within you that you just find more love for this other little thing. It's the best, best thing ever. I wish I'd done it earlier and I wish I'd had 10.

14:35Declan Donnelly:Yeah. No, yeah, I agree. Yeah. Maybe 10. Maybe three. No, I've got three and I'd have more. Was it who we were talking to one day? Was it Jimmy Cole we were talking to about fatherhood? And he speaks very highly of it as well. And he was saying they're the best time wasters in the world. You put your phone down. Yeah. You don't check any emails. you're not at work, when you're in their company, especially when they're little, little, you can't do anything other than just focus on them. And I find that even with my older girls as well, you know, when I'm with them, I just want to be present. And just, I want to, I enjoy hanging out with them more than anybody else.

15:11Declan Donnelly:You know, they're the most fun, soz. But no, but it's true. You know, I like being with them. They make me laugh. They make me cry. They make me everything. It's just, it's wonderful. The thing that having children forces you to do is to become instantly less selfish because you're there for these other people. And so that goes into your worldview. You see the whole world in a fresh, different way and in a, I think, a less selfish way. Yeah, I agree. You have to be less selfish because you have to think about, you know, their happiness is more important to me than my happiness. I mean, they get in your nose sometimes, like, but we're going there.

15:48Declan Donnelly:Oh, God almighty. I remember the good old days before I had them.

15:56Hi Alan and Dec It's Tiana from Watford Hi Alan I need you to settle this debate Once and for all Okay Is a Jaffa cake A cake or a biscuit?

16:04Declan Donnelly:Great question Do you not want it? Ooh Ooh You're not allergic to them Like your cats? No way On the contrary You'll be screaming On the contrary Is a Jaffa cake A cake Or a biscuit? Do you whack it all in? Ooh What? What? I'm not some kind of brook. Why do you make your Jaffa Cakes? Straight in. Wow. Why would you bite that? Just whack it all in there. But like when I eat the Chinese, all in one. Now, I am something of an aficionado when it comes to Jaffa Cakes. He is. He's not dropping. I was a member of the Jaffa Cake fan club. Can you believe it? He was. He was. He was a member of the Jaffa Cake fan club.

16:52Declan Donnelly:You heard that right. I was a lot younger. I was 35, 36.

16:58I don't know. I wrote off to be a Munchkin. Because the advertising at the time was, we are the Munchkins and we're mad on Jeffer Cakes. So you could join the Munchkin Club or whatever it was. Whatever it was.

17:10Declan Donnelly:You know exactly what it was. It was the Munchkin Club. What did you get for your membership of this fan club? I can't remember. What did you get? Like a pencil case or a badge? You must have got something. I can't remember. remember when I got in your car when I was like we were 17 and you passed your test and you had an MG Metro it was back in the days when it was a cassette tape and the cassette tape was a cassette tape half sticking out of the tape recorder in his car and I looked at it and I was like what is this and that wasn't that McVitie's McVitie's compilation a McVitie's compilation tape like where did you get that did you get that from the fan club No, I wrote, I sent off that separately.

17:51Declan Donnelly:See, different fan clubs. Am I mixing up my fan clubs? One was a Jaffa Cake fan club. Yeah. That was just McVitie's. If you got coupons off your McVitie's biscuits and sent them off, they gave you a free cassette of hits of the 70s. How much time did you have on your hands to join all these fan clubs? What else were a fan club on? The Beano. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was a member of the Beano. Yeah, the Beano used to get little badges. Dennis the Menace and Nasher, his dog. So to answer your question, is it a cake or a biscuit? It is. We've got waylaid. It's a cake. It is a cake. Definitely a cake. Just because you're in the biscuit aisle.

18:23Don't be fooled. They're trying to pull the wool over your eyes. You're eating a cake.

18:28Declan Donnelly:It's definitely a cake. Good. Good question. Yeah, you take them home. Thank you. Such a fan. Another one? Yes, please. Hi, Ant and Dec. It's me, Alison Hammond here. I've just been on the takeout challenge with Sam Holland. And I was just wondering, if you was to cook me a meal, what would it be? And I want starters, mains and desserts. Thanks, boys. Wow. She wants the whole lot. Should we do this together? Go on, then. Because I can't be bothered to go through six courses. Okay. What should we start? I know what we can start by giving up, which would be my death row meal, a Greg sausage row.

19:06Declan Donnelly:As a starter, that's good. You can't beat it. It's got the pastry. It's got the sausage on the inside. You can have a little bit of sauce on the side if you want. Or not. It's up to you. You'd have to present it in a nice way, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You slice it all up. Slice it in half. Make it look like you've done it yourself. On a diagonal slice. Yeah, yeah. Put one pot on top of the other. Yeah. Little dollop of red, little dollop of brown. Yeah, make it look fancy. Yeah. And then tea towel over the arm. Alison, sausage roll. She wouldn't know the difference and she'd love every bite. To be fair, I'd take that.

19:35Declan Donnelly:See? I'd have that. So that's what we do. Greg sausage roll for the first one. Main course, cocavan. What? Cocavan. You can't give Alison Hammond cocavan. Why not? That sounds rude. Is that the one with the little pickle onions in? or is that beef bourguignon? That's beef bourguignon. I like that. Do you want to do that instead? No, no, no. You're taking the lead of main course. Am I? I cooked all of this starter, which was a Greg's sausage roll, which I sliced up. Well, actually, my go-to fancy main course would be chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella, basil, and some blushed tomatoes. You've never mentioned this?