Ant McPartlin is back at work – but what did he do on his year off?

When Ant McPartlin returned to co-host I'm A Celebrity after his first rehab stint, in November 2017, it was an opportunity for the Geordie broadcaster and his career-long sidekick Declan Donnelly to show that nothing was off the cards when it came to their brand of family entertainment. “Where were you all summer?” Donnelly asked. “Just stuff,” replied McPartlin. “I was dead busy… Roll VT.”

Will the beloved pair be able to make the same quip when Britain's Got Talent returns later this year – the first gig McPartlin has taken on since being convicted with drink driving, divorced his teenage sweetheart and embroiled on a well-publicised romance with his longtime PA? Time will tell.

Now he's back in the public eye we know more about what McPartlin got up to during his annus horibilis, which saw him leave Donnelly's on-screen side for the first time in their joint career:

He moved to the countryside

After the two-month stint in rehab that McPartlin embarked on after being found guilty of drink-driving (and paying an ￡86,000 fine), he got a taste for the Good Life. The presenter told The Sun: “I got out of hospital and I rented some houses in the country and locked myself away and walked the dog. No TV or social media. I did nothing. I barely watched the World Cup. I worked on myself and got well.”

It seems like he spent the summer in the sticks, as McPartlin stepped away from returning to I’m A Celebrity in August, saying that he wanted to prioritise his welfare. McPartlin said in a publicist-issued statement at the time: “My recovery is going very well and, for that to continue, having spoken to Dec and ITV, I have made the decision to take the rest of the year off.”

He shacked up with his PA

Accompanying McPartlin in the countryside was his personal assistant Anne-Marie Corbett. The pair's relationship became public in June 2018 and triggered a series of hurt social media posts from McPartlin's ex-wife, Lisa Armstrong, from whom he had split in January. Corbett had worked as McPartlin's PA before their relationship changed in the wake of his arrest and rehabilitation. The mother-of-two had divorced from her ex-husband the previous October.

At the time, sources told tabloids that Corbett was instrumental in McPartlin's recovery, something which he alluded to in his recent interview with The Sun: “Anne-Marie honestly is the fundamental reason for the great change in my life,” he said. “She’s been my rock. She’s a beautiful soul. We’re very happy. I’m in the best place I’ve been in my life, to be honest with you. It’s great.”

He divorced his wife

McPartlin divorced his wife of 11 years in a 30-second court hearing. A district judge granted the couple a decree nisi and found that McPartlin “has committed adultery and that the petitioner [Mrs McPartlin] finds it intolerable to live with the respondent.” Neither McPartlin nor Armstrong were at the hearing, but McPartlin made a rare appearance on Twitter a couple of weeks later with a new-found joie de vivre:

By this point, those enmeshed within the Ant-and-Lisa fan club had taken sides, aided and incensed by Armstrong's presence on social media; McPartlin reportedly issued a legal warning to Armstrong to stop her from responding to tweets that attacked Corbett by calling her names such as “gold digger”, “backstabber” and “second best”. He recently said that he and Armstrong no longer speak.

He didn't watch Britain's Got Talent

In May, Donnelly broke with a tradition that had lasted nearly 30 years and presented without McPartlin; specifically, their flagship show, Britain's Got Talent. While Donnelly railed for the audience's support for McPartlin, telling the audience during the live series finale in April that the shows had been fun but “tinged with sadness”, and calling for a round of applause for his partner, it now transpires that McPartlin wasn't watching “back at home” after all. At the weekend, McPartlin said he didn't watch Britain's Got Talent in April because he “couldn’t even think of work”.

Or I'm A Celebrity...

When I'm A Celebrity returned at the end of last year, Donnelly landed a substitute for McPartlin in the shape of Holly Willoughby. She didn't go down enormously well – in this paper, at least – but McPartlin wasn't watching to play compare and contrast. Instead, he went on holiday. McPartlin had decided to take a proper break from his career in order to make a full recovery, describing the decision as a “difficult” one, but that his “health came first”.

“What I didn’t want to do is make the same mistake as last time”, he told The Sun. “I knew it would pay dividends to take the rest of the calendar year off. [Donnelly] was cool about it. It just made more sense.

Instead, McPartlin did what most millionaires do and enjoyed a trip away on his birthday: “I went away. It was my birthday as well. For the past 16 years I’ve spent my birthday in Australia so I thought I’d spend it with Anne-Marie. It was gorgeous.”

He's spent lots of time with his dog

Caught in the middle of a messy custody battle, Hurley the black Labrador has become a tabloid figure in himself, says McPartlin: “I came out of a shop the other day and there was a woman on the floor cuddling Hurley and she said to me, ‘It’s the dog from the papers!’ Hurley’s a celebrity! Quick, get him a deal.”

At the moment, McPartlin says, Hurley is “shared quite evenly”. For McPartlin: “There’s a loyalty and a love and a companionship with Hurley that you can’t describe. And he never tells me off and is always pleased to see me.” Of the paparazzi shots taken of McPartlin over the past year, Hurley's been a regular feature, cropping up in parks with the broadcaster and Corbett as well as when McPartlin's been out running.