'Producers are confident it will work without them': Ant and Dec 'set to be axed from I'm A Celebrity as ITV looks for fresh …

ITV have pledged their allegiance to Ant and Dec after rumours swirled they were set to be replaced on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

The Daily Star reported that ITV bosses were set to axe Ant and Dec from the upcoming series of I’m A Celebrity and were looking for fresh talent to replace them, following Ant McPartlin’s arrest and subsequent charge for drink-driving.

However an ITV spokesman told MailOnline the duo will never be replaced, saying: ‘It is utter nonsense to suggest that Ant and Dec are set to be replaced on I’m A Celebrity.’

A spokesman for Ant and Dec also denied the claims

This comes reports that staff on the hit show were fearful the next series would be scrapped due to Ant, 42, going into rehab, and that producers had concerns over Declan Donnelly, 42, presenting solo.

A source said that a lot of crew members were ‘in tears’ over the uncertainty but that bosses had reassured them the show would go ahead ‘no matter what’.

The source told the publication: ‘There’s a very real possibility that Ant won’t be available to present the next series of the jungle.

‘While Ant and Dec are a big part of the show, they aren’t bigger than the show. They are confident it would still work without them.

‘If their return is going to be a problem, producers aren’t afraid to axe them from the format and get new presenters in.’

Ant and Dec have fronted the hit reality show filmed in Australia since its first series in 2002, and have become firm fixtures over 17 series.

This comes amid claims Dec Donnelly and his wife Ali Astall are reportedly expecting their first child.

According to The Sun, the pair, who wed in 2015, are ‘delighted to be expecting – especially since they have been trying for some time.’

It is alleged that the couple first learnt they were pregnant soon after Dec left the Australian jungle after the last series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Oh Here! finished in December.

‘They have been keeping the pregnancy a closely guarded secret, but now that Ali is safely over 12 weeks, they are starting to let people know,’ it is claimed of the happy news, with the source quickly adding that they have told ‘key people at ITV’.

Ali has reportedly told her close colleagues and will be stepping away from work commitments to ‘look after herself’ and to enjoy an ‘easy’ pregnancy.

‘They have both always wanted a family but worried that it might not happen for them.’

A representative for Dec and Ali refused to comment on the claims when approached by MailOnline.

Ant – who split from wife Lisa Armstrong earlier this year after 11 years of marriage – was arrested and charged for a drink drive incident over the weekend and has since made the quick decision to return to rehab earlier this week.

One onlooker, Jake Spencer, said the Britain’s Got Talent star was argumentative towards cops when they tried to put him in a police car after he failed a breath test.

He told The Sun newspaper: ‘Ant looked in a right state and was acting argumentatively toward a policewoman. I couldn’t believe it when I saw who it was.

‘The woman was trying to arrest him and get him in the police car but he clearly wasn’t having it. He was not making it easy for her and he seemed to be trying to wriggle out of her clutches. He was not in a good way.

‘Eventually she got him in the police car. There were about six or seven police cars in total.’

It is thought Ant veered into the wrong lane after coming round a sharp bend, hitting a green Mini before crashing into a BMW X5. A three-year-old girl was taken to hospital to be checked over as a precautionary measure.