Stephen Mulhern is thrilled to have the backing of Ant and Dec for his ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ spin-off.
The 41-year-old presenter is set to have his own programme based on his ‘In For A Penny In For A Grand’ segment on the popular ITV entertainment show and says the comedy duo, who came up with the idea, are "excited" for it to start.
He told the Mirror Online: "It is a dream and Ant and Dec, it’s there idea, they solely came up with it and we did it on ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’."
Stephen also presents a number of other shows on TV and can’t believe that the tiny segment is what gets people stopping him in the street the most.
He said: "The bizarre thing is, I’m so lucky to do ‘Catchphrase’, ‘Britain’s Got More Talent’, ‘Big Star’s Little Star’, ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’, and the weird thing is that ‘In For A Penny In For A Grand’ has only been on ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’, if you added up all the minutes, it would work out to be about 18 to 20 minutes of airtime, and the weird thing is I have more people say to me in the street, ‘Hey I’ve got a penny, I’m ready to go’.
"I think it says a lot about the show and I’ve spoken to both the boys and they were so excited about it, and good times are coming, fingers crossed.
"And I hope from what ITV are saying that it’s going to hit screens about March."
The segment sees Stephen visiting different locations in the country to offer members of the public the chance to win £1000 with just a penny by answering a series of silly questions and doing strange tasks.
The magician says he has been amazed by the lengths people will go to for the crash prize.
He said: "You wait to see some of the things that, I’ll go as far as to say that we’ve got away with, not what we’ve done, what we’ve got away with.
"Because literally at the end of the day, I was like why would anybody eat a steak bake off a fishing line? It’s difficult and very messy.
"You also forget how important £1,000 is. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, you go ‘Okay’, but when you give someone £1,000 in cash you see how important it is to people."
Meanwhile, it was previously revealed that Ant McPartlin’s ex-wife has landed a job on ‘In For A Penny’ with Stephen.
Lisa Armstrong – who divorced the presenter in October – was asked to be the make-up artist on the the forthcoming series after previously working on ‘Saturday Night Take Away’.
A source said: "She’s been with good friend Stephen Mulhern all week working on ‘In For A Penny’, but her pals are a surprised she’s returned to the show given that it’s Ant and Dec’s production company that makes it."
Stephen Mulhern: Ant and Dec are excited for In For A Penny
