Ant and Dec had a massive reason to celebrate within seconds of Saturday Night Takeaway going live to the nation this weekend - they had an audience back for the first time in two years!
It was back in early 2020 that the Geordie duo last presented their award winning ITV show in front of a packed crowd.
As coronavirus first landed in the UK and cases shot up, an audience was banned from the Takeaway studio, before things then went a step further as restrictions tightened, when lockdown forced Ant and Dec to present the last two episodes of that series separately from their living rooms.
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When Saturday Night Takeaway returned for another series last year, a physical audience was still prohibited, although the hosts got round that by having a massive virtual audience wall, featuring viewers from home.
But normal service finally resumed on Saturday, when Ant and Dec were greeted with deafening cheers from the crowd in the studio, after being introduced to the stage by 2022's first Star Guest Announcer, RuPaul.
On hearing the noise from the people in the studio, Ant shouted: "Ah! Listen to that! You sound great!
"Our first live studio audience for almost two years!"
After that statement prompted even more cheers, Ant added: "We've missed you, honestly, we've missed you.
"Look at them Dec - full of lief, full of enthusiasm..." before Dec intervened to quip: "Full of prosecco by the looks of them!"
Dec then added: "Sit you selves down, it is great to have you here.
"We have missed you all and yo're very welcome. Welcome home everybody."
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