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Ant and Dec reveal they tried out as Radio 1 DJs

BBC Radio 1 Radio 1 presenters Jordan North and Katie Thistleton stand either side of TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. Jordan (left) is a 33-year-old white man with short curly brown hair and wears a patterned green shirt. Ant is a 48-year-old white man with brown hair cut short at the sides - he smiles at the camera and wears an unbuttoned navy shirt over a navy T-shirt. Standing next to Ant is Dec, 48, who is a bit shorter and has slightly lighter brown hair and wears a grey bomber jacket over a blue top. Katie stands on the right - she is a 34-year-old white woman with bleached blonde hair and wears a blue and white striped top. The group are pictured inside a Radio 1 studio.BBC Radio 1
Ant and Dec spoke to Jordan North and Katie Thistleton about their brush with radio

Ant and Dec have revealed how they came close to presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

The double act, who present some of ITV's biggest shows, said they tried out for the job about 25 years ago when their TV careers were taking off.

Speaking to the At Home with Vick and Jordan Podcast, Dec said station bosses asked them to record a pilot show.

But it wasn't to be. "It went really well..." said Dec. "And then they gave it to Sara Cox."

At the time, the Geordie duo were presenting popular weekly morning show SM:TV Live on ITV.

Dec says thought they'd be "too busy" to balance their TV work with a major radio show but changed their minds after doing the pilot.

"We really enjoyed it and thought, 'actually, we'd love to do the breakfast show'," Dec says.

"'We could do the breakfast show in the week then we'd do SM:TV on the Saturday... This would be amazing'."

But just as they started to get excited about the idea, Sara Cox was announced as the new presenter.

She ended up presenting Radio 1 Breakfast from 2000-2003 and now hosts an afternoon show on Radio 2.

After Sara left in 2003, Chris Moyles took over for eight years, followed by Nick Grimshaw and current host Greg James.

Getty Images SMTV Live presenters Cat Deeley, Declan Donnelly and Anthony McPartlin, circa 2000. The trio are pictured tied together with a huge pink bow in front of a bright yellow back drop. Ant, wearing a green top, is at the front with Cat sandwiched between him and Dec who stands at the back, wearing a pale blue shirt, his hair cut long over his face. Cat, who has long blonde hair, wears a red strappy top.Getty Images
At the time, Ant and Dec were presenting SM:TV Live with Cat Deeley

Speaking to Radio 1's Jordan North and Katie Thistleton, Ant and Dec also played Access All Apps - where celebrity guests unlock their phones.

The Saturday Night Takeaway presenters answered probing listener questions about recent online shops, deleted photos and WhatsApps.

Asked about their last messages from a pop star, Ant pulled out the big guns with one from Elton John.

"I sent him an email saying, 'any chance we can get some tickets to come and see you?' and he was like 'this is a no brainer, it's all sorted'."

However since returning from the Australian jungle after filming the latest series of I'm A Celeb, they joked they didn't have any messages from Britney Spears' younger sister Jamie Lynn.

"She doesn't get back to us now," Dec said, after the actress and singer quit the show on medical grounds.

Episodes of Radio 1's At Home with Vick and Jordan Podcast are available on BBC Sounds.

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