Declan Donnelly opened the live finale of Saturday Night Takeaway with an all-singing-all-dancing musical number this weekend, choosing to belt out Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by the Blues Brothers for the show's big opener. The final episode seemed to have a theme of togetherness, perhaps in solidarity with the absent Ant McPartlin, who returned to rehab last month. When asked who was invited to the night's show by Scarlett Moffatt, Dec replied, "You, me, them – everybody!" – before the opening credits saw Dec, Scarlett and fellow presenter Stephen Mulhern handing out invites to the happy crowds.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDec opened the show with the song 'Everybody Needs Somebody'
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Dec then burst into a rendition of the classic Blues Brothers anthem, with Stephen and Scarlett dancing and singing along. Fans seemed to love Dec's pitch-perfect performance, with many taking to Twitter to congratulate him. "Well if you thought Dec was good last week, think he took it up a step this week," one fan wrote. Another said: "Dec singing 'Everybody Needs Somebody' was everything I needed!"
It started to rain as Dec began his opening chat, which focused mainly on the plan for the show ahead. While he chose to touch on Ant's situation in the previous week's episode, Dec seemed to prefer not to dwell this time around, going straight into the usual chat and introducing the show's special guests. Later in the show, Friends theme tune singers The Rembrandts performed I'll Be There For You as the show's 'singalong live' section, in another nod to friendship and togetherness. "Is this a message to Ant???" one fan tweeted.
© Photo: InstagramDec shared a smiley selfie just before the show went on air
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Dad-to-be Dec, who is expecting his first child with wife Ali Astall, previously said it was only fair on viewers and Orlando ticket winners that the finale show go on. A few days after Ant's arrest, he tweeted: "Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead. We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series. Dec x."
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