Ant and Dec caught at the center of rugby fan storm after Ireland’s Six Nations Grand Slam trophy lifting failed to show in favor of Saturday Night Takeaway
Ant and Dec were caught in the center of a storm with angry rugby fans on Saturday after coverage of Ireland’s Six Nations game against England went ‘cut off’.
On Friday, it was announced that the Saturday Night Takeaway would start later this weekend to ensure the sports game was shown.
After Takeaway fans criticized ITV for scrapping the show from the show in favor of rugby last year, this weekend it was sports devotees who were left furious.
While the game, which was won by Ireland 29-16, was shown to the end, the Grand Slam trophy presentation was not broadcast so Takeaway could continue at its scheduled time.
The ITV commentator told viewers that the trophy presentation would be shown on ITV4, but the move left a sour taste in the mouths of Ireland supporters.
Rage: Ant and Dec were caught in the center of a storm with angry rugby fans on Saturday after coverage of Ireland’s Six Nations game against England was ‘interrupted’
Change: While the game which Ireland won 29-16 was shown until the end, the Grand Slam trophy presentation was not broadcast so Takeaway could move on (Pictured: Ireland’s Johnny Sexton celebrates with the Six O’clock Trophy Nations)
Many viewers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, questioning whether ITV should have the rugby rights to the BBC.
One person wrote: ‘ITV just cut the 6 Nations Grand Slam presentation for Saturday night takeaway JOKE!!! @SixNationsRuby takes an ITV photo!
Someone else posted: ‘@ITVRugby and @ITV… Deciding to end rugby coverage before trophy was lifted? In a year of Grand Slam??? Really?!? This is precisely why the @bbc should host the big games. absolute clowns.
Another viewer posted: ‘@ITVRugby @ITV you’re not even going to show the six nations trophy lifting on the ITV channel the game was on? Their coverage is not very good at best! Please don’t win any more rugby rights! #IREvENG’
Another person tweeted: ‘@ITVSport Imagine showing @SIxNationsRugby and cutting the show before the trophy is lifted! That’s why nobody wants it on ITV. Too many shocking ads in Ireland rugby!’
Another viewer wrote: ‘@ITV @ITVSport why can’t you keep rugby on for Ireland to lift the trophy on #ITV1 oh just for Ant & Dec? You’ve paid a lot for #SixNations and you don’t finish until the end!!’
While someone else wrote: “If ITV is really showing Ant n Dec instead of the #6Nations trophy presentation, why do they have rights to show rugby?”
Saturday Night Takeaway has been moved out of its regular hours in a schedule reshuffle to make way for Six Nations Rugby, it was announced on Friday.
Opinion: Many viewers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, questioning whether ITV should have the rugby rights to the BBC.
Champions: Bundee Aki of Ireland celebrated after their Grand Slam victory during the Six Nations Rugby match between Ireland and England at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
ITV’s entertainment show was broadcast later, at 7:15pm, when the channel featured two rugby matches on Saturday.
Sporting events scheduled for the day included France v Wales which started at 1:55pm, while Ireland v England aired at 4:30pm
As a result, fans who tuned in to Saturday Night Takeaway at the regular time of 7:00 p.m. had to wait until it started 15 minutes later, with the episode ending at 8:45 p.m.
This also meant that the rest of ITV’s schedule would be changed slightly as well, with Starstruck starting at 8:45pm, while The Jonathan Ross Show was due to start at 9:55pm.