The cheeky pair have been firm friends and presenting partners since meeting on kids’ show Byker Grove in 1990.

Lisa added: "I’ve witnessed fights."

She has previously joked that they are so inseparable that she reckons she is in a three-way marriage.

She said: "Ant can’t even eat without him and always asks: ’Can me mate come round for tea?’

"Dec turns up and they start mucking about and wreck the place."

Ant and Dec in multi-million takeaway - April 18 2007
TV duo Ant and Dec have signed a multi-million pound deal to stay at ITV for the next two years.

Reports that the pair’s contract would be worth a stunning £40 million, the biggest in history, were denied by a source today.

But their deal is likely to match or even eclipse the likes of BBC star Jonathan Ross - £18 million over three years - and Simon Cowell, who was paid £20 million over three years by ITV.

The pair, whose new contract runs until the end of 2009, joined ITV in 1998 as presenters and co-creators of entertainment show SM:TV Live and music show CD:UK.

The stars, who have been signed exclusively to ITV since 2000, have been the face of hit shows like I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Ant and Dec’s Gameshow Marathon and Pop Idol.

They launched Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway in 2002 and their latest show, Pokerface, attracted 7.5 million viewers at the finale of the second series.

The deal still allows the cheeky duo, who have just filmed a pilot for new gameshow Wanna Bet for US channel ABC, to work in the US.

The presenters, both 31, who shot to fame at the age of 13 in Byker Grove, will next be seen on ITV in June, hosting Simon Cowell’s new show Britain’s Got Talent.

Ant and Dec snapped up by US gameshow - Mar 20 2007
Ant and Dec are set to conquer the US after signing up to host a new gameshow.

The duo will present Wanna Bet, in which members of the public wager that they can pull off bizarre or extraordinary stunts.

US broadcaster ABC has ordered a pilot episode of the show, which will also feature celebrity interviews and musical performances - and it could be turned into a series if the Geordie pair prove a hit.

The I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! presenters - full names Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly - are best known to US viewers from their brief cameo role in the film Love Actually.

TV executives have been "aggressively" courting them for some time, according to Variety magazine.

The show’s executive producer Phil Gurin told the trade journal: "They’ve got an instant chemistry that you can’t manufacture. The British people watched them grow up on TV. These are two people who really like each other."

The Wanna Bet boss has a good track record for importing British talent - he also brought Anne Robinson to the US to host The Weakest Link.

He said: "Less than 24 hours after I got on the phone with Ant and Dec, they said, ’We love it, this is the one’. They like the tone of the show and what it can be. I was pinching myself, I can’t believe it."

The duo’s former SM:TV colleague Cat Deeley has made it in the US as host of TV talent contest So You Think You Can Dance?

Ant and Dec taking no chances - Sept 12, 2020
Ant and Dec have taken out insurance - in case the other one dies. The stars, who have worked together since meeting on children’s drama Byker Grove, get a "massive payout" if their TV partner is fatally struck down.