ANT & DEC TO QUIT

STARS Ant and Dec will QUIT their hit show Saturday Night Takeaway after the next series following a bitter feud with embattled ITV boss Michael Grade.

They are furious with Grade after he publicly DISMISSED their executive producer roles as a "vanity credit"-created to make them feel they had a say in the programme.

Telly bosses held three-hour crisis talks with the multi-millionaire Geordie duo about the future of Saturday Night Takeaway following this week's phone scams report-ordered after we revealed in March how the show's viewers were being RIPPED OFF.

Charges

The report, from independent consultants Deloitte, finally confirmed our damning revelations that viewers were CONNED into ringing premium phonelines for Takeaway's Jiggy Bank and Grab The Ads contests, although the winners had already been PICKED.

ITV chiefs have now decided to completely overhaul the programme when it returns to air next year with new competitions, features and possibly even a different name.

And in a bid to restore their squeaky clean reputation Ant and Dec have persuaded ITV to donate the next series phoneline profits to charity. Then the pair-real names Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly-will quit to concentrate on cracking America.

After previously refusing to speak directly with them, former BBC chairman Grade, 64, talked to them both on Friday, to try and keep the channel's biggest stars on side.

But Ant and Dec made it clear they were "livid" and "completely disillusioned" after Grade belittled them.

An ITV source revealed: "It's been a very difficult time with many angry discussions. Ant and Dec were very disappointed with Michael and still are."

A statement from the pair last night said they had no role in running the phonelines or selecting winners and were "deeply upset" at what had happened. "The way our viewers and fans have been treated simply isn't acceptable and we are truly sorry," they said.

The Deloitte report also revealed a raft of other phoneline scams on ITV shows including I'm A Celebrity and X Factor-and could see the channel being fined up to £70million.

And the Serious Fraud Office, which is already looking at another phone scam at GMTV, could investigate.

Last night, ITV bosses insisted that Ant and Dec had a deal that keeps them with the channel until 2009.

They insisted that they were committed to Saturday Night Takeaway and had a good relationship with the Geordie duo.

They denied that Ant and Dec would be walking away from the show after the next series.