Ant and Dec came under fire after viewers felt they took a prank too far (Picture: Getty Images)
Saturday Night Takeaway audiences felt uneasy watching the first prank of the night as presenter duo Ant and Dec played tricks on a first-time dad.
Kicking off the weekend fixture, Liam was placed in the firing line of his pregnant partner Amy’s revenge as he was put through a series of made-up experiences.
Over the course of eight months, the show followed the unsuspecting soon-to-be dad as he thought he was going through the motions of pre-birth rituals.
From the early-stage scans to anti-natal class and their first family photoshoot, Liam was tricked into going along with a bizarre set of instructions and unusual antics.
However, fans of the show failed to see the funny side and accused the presenters of stealing key experiences from the new dad.
They shared their thoughts on Twitter and slammed the programme for being ‘cruel’ and in ‘bad taste’.
Fans weren’t happy with the duo’s treatment of a new dad (Picture: Getty Images)
One wrote: ‘Is it just me or does this feel in really bad taste, messing with a father’s first time experience like this #SaturdayNightTakeaway [sic]’.
Another penned: ‘That isn’t even a prank bro they just manipulated the geezer [sic]’.
‘Really don’t agree with that… that core memory isn’t even real,’ a fan commented while one more said: ‘This is not funny, quite mean actually [sic]’.
The backlash was in response to a series of fake situations that infiltrated Liam’s nine-month pregnancy journey with Amy – all the way up until his baby boy’s birth which the duo assured they ‘didn’t mess with’.
The pair received backlash online (Picture: WireImage)
After sending the first-time dad to a ridiculous birthing class where he was filmed rolling around in a fake pregnant belly and setting up a photoshoot that saw him dressed as a giant teddy bear, Ant and Dec revealed they were done messing around.
Checking in with Amy to see if she was satisfied with their handiwork, the pranksters admitted they had one more surprise for the new parents.
They had opened a children’s savings account on behalf of baby Finley and were going to deposit one thousand pounds for each year of his childhood until he was 18.
Liam and Amy appeared delighted and were sent on their way with smiles and their family photo plastered across a billboard in London’s Leicester Square.
Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway starts tonight at 7pm on ITV.
Metro.co.uk contacted ITV for comment.
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‘This baby prank is really bad taste’.
