Ant McPartlin has condemned the scourge of e-bikes in London, claiming it was part of the reason he moved out of the capital. The I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! presenter, 50, and his wife Anne-Marie Corbett, 48, swapped their £6 million Wimbledon home for a £10 million gated pad in Surrey in February. McPartlin has now shared his fury over the Lime bikes being left outside his old home in south west London, admitting his step-daughters said it was giving him “anger issues”.
Ant McPartlin's E-Bike Rant
“Have I ever been on a Lime bike? Yes. Why are you so shocked at that? Of course I have been on a Lime bike,” he said to his longtime friend and co-host Declan Donnelly on their podcast Hanging Out With Ant and Dec. “There was a period where I used to live, people would leave their Lime bikes outside my house. Just outside the gates.
“I got so angry and one day, I kicked them all down. I got told I had anger issues by the kids. I don't have anger issues. I was just angry at the people who kept leaving them... there were like, four of them.”
The Geordie presenter went on: “And then every day I go out and it's as if they knew, it was winding me up. And there would be one parked outside my house every day. “I was like, ‘I am f***ing sick of this’ and kicked it over. But that's not anger issues, I was just angry. That's not anger... anger issues, you are angry at everything.”
Did E-Bikes Drive Ant Out of London?
Donnelly asked: “Is that why you moved out of London?” McPartlin laughed and joked: “Yes, I had to move out of London because people were parking bikes outside of my house.” They captioned the clip which was shared on the podcast’s Instagram: “The real reason Ant moved out of London.”
McPartlin lives with Corbett, their son Wilder, two, and her teenage daughters Poppy and Daisy from a former relationship. He sold his home in Wimbledon in November after a reported planning row with neighbours, although he denies this was the cause. Neighbours accused him of wanting to cut down six large healthy trees in his garden on "a personal whim". The local authority gave permission for his landscaping plans despite a tree preservation order and locals complained before McPartlin backed down.
New Life in Surrey
He was reportedly seen scouting out his leafy new neighbourhood in Surrey with Corbett and their son Wilder. “Apparently, [the new house] is a record sale for the area and it’s all anyone is gossiping about,” a source told the Mail. “It is one of the prime private estates in an acre of grounds so he shouldn’t have trouble with the neighbours any more. He looks very content and is always happy to say hello to people who recognise him but I don’t think he will be bothered too much around here as we are used to all the celebrities packing out the local hostelries.”
McPartlin signed a £30 million ITV deal with television partner Donnelly, who is also reported to be investing in property with the purchase of a third house in the same London street. McPartlin bought his previous three-storey home for £6 million in 2019, after previously living close to Donnelly in Chiswick, West London. After Anne-Marie moved in with him, the couple reportedly spent thousands adding two extensions as well as a swimming pool with Victorian-esque changing rooms.
Before moving to Wimbledon, he lived in Chiswick next door to Donnelly for years. In 2018, McPartlin split from his wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and took some months away from his TV career to turn life around. He later formed a relationship with his former PA Anne-Marie, who he married in 2021.
