I'm A Celebrity: Scarlett Moffatt is bookies' favourite to stand in for Ant McPartlin

Made In Chelsea’s Georgia Toffolo also a frontrunner

ITV's new boss has said Mr McPartlin will return to the channel when he is 'well and ready to come back'. (PA)

Scarlett Moffatt, the former Gogglebox star, has emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Ant McPartlin on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! after ITV confirmed Declan Donnelly would not present the show alone.

ITV’s director of television Kevin Lygo told the Edinburgh TV Festival that a new co-host had been chosen to replace McPartlin, but he declined to reveal who it would be.

Donnelly’s long-time presenting partner will not return to work this year following a drink-driving conviction which saw him banned from the road for 20 months and fined £86,000.

It marks the first time since the reality show began in 2002 that the duo would not present together from the Australian jungle.

Bookmakers Paddy Power offered odds of 6/4 on Moffatt, 27, to replace McPartlin. The TV star was crowned queen of the jungle in the 2016 series.

Moffatt, who, like McPartlin and Donnelly hails from the North East of England, also appeared on I’m A Celebrity spin-off show Extra Camp.

A Paddy Power spokesman said: “ITV bosses seem set to really think outside the box by replacing him with much-loved Geordie TV presenter Scarlett Moffatt. Genius.”

Moffatt was one of several female presenters being touted as contenders for the role.

Another previous winner, Made In Chelsea’s Georgia Toffolo, had odds of 2/1. She was just ahead of the host of the Australian version of the show, Julia Morris.

Comedian Morris told ITV’s Good Morning Britain she would fill in for McPartlin “in a heartbeat”.

A montage of the way Morris introduces herself while presenting, including as “Kylie Minogue’s body double”, has recently amassed more than a million views online.

This Morning host Holly Willoughby and Love Island’s Caroline Flack were also in the reckoning.

The male presenter on whom Paddy Power offered the lowest odds was X-Factor host Dermot O’Leary, who was at 10/1.

TV presenter Stephen Mulhern, who appeared a segment in Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, is also thought to be in contention.