Ant McPartlin, 50, is left in hysterics over shirtless beach picture of himself next to his 'larger' friend that created awkward optical illusion

Ant McPartlin has shared his hilarious reaction to a shirtless snap of himself on holiday, which sparked an awkward optical illusion.

The presenter, 50, has jetted to Portugal with his wife Anne-Marie and their family, and they were pictured heading to the beach over the weekend.

But one image showed Ant standing alongside one of his 'larger' friends which sparked an amusing image faux pas.

The Britain's Got Talent star laughed about the gaffe with his longtime pal Declan Donnelly on the latest episode of their Hanging Out With Ant and Dec podcast.

Ant said: 'Someone sent it through this morning just going "oh I see you on the beach'" it's like "oh God, shirtless shot on the beach".'

'To be fair, the reason that I mention it is because if I was in my 20s or 30s, that would have freaked me out. It would have freaked me out...

'And now I'm like "I'm 50 I don't care you know?" It's OK, I look alright you know?I'm not ashamed to say it. I'm not embarrassed at all. It is what it is...

'There's a shot of me standing in profile right? 

'And one of our friends, I will name him, Andy Collins, is stood right next to me, and he's a larger gentleman than me, so his belly kind of protrudes out, but he's stood next to me so it looks like my belly and first I'm like "oh my God, I look awful," and then I'm like "actually that's not my belly".' 

'And I feel like taking that shot and putting it on my social going "not my belly guys".'

Ant also recently shared that his holidays haven't always been smooth sailing, as he was once caught naked by a masseuse while visiting a Thai parlour.

Speaking on their podcast, Ant said he'd been told about a 'really good' Thai massage parlour that was close to where he and Anne-Marie were staying.

He said: 'But a friend of ours said, "Be careful, when you go there, they come in really quickly."

'So I go in and I'm getting changed. The middle door slides open. My wife's in this one, I'm in this one.

'She quickly whips the dress off, pops the paper knickers on, jumps on the bed.

'I take my clothes off, I struggle to kind of get all the buttons done on my shirt.'

Ant then said he became 'annoyed' and just decided to pull the shirt over the top of his head, adding: '[I took] my strides off, my underpants off.

'So I'm leaning over the bed to get the paper knickers and inadvertently flick the paper knickers off the bed to the other side of the bed.

'And I'm naked and everything's hanging out.'

Ant said he was hurried along by his wife Anne-Marie, but then struggled to get the 'paper knickers' out of their plastic container.

He told Dec: 'They land on the ground. I'm standing like this to put my leg in, my leg's up. As I'm doing that, the door opens and [the masseuse] comes in.

'She can see everything and we just stare at each other for a bit too long. I went "not yet!"

Ant said he did return to the massage parlour, but confessed he and the masseuse 'couldn't look each other in the eye'.

Ant and Anne-Marie tied the knot in 2021 and are parents to their son Wilder, two, and teenage daughters Poppy and Daisy from Anne-Marie's previous marriage to Scott Corbett.

These days, their daily routine is centred around walking the dogs, attending sporting events such as football matches and the tennis at Wimbledon, and enjoying holidays in Barbados. 

Ant refers to Anne-Marie as his 'rock and lifesaver' and she took on the role of sober coach after he had a much-publicised alcohol and prescription painkiller addiction, which he has now overcome.

He claims he's now the 'happiest he's ever been' and that's all thanks to the wholesome life they lead together.

Ant first embraced the quiet life in 2018 while in recovery and he said she was 'his rock' during this time.

He said: 'I got out of hospital and I rented houses in the country and locked myself away and walked the dog. No TV or social media. I did nothing.

'I barely watched the World Cup. I worked on myself and got well. For 16 years I’ve spent my birthday in Australia so I thought I’d spend it with Anne-Marie. It was gorgeous.'

Ant and Anne-Marie met back in 2017, when Anne-Marie began working with the TV host as his personal assistant in the TV world.

She was previously married to Scott, but the pair split in October 2017 – the year Ant also split from his first wife, Lisa Armstrong, who Anne-Marie also worked for and was friends with.

Ant has always maintained that their relationship began after they were both single saying Anne-Marie is 'honest and good'.