TV stars Ant & Dec, best known for hosting a television series amid the creepie-crawlies of the Australian jungle, have insured each other’s lives for a reported £2m.Dec, 30, told the Radio Times: “I just know if he [Ant] kicks the bucket, I get a massive payout.”

But if the £2m figure is true, it puts Britain’s biggest top entertainment duo a long way down the celebrity valuation list. Back in 1940, movie star Betty Grable’s legs alone were insured for $1m, or close to £25m in today’s money. Even comedian Ken Dodd’s teeth were insured for £4m, while singer Gareth Gates’ hairstyle briefly enjoyed an insurance tag of £1m.

But the top celebrity insurer at Lloyd’s of London, Jonathan Thomas of underwriting agency Creechurch, says the £2m price on the heads of Ant & Dec is just the starting point. ITV, whose ratings have been in freefall, has a huge amount staked on the success of Saturday Night Takeaway, starting this weekend, and the next series of “I’m a celebrity …” in November. It will have insured Ant & Dec for millions themselves. Even the managing agents - who typically take a 15% cut of a star’s earnings - are likely to have a policy that pays out on either’s lives. In total, the duo probably add up to an insurance risk at Lloyd’s running into eight figures rather than seven.

“First of all we establish the income stream of each individual, then we estimate how much it would be diminished if one or the other could not perform,” Thomas says. “So if the two are insuring each other, then £2m sounds about right.”