Neil Patrick Harris doubts he will return as Oscars host

Actor Neil Patrick Harris doubts he will return to host the Academy Awards for a second time because his first stint last month (Feb15) was incredibly taxing on both him and his family.

The former How I Met Your Mother star fulfilled a life-long dream of emceeing Hollywood's biggest night, but he admits the job proved to be one of the most difficult challenges he had ever faced.

When asked by the Huffington Post if he would host the Oscars again, he said, "I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it. It's a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don't know that it’s a delightful balance to do every year or even again... It's so difficult for one who's simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing."

Harris received mixed reviews for his hosting job and the ratings dipped 16 per cent from the previous year (14), when comedienne Ellen DeGeneres served as presenter, marking the lowest viewing figures for the annual movie prizegiving in six years.