ITV is weighing up Jeremy Clarkson’s future on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? following the furor over his column about Meghan Markle.
Deadline understands the Clarkson’s Farm host has just one series left to run on his contract and no further commitments with ITV at present. Filming for the 39th season of the iconic entertainment format will take place next month and the show will air over the summer.
ITV will need to decide whether to renew Clarkson’s contract after he has spent five years hosting Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. The presenter has landed himself in hot water following the Markle column in The Sun, in which he said he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex and she should be made to “parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain,” a callback to a Game of Thrones scene.
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Although he didn’t specify for how long, ITV Director of Television Kevin Lygo said late last year that Clarkson would keep his role as host. Lygo said his attack on Markle was “awful” and stressed it “did not represent our values.”
Meanwhile, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall is yet to respond to a letter from Scottish MP John Nicolson urging her to stand Clarkson down from Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
Pressure will have ramped up since yesterday with the news, revealed by Variety, that Clarkson is likely to part ways with Amazon Prime Video once the latest seasons of The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm end next year.
Amazon Yet To Voice Desire To Cancel Clarkson
Sources close to Expectation, which produces both shows, were somewhat bemused by the reports that Clarkson had been canceled. Amazon has not yet communicated its desire to end the shows and production is ongoing on both brands.
Season 2 of Clarkson’s Farm drops next month, while a third is currently being filmed. A new Grand Tour episode is in post-production, with another two scheduled to shoot. Sources said it was not unusual for Amazon to refuse to commit to renewals ahead of new episodes streaming.
Clarkson issued a lengthy Instagram apology for the column – Britain’s most complained-about newspaper article of all time – in which he said he was sorry “all the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head.” Markle and husband Prince Harry rejected the apology.
ITV and Prime Video declined to comment on Clarkson’s future.
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