Jeremy Clarkson’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to end after Meghan Markle controversy

Channel say they have ‘no further commitments’ with the presenter

The next series of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? will be Jeremy Clarkson’s last, it has been confirmed, following backlash to the columnist’s words on Meghan Markle.

Last year, Clarkson’s future on the show was called into question after reaction to a column he wrote in The Sun where the former Top Gear host said he hated the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.

Clarkson apologised and later said that he had reached out to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex over the article. However, Harry and Meghan issued their own statement claiming that Clarkson had only apologised to Harry.

At the time, ITV said that Clarkson would remain as the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, a role he took on in 2018, “for the moment”.

Production is currently underway on the series, but it has now been announced that the forthcoming series will be his last.

ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall said the channel had “no future commitments” with Clarkson, telling Variety: “We have a contract. We’re contracted to this [season], so we will do that.

“And then we have no future commitments. And we haven’t made any statements about that.”

On Wednesday evening, Clarkson shared a tweet denying that he had been fired from the show.

“So many kind messages about today’s reports. But relax. Lisa and I have not split up and I have not been sacked as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” he wrote.

One month after Clarkson’s column was published, reports emerged claiming that Amazon had “cut ties” with the presenter. He currently appears in The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm on the Prime Video streaming service.

In the article, published 16 December, Clarkson wrote that he eaglerly anticipated the day Meghan would be made to parade naked through Britain while crowds chanted “shame” and threw “excrement” at her.

The newspaper article was widely condemned by several celebrities and public figures, including Carol Vorderman, John Bishop, and his own daughter Emily Clarkson.

Clarkson will not return to ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ (Press Association)

Clarkson later apologised for the column, describing his language as “disgraceful” and saying he was “profoundly sorry”. The Sun also apologised and said it regretted the publication of the column, which was removed online.

In February, it was announced that the column is being investigated by press regulator Ipso after they received more than 25,000 complaints about the piece.

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