Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Jeremy Clarkson 'axed' after Markle comments
An ITV spokesperson has addressed the rumours stating that "neither Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? nor Jeremy Clarkson have been cancelled".
After previous reports that an ITV boss said that the next season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? will be Jeremy Clarkson's last, an ITV spokesperson has now stated that "for the avoidance of doubt neither Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? nor Jeremy Clarkson have been cancelled".
In the statement to Sky News, they said: "As we have said for several weeks, ITV is contractually committed to a further series of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (which has now been recorded).
"There are no further commissioning commitments beyond that currently as is typical with such shows where we make commissioning decisions on a series-by-series basis."
In response, Clarkson Tweeted: "So many kind messages about today's reports. But relax... I have not been sacked as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."
This comes after an interview with Variety in which ITV's CEO Carolyn McCall said that Clarkson's upcoming season will be his final with the show, revealing that the broadcaster has "no future commitments" with the presenter.
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The news comes after the controversial comments Clarkson made in a December column for The Sun about Meghan Markle, in which he said he hated her on a "cellular level".
"We have a contract. We’re contracted to this [season], so we will do that," she said. "And then we have no future commitments. And we haven’t made any statements about that."
The publication added that when asked whether Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? will continue with a new host, McCall "simply shrugged".
On Clarkson's comments about Meghan Markle, McCall said that ITV did "come out immediately" with a response, referring to director of television Kevin Lygo's 20th December 2022 statement.
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The CEO continued: "There was no dissent internally. We came out much quicker than anybody else, Amazon included. We just came out said, ‘Yes, we do not endorse a single word that he said on that. And there’s no place for that on ITV.’"
Kevin Lygo previously said that the column, in which Clarkson said that he dreams of making Markle "parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her", would not affect his role on Millionaire, saying in December: "What [Clarkson] writes in a newspaper column is really more for [the press] to talk about than us."
Clarkson later issued a response on Twitter to the public backlash, writing: "Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people.
"I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future."
In January, Prime Video announced that it would not be renewing Clarkson's Farm or The Grand Tour for future seasons, however the streamer later reportedly said that this wasn't linked to the Meghan Markle controversy.
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