Jeremy Clarkson will no longer host hit gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire after one last series. ITV chief Carolyn McCall has confirmed the next season of the quiz show, which is currently being produced, will be the controversial star's final series as presenter.
She said while they have a contract with Clarkson for the upcoming series they have "no future commitments" to renew it. And she explained the decision behind the move in the wake of the star's comments about Duchess of Sussex - Meghan Markle.
The Grand Tour presenter faced a major backlash following a column in The Sun in which he said the Duchess of Sussex should be forced to parade the streets naked with "lumps of excrement thrown at her". This is now under investigation by British media regulator IPSO.
An ITV spokesperson told The Mirror: "As we have said before, ITV has a further series of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contractually commissioned {which has now recorded}, and no further commissioning commitments beyond that currently. "
The decision to axe Clarkson as the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire presenter was confirmed by McCall in an interview as she was being honoured as Variety's International Media Woman of the Year. She spoke of the broadcaster's "quick response" to Clarkson's column.
"We have a contract. We’re contracted to this [season], so we will do that," McCall said according Variety. "And then we have no future commitments."
She added: "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.’ So we came out very quickly and just said, you know, that wasn’t on ITV. But we don’t endorse that in any way. And there’s no place for that on ITV.”
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The Mirror revealed last month that three female stars refused to take part in the celebrity version of the ITV quiz show. At least three household names made it "very loud and very clear" that they did not want to take part with Clarkson as the host.
A source said: “ITV were left with no choice but to postpone the show. The feelings were made very loud, and very clear. Namely that they didn’t want to share a platform with Clarkson and, in doing so, risk being seen to legitimise his misogynistic comments.
“They were appearing on the show to raise money for charity, and they were acutely aware that they didn’t want causes special to their heart to be caught up in any backlash. It was a no-brainer to be honest, they had to walk away.”
