The next season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will include the return of Jeremy Clarkson.
After receiving outrage for a piece he wrote on Meghan Markle in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level,” the 62-year-old former host of Top Gear will return to hosting the ITV1 quiz programme.
Variety claimed that Netflix had “broken relations” with the Grand Tour presenter over his comments, while ITV chief Carlyn McCall said that Clarkson’s opinions were “in no way approved” by the network, and network chairman Kevin Lygo said, ‘I would say what he writes in a newspaper column… We have no control over what he says.’
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is listed on Lost In TV, a live audience service that allows fans to obtain free tickets to be in the studio for some of television’s greatest shows. Filming is set to begin in the next month.
Currently, fans can apply for tickets for shoots on February 10 (doors at 11.15am), 11 (1:45pm), 12 (4.30pm) and 13 (11.15am).
The listing states, “Britain’s most-loved classic quiz, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” is returning with Jeremy Clarkson as presenter, and you might be a part of the live audience!
‘How would you enjoy voting, when the Ask The Audience lifeline is used? Would you like to see Britain’s brightest brains win Fastest Finger first and try and win a million pounds?
‘Then, this is your chance to come and feel the atmosphere of the world’s most famous quiz show.’
The site states that the recordings will take “about two hours,” that viewers must be 18 or older, and that the standard disclaimers apply.
The Daily Mail, however, adds that a June celebrity special is still in the works in addition to the anticipated September series.
Clarkson issued an apology for the essay earlier this month, but it was met with criticism from Prince Harry and Meghan, who condemned his ‘pattern of spreading hate rhetoric.’
According to a statement, “On December 25, 2022, Mr. Clarkson wrote only to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.”
They continued: ‘While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny.
‘Unless each of his other pieces were also written “in a hurry”, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.’claims.