Harriet Cowan has recalled the bizarre moment she found herself having to convince Jeremy Clarkson that female pigs really do have clitorises.
The farmer, who became a fan favourite after joining the cast of Clarkson's Farm, has lifted the lid on the extraordinary exchange in her new book, Life On The Farm.
A Surprising Lesson in Pig Anatomy
Cowan was brought into the Diddly Squat operation while Kaleb Cooper was away promoting his book, taking on a range of jobs alongside Clarkson and the rest of the farming team.
One task involved bringing a new boar onto the farm so he could mate with three sows that were ready for breeding. Clarkson was hoping the pigs would eventually provide pork for Christmas.
But while working with the animals, Cowan realised the TV star had rather less knowledge of pig anatomy than she expected.
An Unforgettable Exchange
She described the strange conversation in her book, explaining: "If you look on their bums, you can see the little clitoris," to which Jeremy replied: "The what?"
Harriet then quietly repeated: "The clitoris," prompting Clarkson to raise his eyebrows before insisting: "Pigs don't have clitorises."
Cowan was adamant, replying: "I promise you, they do."
The surreal nature of the exchange left the farmer questioning how she had ended up explaining basic reproductive anatomy to one of Britain's best-known television presenters.
"Never at any point in my farming life did I think I would find myself pointing out female sex organs and giving a pig anatomy lesson to a 63-year-old famous TV presenter on a mainstream show," she wrote.
Why She Whispered
According to Cowan, Clarkson's expression was priceless, while Lisa's laughter at his apparent inability to find or identify the body part only made the situation funnier.
For farmers, however, there was nothing particularly unusual about the subject. Understanding an animal's anatomy and reproductive cycle is an essential part of managing livestock, particularly when deciding whether an animal is ready to breed.
Cowan admitted the experience also made her consider how easily people working in agriculture can assume that knowledge which seems completely obvious to them is shared by everyone.
She explained why she had initially lowered her voice when mentioning the word "clitoris", stressing that she wasn't embarrassed by the subject itself.
"I think my whispering of the word 'clitoris' wasn't from a sense of embarrassment of what it was, because in farming terms, it's simply part of the reproductive system of a sow and as a farmer or a vet or anyone who works with animals, you need to know how their bodies work."
Instead, she said she had been conscious of the cameras filming the scene and wasn't sure whether the conversation would be considered appropriate for television.
But there was one thing that particularly frustrated her about the encounter – Clarkson simply refused to accept what she was telling him.
"But the problem with Jeremy was that he didn't believe me."
"And at that point, my no-nonsense farmer attitude took over because I was in disbelief that I had to explain something so ordinary to a man who was treating it as some massive, big, bizarre discovery!"
Life After the Show
Cowan went on to become one of the breakout personalities of the show's fourth series, appearing in several episodes of the Prime Video programme as Clarkson attempts to run his 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds.
The latest series also followed a much more serious storyline, with Clarkson revealing he had been diagnosed with "aggressive" prostate cancer.
The series ended with the presenter being rushed to hospital, before he later opened up about complications during his treatment.
In June, Clarkson revealed that his cancer was officially in remission.
Cowan has since offered an update on how the presenter is doing, saying he is "all right now".
"He's happy, he's farming, he's back on a tractor," she added.
