ITV has indicated that the next series of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' may be the last hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, following his controversial remarks about the Duchess of Sussex. Carolyn McCall, ITV's chief executive, told Variety that the broadcaster has 'no future commitments' to renew Clarkson's contract beyond the forthcoming series, which has already been recorded.
Clarkson faced backlash in December after writing a column for The Sun in which he expressed a desire to see the Duchess of Sussex paraded naked and pelted with excrement. The article was removed from the newspaper's website, and the press regulator Ipso launched an investigation after receiving over 25,000 complaints.
McCall stated that ITV has a contractual commitment for the next series but nothing beyond that. However, an ITV spokesperson later clarified that neither the show nor Clarkson has been cancelled, noting that commissioning decisions are made on a series-by-series basis.
The quiz show originally aired from 1998 to 2014 with Chris Tarrant as host, before being revived in 2018 with Clarkson. Clarkson, who also presents Amazon Prime shows and writes for The Sun and Sunday Times, apologised to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Christmas Day, calling his language 'disgraceful'.
ITV distanced itself from Clarkson's comments two days after the column appeared, with director of television Kevin Lygo describing them as 'awful'. McCall confirmed there was no internal dissent, stating the channel did not endorse Clarkson's words.
