Jeremy Clarkson's shocking cancer diagnosis reduced farm manager Kaleb Cooper to tears. The 66-year-old revealed the news in the concluding episodes of his series Clarkson's Farm, as he sat down for a chat with Kaleb Cooper and Charlie Ireland.
"I've got cancer," Clarkson announced during a discussion about the farm's harvest. Kaleb responded, "No, you haven't. Where?" The former Top Gear presenter continued: "Where it is, is of no concern of anybody. I've known since May."
"I had a medical, you remember back in May? I disappeared off the other week and I had a biopsy and it is cancer and it's aggressive, but it's really early so the treatment will be, you know.. I was praying we could get the harvest done and then I could go and get some treatment but it's going to be slap bang in the middle."
Kaleb, wiping away tears, then said, "Look after yourself, you go and do... if you need anything just ring." Later in the programme, Clarkson reflected on how the year had been tough while speaking to Kaleb, his girlfriend Lisa, and his two other staff members.
"We started the year and I had coronary heart disease and ended it with me with cancer," he explained. "We can dwell as much as we like on all the bad things that have happened on the farm, but I think it's better now, at the end of the year, to focus on things that have happened that are good."
Kaleb asked, "When will we know the treatments worked?" In response to Kaleb's tears, the Who Wants to be a Millionaire presenter jokes with him to "cheer up". "Not for another few weeks. Come on cheer up, it probably did work."
The emotional episode has now been made available on Prime Video. Prior to the episodes airing, the TV personality cautioned viewers that they might find them "a difficult watch". He shared on Instagram: "Ordinarily we try to keep the show bucolic and charming and cheerful. But the final two episodes which drop in the middle of the night tonight are none of those things really." In the footage, he took a deep breath and continued: "They're a difficult watch. They're really, really difficult."
Following his announcement to the farmers, Clarkson is subsequently shown in a hospital bed preparing to undergo surgery. Nevertheless, Clarkson seems to keep a positive outlook as he expresses hope for returning for a sixth series, before quipping that if the treatment proves unsuccessful 'take care everyone'.
