Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about the dire state of farming in the UK - before confessing he's accidentally bought a pub.
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host appeared at Broadcasting House in west London yesterday to promote the upcoming series of the ITV quiz show. For the first time in a few years, the audience is back and with it the Ask The Audience function too, as normal people are tasked with answering just a few questions right to secure themselves one million pounds.
Jeremy - who owns his Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds - has spoken of the hardship faced by farmers, and he has now revealed he has added another string to his bow in the form of a pub, which he "accidentally" purchased.
Speaking to The Mirror and other press at the ITV Autumn entertainment schedule launch about his farming and plans for the future in his countryside career, he said: "I tell you what though, I'm thinking this year, due to the poor state of affairs for farmers in this country, I should be sitting on the other chair trying to win some money."
Before adding: "I love quiz shows, always have done - Mastermind, Pointless - and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire obviously was the king of them all, so when the opportunity presented itself, I loved to do it."
And Jeremy admits he enjoys the "variety" of all he does - and recently just bought a pub.
Asked if he planned to stick with farming permanently, he said: "No, no, I like variety! I was doing cows at six this morning and now I'm here, so it's lovely to have variety for the day.
"And apparently I've accidentally bought a pub I've got to go look at in a minute because I've bought a brewery. Anyway it's nice to have lots of different things to do in the day, so I do enjoy that."
Meanwhile, on the upcoming series, Jeremy has teased that a contestant experienced the biggest loss ever on the show so far.
"I think we've had our biggest ever drop. Somebody went to £125,000 without a safety net and – can I say this? – they f***ed it up," he said, "That really was an extremely alarming moment. Horrific. Can you imagine going home after you’ve lost £124,000?"
"It's lovely to see people win and just as lovely to see people when they don’t," he added.
*Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? returns to ITV on September 3 for a new series.
