Jeremy Clarkson has had his fair share of celebrity feuds and fights over the years.
The former Top Gear host turned farmer has barred Keir Starmer from his pub, battled BBC bosses over a ‘fracas’ in a hotel, and who could forget when he punched Piers Morgan during the British Press Awards.
Still, while Clarkson has mellowed in recent years (he and Piers have even let bygones be bygones), the 66-year-old can still summon up the old sturm und drang when he’s irritated enough.
And the latest celebrity to earn Clarkson’s red-faced ire is none other than naturalist and Springwatch host Chris Packham.
But what has Packham said that’s got under Clarkson’s skin, and do the pair really have beef (preferably British beef in Clarkson’s case)?
Well, during a recent appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox, Packham had the terrible temerity to criticise Clarkson’s Farm.
Let’s dig into it…
What has Chris Packham said about Clarkson’s Farm?
During the fifth episode of series eight of Celebrity Gogglebox (which aired on July 3), Packham ranted to his stepdaughter Megan McCubbin about how unrealistic Clarkson’s Farm was.
‘Already, right, that’s not what a farm looks like,’ he said after watching the show’s animated intro.
‘Most farms are horrible monocultures, which have been sprayed with deadly chemicals time and time again. The ground pumped full of fertiliser, and loads of the animals are indoors in crates, being crushed and kept in the dark.
‘That’s an idealistic view of a farm, and it puts the wrong idea in people’s minds. And that’s only the titles!’
He then joked: ‘What’s my blood pressure?”‘.
How has Jeremy Clarkson responded?
Jeremy Clarkson responded to Packham’s comments in his July 10 column for The Sun, where he dismissed the claims as b******s.
Furthermore, he said that the ‘endlessly angry’ Packham should know this because in 2012, he came to Diddly Squat and spent the day in the woods, foraging and bird watching on the farm.
Clarkson isn’t the only member of the farm crew to respond. Harriet Cowan, who briefly stepped into Kaleb Cooper’s wellies during Clarkson’s Farm series 4, also shared her thoughts on Packham’s criticism on TikTok.
During the video, which began with a clip branded with the text ‘The BBC’s impartial presenter’ and showing Packham’s rant, Cowan took her viewers on a tour of a farm showing the variety of animals and crops grown there.
Cowan captioned the post: ‘Chris Packham. Maybe before throwing shade at all farmers, research your facts. What world are you living in?
Metro has reached out to Packham and Clarkson for comment.