Jeremy Clarkson reveals cancer scare before Top Gear fracas

Clarkson said the incident occured during a very stressful time

Jeremy Clarkson reveals cancer scare before Top Gear fracas

by Lauren Smith |
Published on

Jeremy Clarkson has continued to speak out about being dropped from Top Gear after a "fracas" with a producer - revealing he thought he might have had cancer when the incident occured.

Speaking in his* Sunday Times* column, Clarkson said the incident came in his "most stressful day... in 27 years at the BBC" after doctors told him a lump on his tongue might be cancerous.

"Two days before the 'fracas' I'd been told, sternly, by my doctor that a lump on my tongue was probably cancer and that I must get it checked out immediately" he wrote.

"But I couldn't do that. We were in the middle of a Top Gear series. And Top Gear always came first."

Luckily, Clarkson got the all-clear over the lump from doctors. But he also spoke about his obsession with the show, and how the ending of his contract resulted in an "enormous" sense of loss.

"I loved it like my own child," he wrote.

"I felt sick because after I'd lost my home and my mother, I'd thrown myself even more vigorously into my job and now, idiotically, I'd managed to lose that too."

He described the show as " an all-consuming entity, a many-tentacled global monster that was dysfunctional and awkward and mad but I loved it with a passion".

Now Clarkson is planning to do another car show - but he did not reveal whether he would be reunited with his Top Gear co-stars for the programme.

Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us