Jeremy Clarkson wades into James Martin row saying he ignored ‘rule number one’

Jeremy Clarkson has waded in on bullying accusations surrounding James Martin and his treatment of crew members on his shows.

The Grand Tour star has claimed the chef failed to stick to “rule number one” in the television world.

The 63-year-old suggested this was to never let crew into your own house.

The culinary star, 51, films his weekly weekend programme James Martin’s Saturday Morning from his home.

Earlier this week he agreed that “lessons have been learned” and apologised “for any offence or upset caused” after he responded “emotionally” to an incident during a shoot.

James had previously addressed the issue in a joint statement with production company Blue Marlin, which explained that his property had been “badly damaged” during filming in 2018.

Now, Jeremy has said he’d “never” let the team he works with in his home, despite having worked with some of them for three decades.

Writing in The Sun, he stated: “After reading about chef James Martin’s sweary rant at a TV crew who’d broken his kitchen, I rolled my eyes and thought: ‘Does this man know nothing about TV?’

“Because as anyone who works in the industry knows, rule number one is: Never let a film crew in your house.”

Turning his attention to those he works alongside, Jeremy continued: “I would never let them in my house.

“They’d drag their heavy boxes over the wooden floors, do a reverse-Ikea on all the furniture as they moved it to make way for their equipment and then, because all film crews live on a diet of chilli sauce, make the most godawful smell in the lavatory.”

James addressed the row that emerged this week in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram.

It came after an ITV spokesperson said the broadcaster contacted Blue Marlin after receiving a complaint in May from members of the production team of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure.

Speaking out, James tweeted to his 731,000 followers: “The end of 2017 was one of the most fraught and difficult periods of my life,” adding that he had been dealing with his grandfather’s death and a home burglary.

“I was then diagnosed with cancer on my face and I had to have surgery, which I couldn’t do until two days before Christmas when we had finished filming,” he added.

“Since then it has returned on several occasions and I have to have regular treatments.”

He continued: “I was in a very emotional state, and when after filming in early January 2018 I discovered my home had been flooded while filming, I was extremely upset.

“… I admit that I overreacted regarding the damage to my home.”