Clarkson reacted on behalf of the whole crew who had also been out in the cold & wet. This producer was required to ensure that there would be a hot meal for the whole crew which the producer blatantly failed to do.
The press, as usual, painted it differently & the story became a Clarkson ego trip tantrum.
Frankly, if a team that I was captain of did not have their needs correctly catered for by a member then I would certainly be very annoyed & may have been unable to control my irritation.
I’m not making excuses for him but I certainly understand his action.
2 Likes
I must say I found his farming series to be a revelation - he showed a willingness to come across as a complete plonker / novice while others around him had much more expertise. And at the same time we learnt a lot about how tough farming can be, even if one is in the fortunate position (as he is) of being able to throw money at it and buy the biggest and the best. I quite warmed to him.
It sounds like you are.
I can, as I said, empathise with Clarkson and I’m not suggesting that his displeasure was exactly unwarranted.
But he overstepped the mark when it turned into physical assault.
We don’t know what goading took place & frankly some people have an attitude & disdain where a smack is actually deserved.
So OK, I am making excuses for his actions. It’s not as if Mr C beat him to a pulp!
Remember when a policeman could give you a cuff round the ear? Now that it comes under the heading of “physical assault” you have kids stabbing teachers & 10 year olds throwing stones at first responders.
Oh god, now I will be branded as a right wing DM reader!
1 Like
I’m pretty sure I’ve been on more shoots than most people here, @captainendeavour aside perhaps given he seems to have had a much longer, more distinguished, and far more interesting career than me, but I’m not sure any of this rings true. not least given a lot of the food I’ve been offered over the years… especially being someone who doesn’t eat meat, or generally dairy either. Mind you, one of the worst catering situations I ever had to endure involved a ‘Professional’ who insisted only vegetarian food on set, which unfortunately amounted to the worst selection I have ever seen in my life. There are channels if he wanted to complain on behalf of the crew, he just behaved like an unprofessional c*nt.
Really Kirsten? Is that the word to use to describe him?
This thread has taken a strange route about bad/disappointing food…
So to turn it on its head… let me recount a true story…
Fourteen cars, touring France… follow-my-leader… in friendly fashion. Lunch stops were taken as and when appropriate… when we felt peckish… (UK time = lunch around 1pm ish)
However, on one particular day, we simply didn’t “happen upon” a suitable eatery around lunchtime … indeed, we were out in the wilds of somewhere/wherever, starving hungry and not a resto/cafe in sight… and it was getting later and later.
Our Leader finally led us into a very small village and (yippee) we spotted a cafe/auberge. The carpark was full, so we parked wherever we could… lining the street… with our lovely cars.
I was sent inside to enquire about food.
The place was full of happy, contented eaters… and I was starving and green with envy.
I explained that although I realized we hadn’t booked… could they possibly feed us anyway… pretty please…
The Manager kept looking at his watch and muttering that lunch was over… while I pleaded with him…
Could he give us just some bread and cheese… please…
At that, he looked absolutely horrified. No way !
He went off into the kitchens, leaving one very sad Stella to go and tell the rest that we’d better start chewing on the spare tyres …
My tears turned to laughter, when the Manager suddenly re-appeared, bringing his Chef.
They looked at the cars with delight… and explained that there was no way they would feed us bread and cheese… that wasn’t a meal !!!
We couldn’t have bread and cheese until we’d had the previous courses… which the Chef promised would only take some 20 minutes to rustle up…
and what would we like to drink in the meantime… phew.
The restaurant gradually emptied, while we sat in the sunshine sipping whatever… waiting patiently.
Can’t remember what we finally eat, only that it was delicious.
3 Likes
Just to add to that, this year (just) when we did our grand tour house viewing it was the first time we’d been to France outside the touristy bits in low season, and were a bit shocked to really struggle to get fed a few times. On one day there was a boulangerie in a tiny village that was just closed, but the kind shopkeeper re-opened for us, another in Pamproux we were made very welcome for a superb lunchtime menu. There were several occasions when people treated us with quite unexpected kindness over getting fed.
1 Like
Over the many years I have been coming to France I have only ever had one “Get to France” moment at a lunch time visit, many other times people have been very gracious and helpful to us with regards to flexibility over restaurant shutting times.
1 Like
That was a riff on a Billy Connolly quote, I guess I should have added an explanation 
It’s worse than that: Doctor Who is a woman
Even worse than that - she’s not a very good Doctor Who. I’d have forgiven her anything if the stories / acting / direction had actually been any good. bring back Peter Capaldi. 
1 Like
Women need their own stories.
1 Like