Jeremy Clarkson is 'fine' after heart surgery

21 October 2024

Jeremy Clarkson is "fine" after undergoing heart surgery.

Jeremy Clarkson has insisted he won't be emptying the dishwasher for four years after his heart scare

The former 'Top Gear' presenter opened up about his health scare over the weekend (19-20.10.24) revealing he started experiencing worrying symptoms during a holiday and was later admitted to hospital in the UK for an emergency procedure to clear his blocked arteries - and he's now thanked fans for all their well wishes and joked the heart op means he won't be emptying the dishwasher for the next four years.

He told The Sun newspaper: "I’m very grateful to everyone who sent supportive messages but I’m fine. I just have to not do any manual labour or dishwasher emptying for the next four years.

"At least I think that’s what the doctor said."

Clarkson opened up about the heart scare in his column for The Sunday Times newspaper, revealing he had a stent fitted following a "sudden deterioration" in his health that doctors said left him "maybe" days away from dying.

The 'Clarkson's Farm' star, 64, revealed he started feeling "weak" while on vacation and could barely swim or walk up the stairs, writing: "It wasn’t far, maybe the length of two swimming pools. But when I finally reached the beach, there was more water in my lungs than there is in Lake Superior, and I was mostly dead ... I’m not exaggerating. These problems all manifested themselves in one day."

Upon returning to the UK, he noticed a tingling sensation in his arm and "tightness" in his chest while working on his Cotswolds farm, and subsequently underwent a procedure to clear his blocked arteries.

Clarkson added: "It seems that of the arteries feeding my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of three was heading that way.

"So he [the doctor] made a hole in my wrist, inserted his Dyno-Rod equipment and went in for a closer look. The question was this. Were the arteries so ruined that I’d need an emergency heart bypass?

"Or could he use his Dyno-Rods and some ultrasonic battering rams to loosen them up before inserting a stent? ... It took two hours and at one point it felt like he’d put a Hoover pipe up my arm, along with a pile driver, and was busy inside my heart with a B and Q chisel and hammer gift set.

"It wasn’t especially painful. Just odd."