Luckily, he has since revealed he is now in remission and getting regular check-ups, telling the Sunday Times: "I am without a doubt, officially, the world's luckiest man." In the same interview, he admitted he considered walking away from the show after getting the devastating cancer news.

During the episodes, Clarkson said to his team that he expected to have surgery within weeks and would be "slightly out of action" during recovery, and wouldn't be able to help with the harvest.

He said to the Sunday Times: "I was really hoping, truly, truly hoping that I could get last year’s harvest done, and then go for the operation, because then I wouldn’t need to tell anybody, which is the whole Clarkson mentality.

"You are not allowed to be ill, and if you are ill, you certainly don’t own up to it. You just go to work as usual. And I was praying I could do that. But then that wasn’t possible.

"I had to wrestle with it for a long time in my head, thinking I can’t just disappear from the show, because everybody would say, ‘Well, where are you?’

He admitted that he had considered just not appearing in the series, but that he changed his mind so he could speak out.

"So I decided I’m going to have to come clean, I’m going to have to break the Clarkson policy of being an illness bore and admit to it, and as a result I’m now sitting down with you talking about it, which goes against the grain."

His cancer news became the focus of the final episodes, with cancer charities praising the TV star for raising awareness.