Jeremy Clarkson has claimed he’s a lot nicer to the upcoming batch of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ contestants.

But don’t go thinking he was visited by three ghosts over Christmas or anything like that, he’s actually said he just reckons the new lot are cleverer than their predecessors.

The divisive presenter is currently gearing – pun intended – up for his second stint as host of the ITV quiz show, which was originally hosted by Chris Tarrant.

When asked how his second run as host differs from last year’s episodes, he said (via The Telegraph): “I’m told I’ve been nicer to the contestants, but last year there were some very stupid contestants who didn’t warrant any niceness.

“This time they’ve been – by and large, with one or two exceptions – sparky and on-it and bright and deserving of a place in the chair.”

As well as ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’, Jeremy will return to ‘The Grand Tour’ later in 2019, alongside his long-standing co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond.

He recently revealed that moving forward, the trio will be doing things a little differently, after bidding farewell to studio-based presenting.

Instead, future series of the Amazon Prime show will take the form of on-location documentaries.

Jeremy said last month: “There are only so many times you can watch a BMW go round the track – what more can you say? It’s got four wheels and a seat.″

‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ returns for a week starting tonight on ITV.