A farmhand, who has been dubbed ‘the real star of Clarkson’s farm’ has been mobbed by fans since being on the show.
Kaleb Cooper, 23, was swarmed by England football supporters in Stratford-upon-Avon last weekend who were desperate for a selfie after his appearance on the hit Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm.
On the series, set on the Diddly Squat farm in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, his enthusiasm for farming and no-nonsense attitude propelled him to TV stardom.
During a recent outing to the cinema, the father-of-one hid in the toilets as the audience left to avoid being recognised, according to The Times.
A farmhand, who has been dubbed ‘the real star of Clarkson’s farm’ has been mobbed by fans since being on the show
But he has also attracted some high-profile attention, as he was stopped by former Prime Minister and fellow Chipping Norton resident David Cameron as he collected a takeaway.
Kaleb, who says he does not keep up with the news, did not immediately recognise the former prime minister.
He said: ‘The next day I told Jeremy I thought I saw David Cameron. Jeremy said: “Yeah, he did tell me. You didn’t realise who he was, did you?” I said no.’
Kaleb, who was born and bred in the Cotswolds and hadn’t left the area until the show was made, couldn’t be further from the Chipping Norton set Mr Clarkson is a member of.
But he has helped the former Top Gear presenter and amateur farmer get to grips with his 1,000 acre farm in Oxfordshire, with the pair becoming an unlikely TV double act.
Kaleb Cooper, 21, was swarmed by England football supporters who were desperate for a selfie after his appearance on the hit Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm
The Manchester United fan, who recently had a baby son Oscar with his girlfriend Taya, Ieft school at 16 and did four years as an apprentice on a cow farm before moving to Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm to drive tractors.
But such is his success, and thanks to the army of 80,000 loyal Instagram fans built since the show began, Kaleb’s is now being tipped for his own TV career – and he admits he would even consider going on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.
When the idea of making a series was raised, Cooper was ‘a little bit nervous’ and did not know how it would pan out.
However, he is not afraid to speak his mind and often calls out Jeremy for his mistakes, including buying a tractor that is too big and building a barn that is too small.
An exasperated Kaleb Cooper, 21, has to deal with one of Mr Clarkson’s farming blunders on the show
He regularly brands the former Top Gear host a ‘f***ing idiot’ and has been called a ‘rural halfwit’ in return.
Kaleb said: ‘He never listens to me. I tell him to do one thing and he does the complete opposite. I get very annoyed when he messes up. That is genuine.’
He says he was never intimidated by the TV because ‘I knew what I was doing and he didn’t’.
But underneath the jokes there is a genuine friendship between the pair, with Kaleb adding: ‘We just laugh all the time, our banter and sense of humour are very much the same. He’s a great chap.’
Since Clarkson’s Farm was released last month, he has racked up more than 250,000 Instagram followers.
Despite the on-screen rows, Kaleb and Clarkson have also become great friends
Kaleb has become a celebrity after appearing on Jeremy’s fly on the wall documentary about his Cotswolds farm.
The exasperated young tractor driver regularly shouts at the star and tells him he has ‘f***ed up’, and has become the unlikely hero of the show.
Straight-talking Kaleb is filmed repeatedly giving Mr Clarkson, 61, a dressing down during the hit Amazon Prime series, freely admitting his millionaire employer ‘really annoys me’ and declared today: ‘I’m the boss really’.
Speaking earlier this week, Kaleb told ITV’s This Morning: ‘I’m the boss really. It’s very difficult to work with him – he doesn’t listen to me – but the good thing is he does have a genuine interest in the farming. But yeah he don’t (sic) listen, that’s why you see me shout at him, and I do get genuinely angry when he does make a mistake’.
Kaleb is proud dad who recently had a baby son, Oscar, with his girlfriend Taya (pictured together)
Mr Cooper says the star is his boss and his friend, but the show reveals they have a fiery relationship, with Clarkson often causing chaos on the Lamborghini tractor he bought for his fields, and Kaleb sometimes storming off in frustration.
In one hilarious moment in Season 1 of the Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm, Kaleb gives him a dressing down when Jeremy spectacularly failed to get to grips with seeding crops.
An irate Kaleb yells at him: ‘You’re going to have no tramlines – so when I come to spray it and fertilise it, how do I know where to drive?’
When Mr Clarkson promises to do it ‘properly’ now, Kaleb angrily continued: ‘No, it’s too late. You’re pretty much screwed.
‘You haven’t even drilled it straight. That’s as straight as a roundabout’, he yells, before storming off.
Clarkson, known for his fiery temperament that saw him sacked by the BBC for punching a Top Gear producer, says humbly: ‘I’ve learnt my lesson now, I won’t do it again’ before promising to buy his young charge a beer to say sorry.
The young farmer now has 80,000 fans on Instagram and could be heading for a career in TV
Viewers have rated the new show highly as Jeremy realised the harsh realities of working land to produce crops and rear livestock, amid a global pandemic and record-breaking rainfall
Clarkson bought the plot of land in the Cotswolds in 2008 and Clarkson’s Farm follows the presenter’s highs and lows of tackling a 1,000 acre working farm
Explaining why he gets so upset, Kaleb said: ‘He does annoy me sometimes. I take it quite seriously, you see.
‘I’ve farmed there for the last four years, and I know everything about it. So, I kind of treat it as my own, in a way, so I wanted to see it making money and doing very well. So, if he does f*** up, it really annoys me’.
Mr Clarkson has said previously he knew immediately Kaleb was perfect for the show.
He said: ‘We needed a tractor driver for the series and we looked everywhere.
‘I said ‘I tell you what, you could look at the guy who’s actually doing the tractoring here now anyway’.
‘So we got Kaleb and I think you’ll all agree he’s good on television. He knows his stuff, he’s young, he’s got bad hair – everything was right’.
He added: ‘He does give me a hard time but I quite like that. It’s a good working relationship. It’s good working on the farm and it’s good working on TV’.
Many are tipping Kaleb for a future in TV.
He said: ‘That’s a very big question and I’m not really too sure how to answer that. In terms of TV, I’ve loved it. I picked it up so quickly and the crew we had here – I got on with them so well. The camera man is here now laughing going ‘yea, yea, yea’.
‘Personally I would love to [do more TV] but as long as it’s included in the farming side of stuff. I wouldn’t want to do anything that isn’t farming.’
When asked about a reality show, he said: ‘No not Love Island. Maybe I’m A Celebrity. I’d be good on that. But I’m not sure to be honest. We’ll see what the future holds.’
The ex-Top Gear host, 61, appears to have settled for a serene farming lifestyle as part of the show.
In the series, Clarkson works on his 1,000 acre farm, located between Chipping Norton and Chadlington in the idyllic Cotswolds countryside in Oxfordshire
Clarkson bought the plot of land in 2008 and Clarkson’s Farm follows the presenter’s highs and lows of tackling a 1,000 acre working farm.
The presenter recently revealed he was ‘the happiest he has ever been’ and that he ‘loved every second’ of filming the new hit show.
His Diddly Squat shop is described as a ‘small barn full of good, no-nonsense things’ on its official website.
Hundreds of Jeremy Clarkson fans descended on his Oxfordshire farm in the hopes of spotting him this weekend
Mr Clarkson has said previously he knew immediately Kaleb was perfect for the show.
The Amazon Prime series follows an intense and frequently hilarious year in the life of Britain’s most unlikely farmer and his team, as they contend with the worst farming weather in decades, disobedient animals, unresponsive crops, and an unexpected pandemic.
It came as police were called out after hundreds of Jeremy Clarkson fans descended on his farm in the hope of meeting him over the weekend.
The show’s roaring success – and the opening of Clarkson’s popular Diddly Squat Farm Shop – has created chaos for villagers who are more accustomed to cows than congestion.
Locals were left horrified this weekend after pictures emerged of hundreds of cars piling up on nearby roads, causing huge queues for residents.
Chadlington residents were left horrified as large queues formed on the usually quiet country roads in the idyllic Cotswolds countryside
The show’s roaring success – and the opening of Clarkson’s popular Diddly Squat Farm Shop – has created chaos for villagers who are more accustomed to cows than congestion
One wrote on a local Facebook forum: ‘Avoid going anywhere near Diddly Squat farm shop, whole road is blocked again, but worse there are people stopping on the 60mph bend with nowhere to go.’
Others warned the congestion at the scene was an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
‘Clarkson will not be remotely bothered. I’m sure he’s laughing at us all from behind the shop till,’ a third person added.
The emergency services were contacted as pictures emerged of hundreds of cars being left at the side of the road.
A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers received reports in relation to congestion on the roads in Chadlington.
‘Officers attended the scene, but no crime had been committed.
‘Our neighbourhood team for the area is aware of the situation.’