Ellen DeGeneres was reportedly to blame for the disaster during Jeremy Clarkson’s pub opening last summer.
The US comedian - who relocated to the Cotswolds last year - was apparently at fault when the former Top Gear host’s mains water failed on the second day of the grand opening of The Farmer’s Dog in Asthall, Oxfordshire, in August 2024.
Clarkson’s Farm viewers saw the pub toilets and kitchen close and huge crowds of customers get turned away during the chaotic series four finale of his Amazon Prime Video show.
In a tense exchange, Clarkson’s plumber said the problem was due to villagers in Asthall using all the water in the mains system - meaning there was none left for the pub, which is a mile away and up a hill.
“I was hoping the problem was something trivial, but the plumber quickly realised it was being caused by the village down the hill,” Clarkson said, looking concerned.
His plumber explained: “When everyone in the village is turning their water supply on, showers, filling up pots and pans and kettles, it doesn't then have the oomph to push it up the hill [to the pub].”
A local from Asthall has now claimed to the Daily Mail that Clarkson’s mains water failed because DeGeneres was getting her swimming pool refilled at her nearby £15 million farmhouse.
“Pools of that size filled with normal mains water can take a week to nine days to fill - sometimes even longer depending on the local mains water pressure,” the resident said.
“If you can imagine having all the taps on to fill the pool, that has to take a lot of water out of the system and Asthall really is just a very small hamlet with a handful of houses.
“Then perhaps it is no surprise that Clarkson, with all the water a business like that uses, ran out of water.”
The local believes DeGeneres’ 56ft-long pool was emptied, cleaned, and refilled around the August Bank Holiday, which is when Clarkson held the grand unveiling of his revamped pub.
The pool is 56ft by 12ft, with a depth of 6ft, and holds 112,896 litres of water, meaning it takes between seven to nine days to fill, according to the Mail.
The only other pool in the village is thought to be a natural swimming pond at Asthall Manor, owned by an aristocrat and local Green Party district councillor Rosie Pearson, which it is not believed was being refilled at the time.
The Standard has contacted representatives for DeGeneres and Clarkson for comment.
DeGeneres bought her farmhouse in the Cotswolds last June after deciding to leave the US with wife Portia de Rossi following Donald Trump’s re-election.
The superstar couple were spotted enjoying a drink at Clarkson’s pub in November, with the motoring journalist later saying DeGeneres was “very friendly” to the staff.
