Jeremy Clarkson fumes 'French made fools of themselves' as he rips apart Paris Olympics amid controversies

While the weather put a dampener on proceedings, there were plenty of other incidents that left viewers worldwide less than impressed.

Lady Gaga and Celine Dion did their best to provide show-stopping musical numbers but performance pieces from actors and dancers caused controversy - especially one Last Supper parody.

Christian groups across the globe condemned the Paris Games for its parody of the significant religious painting while its actors also caused an uproar when one performer was seemingly spotted with a testicle on show and its leading female star failed to apologise when discussing the art piece.

Watching from home, Clarkson has let loose with his brutal verdict on proceedings as he reflected on the "regret" he felt after snubbing the London 2012 ceremony.

But when comparing Britain's attempts from 12 years ago with the Paris attempt, Clarkson hit out: "Oh dear.

"They made a fool of themselves I’m afraid," he critiqued. "They had an illuminated horse, a boat full of refugees, a woman with a beard, an upside-down flag and some fountains which were supposed to put us in mind of Versailles.

"But which looked more like the sort of thing Charlie Dimmock might buy from a garden centre in Orpington."

Continuing in his Times column, he took aim at the Last Supper parody and the furore it prompted.

He said: "Then we got an interpretation of what the Last Supper might have looked like had Peter and John and Judas all been transvestites, but this was rather spoiled by one of the artists who appeared to have a bit of chicken skin hanging out of his shorts.

"Apparently, the whole scene was supposed to be about France’s contribution to the fashion industry, but it was a long way from a monochrome Catherine Deneuve smoking a Gitanes on a foggy bridge."

Clarkson is far from alone in his brutal verdict of the opening ceremony and the games in Paris have struggled to escape controversy ever since.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee had to defend its decision to allow two female boxers who'd failed gender eligibility tests with a separate boxing board to complete.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif - who is guaranteed a medal at the time of writing - saw off Italian Angela Carini in her opening bout of the tournament.

After just 46 seconds, Carini abandoned the fight to "preserve" her own life after claiming she'd never been hit so hard.

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The likes of JK Rowling, Caitlyn Jenner and Logan Paul among others have openly condemned Khelif's participation in the women's division.

However, she's also received plenty of support from the likes of Motsi Mabuse, George Takei and Billy Bragg - although the latter sparked outrage with his thoughts on the matter.

Meanwhile, Clarkson and the rest of the Diddly Squat crew have been busy filming the fourth season of Amazon Prime Video series, Clarkson's Farm.