Jeremy Clarkson makes two types of shows. There are the successful ones, such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour, that he has managed to hijack and forge in his own image. And then there are the less successful ones; the ones that could be hosted by anyone, the ones where he is little more than a hired hand.

Clarkson has just been announced as the new host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. If this isn’t the second type of show, I’ll eat my hat.

The fact that ITV is reviving Who Wants to be a Millionaire? for seven shows to celebrate its 20th anniversary, is weird enough as it is. There’s no public hunger for it, at least as far as I can tell. The original version died, malnourished and unloved, in 2014. Television is littered with its influence – the daytime schedules especially are rammed with pointlessly complicated, over-serious quiz shows – but that influence has left the original programme surplus to requirements. Really, you get the impression that ITV is only bringing it back because it is the one thing that can stop it from broadcasting wall-to-wall dog documentaries.

Even so, Clarkson is an odd choice. Remember his bizarre stint hosting the first series of Robot Wars? He looked so uncomfortable, dressed up like a policeman at a disco and desperately hoping that sardonic wordiness would compliment a programme about some hammers on wheels. When he was replaced by the mindless whooping of Craig Charles a year later, nobody even noticed that he had gone.

And that was 20 years ago. Since then, Clarkson has concentrated on his own vehicles; programmes where he gets to preside over sprawling, ramshackle magazines like a cantankerous grandfather. They are extraordinarily hard programmes to make, but they are made bespoke for him. Whenever Clarkson wanted to deliberately derail them in order to head down some dumb tangent, the show would be forced to follow along.

But that isn’t Millionaire. Millionaire is a quiz. It requires precision. It is split into rounds, and each round comes with its own delicately ticking metronome. It’s why Chris Tarrant made such a great host. His years spent hosting radio shows meant that he thrived in the mindless repetition of it all. He even greeted every caller in exactly the same way, pathologically parroting their words back to them like an involuntary tick.

It’s honestly hard to see Clarkson doing as well. His currency is opinion, and gameshow hosts are specifically required to withhold opinion. If a contestant ever gave a stupid answer, Tarrant would step back and let them stew in their decision for an age before eventually putting them out of their misery. My bet is that Clarkson has the opposite instinct. If he has the chance to leap in and berate someone for being dim, by God he will take that chance.

Unless, of course, he remakes Who Wants to be a Millionaire? to fit his talents. But, again, it’s difficult to see how. Maybe he will put loads of horrible blues guitar over the theme tune. Maybe he will introduce a new lifeline that allows him to punch the contestants for not giving him a steak whenever he wants one. Who knows?

Either way, this should definitely be seen as a profile-raising gig. Hidden away on Amazon, Clarkson is no longer the notorious tabloid staple of old. An old-fashioned terrestrial job could change all that. Besides, remember when he got the sack from Top Gear? There was talk of him approaching ITV with a Top Gear-ish show about farming. Maybe he is treating Millionaire as a gateway to getting that made. If that’s the case, it would be the only thing about this announcement that made sense.