Poor Kit Harington, right?

The actor gets to spend his days doing something that he loves, playing a role that has catapulted him to global fame. He earns a reported $500,000 an episode on Game of Thrones, which makes him one of the highest paid actors in television. 

But, boy, he does love to complain, doesn’t he? The actor never gives an interview without taking the opportunity to have a moan. “I was there the whole time this year,” he told Variety about filming the final season of Game of Thrones. “I felt a bit like people were coming in and out, and Jon Snow was just fucking there the whole time.” (The tiny violin was silent.)

He’s complained about how many scenes he’s in (he’s the main character), and how cold it is in Iceland (that’s the climate, mate). He’s complained about the heavy fur costume he had to wear that was probably keeping him warm in that cold climate.

“It’s pointless wearing fragrance on the set,” he told Shortlist. “By the time you get there you’re wearing something that smells like wet dog… Everyone else gets real furs and I get an IKEA rug on my shoulders. The costume department must hate me.” 

Well, Emilia Clarke is done with his whining. She went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to set the record straight about Harington’s laundry list of grievances.

“This is the thing, Kit always complains,” Clarke said.

In fairness, she added, “it’s a very heavy cloak.” But if you ask her, Harington had much the better deal when it comes to Game of Thrones filming experiences.

“It’s cold weather in Iceland,” she explained. “There are short filming hours because there are only four hours of daylight. Whereas I’m in a quarry in Malta in 100 degree heat, passing out every single season because I have two sets of hair on my head.”

She continued: “Kit is always complaining that he’s got it worst, and he’s definitely got it better. He’s drinking by 2PM because there’s only two hours of daylight. We’re in a quarry until 11PM being like, ‘Go down sun, go down. I’m hot!’” 

It’s not Harington’s fault entirely. Studies have proven that when it comes to work, men are bigger whiners than women, who quietly and competently get on with the job. A 2015 economic report from the White House noted that the number of men complaining about work and family responsibilities has risen by 25% in a 30 year period. The number of women complaining had only increased by 6%. 

We’re sure that it was very cold in Iceland and that the IKEA rug was very smelly and that the hours were very long. But Harington also gets to be the hero of the biggest television show in the world and paid handsomely for his work. In this, as in so many things, it’s clear that you know nothing Jon Snow.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO in the US on 14 April and Sky Atlantic and Now TV in the UK on 15 April. 

Images: HBO