Jeremy Clarkson made a dig at Chris Evans as he compared his Top Gear failure to a lacklustre BMW on The Grand Tour. Clarkson couldn’t resist a swipe at his much-maligned replacement as his new motoring show headed to Whitby, in Yorkshire, for its fourth episode.
During the programme Jeremy took to the track to test drive a BMW M4 GTS and made his comments while reviewing the motor to a packed studio audience. He remarked: ‘I admire BMW for really trying with that car, I really do. But my god, they made a hash of it.
“In fact, I’m trying to think of a metaphor for someone who’s really tried their hardest with something and it hasn’t worked.” – Jeremy Clarkson
He then added: ‘No, nothing’s coming to mind.’
The dig came much to the delight of his adoring audience who laughed and cheered.
Evans took over hosting duties of Top Gear with Friends actor Matt LeBlanc after Clarkson left the show last year. The popular presenter did not have his contract renewed after a ‘fracas’ with producer Oisin Tymon. Hammond, May and producer Andy Wilman followed him out of the door.
Evans left Top Gear after just one season after admitting his efforts were not good enough. In a statement, he said: ‘I have never worked with a more committed and driven team than the team I have worked with over the last 12 months. I feel like my standing aside is the single best thing I can now do to help the cause. Tweeting to his 2.3 million followers, Evans added: ‘Stepping down from Top Gear. Gave it my best shot but sometimes that’s not enough.’
As well as cast and crew complaints over Evans’ temperamental personality, the motoring show struggled to attract viewers after he took the wheel. It launched over a bank holiday weekend with 4.4 million overnight viewers, but then plummeted to 2.8 million for the second episode. The show never went back above that figure.
The Grand Tour’s debut was a complete contrast, with Amazon Prime lauding it as one of its biggest ever TV successes. The streaming service has also claimed Clarkson, Hammond and May’s new effort broke viewing records, but it won’t reveal how many people have watched each episode.