Series 1 of The Grand Tour got a lot more things right than it did wrong, but it still did have its fair share of parts which were, well, a bit rubbish. Take Celebrity Brain Crash for example. But news has emerged today that will surely have fans of the Amazon Prime show breathing a collective sigh of relief – ‘The American’ will not be returning in Series 2.
NASCAR driver Mike Skinner, who portrayed the brash, redneck-inspired stereotypical American racing driver announced the news on Twitter: “For your information I won’t be joining the guys on The Grand Tour’s 2nd season,” he wrote. “I wish them all the luck. My character wasn’t developed as I was told.”
This will come as no surprise to many, ourselves included, after ‘The American’ was singled out as being one of the worse aspects of The Grand Tour’s first series. The problem with ‘The American’ was that he simply wasn’t entertaining in any way at all. We struggled to find any redeeming features – his complaints whilst behind the wheel weren’t funny, and don’t even get us started on the endless stream of communist jokes.
The character was shitty to say the least. Amazingly, Skinner seems to think so, too.
“I agree with many of you that it sucked,” he wrote. “If you’re gonna wear Evil Knievel’s firesuit, you need to be Evil Flipping Knievel!”
“By the way… I enjoyed some of those cars I got to drive & I don’t really hate the Brits,” he added.
It is unclear at this stage who The Grand Tour will choose to take over Eboladrome lap duties following Skinner’s departure. But once again they’ll have to go to great lengths to ensure the driver has absolutely nothing in common with The Stig – to avoid being sued by the BBC.
Who do you think they should choose?
14 comments
Mark Webber is your man. He has shown he can work well with the crew already. Aside from the bad rap the American got, the one single funniest comment in the new series was, him saying” where I come from, a car like this is cry for help!” Very very funny.
Get Elvis from Wheeler Dealers.
Jenson Button as jenson Button !! Just let him drive the car and talk !!!
So the yank has gone, no loss to the show there, I wonder what Jenson Button is up to these days?…
Tiff Needell gets my vote.
I would like to be the new tame racing driver on The Amazon Prime motoring show The Grand Tour.
I would like to have the job of being the tame racing driver on The Amazon Prime Motoring Show The Grand Tour.
I liked him and his jokes
Well, I don’t hate him, but his character just boring.
Would like to see Ben Collins
I was thinking the same but would he still be considered as associated with the stig and the TG?
Just get a regular retired driver. Any former F1 or similar would work fine. No need for a gimmick or identity secrecy.
Glad to hear that he’s gone. Maybe they can hire a retired F1 or touring car driver.
I can see what they were trying to do where the stig was silent this USA dude could talk and be rude as possible for entertainment but it just didn’t work right .