James May has accused new Top Gear host Chris Evans of faking production problems in order to lower viewer expectations.
May made the comments during an interview for ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday, convinced that the recent setbacks dealt to Top Gear are part of an elaborate hoax, so that viewers will be pleasantly surprised when they see the new Evans version of Top Gear in May. Speaking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield as part of the live broadcast, he said: “That’s my theory. To be brutally honest that’s what I’d do. I would make out it was all going terribly.”
Most recently, Evans, who has signed up to Top Gear for at least 3 years, was spotted being sick following a drive in an Audi R8 V10 with co-star Sabine Schmitz behind the wheel. James added: “The picture of Chris supposedly being sick while he was driving a car. Was he being sick? I look a lot more contorted when I’m sick.”
Despite claiming Top Gear are faking their problems James says he is keen for Evans and the show to do well, saying “I’d like to see Chris’ version do well. It’s a ballsy call to continue it. I wouldn’t want to be the one presenting it when we’d just finished, but there must be a way of reinventing it. We always said it would survive beyond us.”
Top Gear is set to return on May 8.
2 comments
Why would they fake production problems in order to lower viewer expectations? No one in their right mind can expect the new TG to be even close to the old TG in terms of viewers any way. Remeber it took old TG a bunch of seasons before they got everything right. Will be the same now. Start ups are Always hard.
‘Was spotted being stick’ lol. I think you mean sick @topgearbox
I have a theory similar to James’. I think that the BBC know that the new TG will be a flop so they’re trying to make it even worse however, in the end it will still be a flop.
If we use a scale where 0 is neutral, 5 is amazing, and -5 is shocking the current problems are designed to make the show look like a -10 so that is masks the fact that it comes out as a -5.