Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has decided to tell the BBC how he really feels about how it handled his ‘fracas’ with producer Oisin Tymon.
Speaking at a charity auction at the Roundhouse in Camden of north London, Clarkson said: “The BBC have fucked themselves. It was a great show and they fucked it up.”
Clarkson was at the event to auction off a lap of the Top Gear track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey for £100,000, the proceeds of which will be donated to raising money to encourage young people to take part in the arts, the Guardian newspaper reported.
“I didn’t foresee my sacking but I would like to do one last lap. So I’ll go down to Surrey and I’ll do one last lap of that track before the fucking bastards sack me.
“I’ll be a bit tearful when I do it, but fuck it, let’s do it.”
He added: “I’ll drive somebody around in whatever I can get hold of. I’m sacked so it’s probably an Austin Maestro. So who knows? But anyway it will be my last ever lap of the Top Gear track.
“There was an 18-year waiting list to be in the audience of Top Gear, but the BBC has fucked themselves. It was a great show and they’ve fucked it up. Tonight’s the night when you have the opportunity.”
Like or loather the presenter, he certainly has a point. Top Gear generates serious amounts of revenue for the Beeb and is one of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching an audience of more than 351 million viewers in 214 countries. It is, arguably, Britain’s biggest export.
Reports say Clarkson was involved in a ‘fracas’ with Tymon at the Simonstone Hall hotel in North Yorkshire after filming in Newcastle. Some reports suggest the incident started over a food complaint, while others suggest tempers were running high after problems during filming.
The BBC investigation that will decide Clarkson’s future has been completed and will be released next week. A Daily Mail story alleges Clarkson could remain on the show but only if he has a ‘minder’. Clarkson reportedly tried to apologise to Tymon on a number of occasions.
Assuming Clarkson is sacked, Top Gear will sadly be no more as co-stars Richard Hammond and James May have already said they will not do the show without the front man. That means the three remaining episodes of the current season could remain unfinished.
Top Gear began in 1977 and has since spawned Australian, French and American versions. It originally focussed on car reviews but was made to be more entertaining when Clarkson ─ who partly owned its production company, Bedder6 ─ and producer Andy Wilman reinvented the show in 2002, a year after it was axed by the BBC.
Where will Clarkson end up if the BBC sacks him? We decided to entertain a few of the more obvious choices, knowing his, Hammond and May’s contracts are up at the end of March.
Sad to see the show go? Let us know in the comments.
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