James May has talked about the crazy times he and his fellow Top Gear hosts, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, had on tour.
The 60-year-old TV star ran the BBC show from 2003 to 2015, when he quit after Clarkson was fired for punching director Oisin Tymon. Tymon later got £100,000 from Clarkson as compensation.
Hammond, who is 53 years old, also quit the show. He said that the three of them “go together” and went on to star in the Amazon show The Grand Tour.
But before the controversy, May, Clarkson, and Hammond took Top Gear on the road and toured the world, bringing the show’s crazy stunts and flashy cars to live crowds.
And it sounds like the friends made the most of Top Gear Live, with May admitting they ‘behaved quite badly at times.’
He told The Times: ‘There was no doing cocaine out of girls’ navels. We behaved quite badly at times doing Top Gear Live around the world and made a lot of noise, but it wasn’t as rock’n’roll as we liked to think it was.
‘We just used to drink too much wine and beer, scream and shout at each other, trying to be the funniest person in the room. A lot of the time, we were having a snooze and a nice cup of tea.’
May, Hammond, and Clarkson’s car show The Grand Tour has been a ratings hit, just like Top Gear. The second season was the most-watched original show on The Rig in the UK.
Clarkson’s behaviour, however, has once again put the show’s future in danger. He said horrible things about Meghan Markle in a piece for The Sun, which allegedly led to Amazon “cutting ties” with him.
According to Variety, the streaming service won’t be working with the TV personality beyond seasons of The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm that have already been commissioned.
The piece, in which the broadcaster said he dreamt that Markle would be paraded through British towns and shamed in public, became Ipso’s most complained-about story after it came out. More than 25,100 people said they didn’t like it.
After looking into the complaints, Ipso agreed that the story was sexist and that some of the comments were “derogatory and prejudiced.”
Clarkson later said he was sorry for the piece and called his words “disgraceful.” He said he was “deeply sorry.” The Sun also apologised and said it was sorry that the piece was published. It was taken down from the website.
Top Gear, on the other hand, went on after the three left. It is now hosted by Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness, and Chris Harris on the BBC.
The production of the current series has stopped because Flintoff had an accident while shooting and had to be taken to the hospital by helicopter.
In a statement about Flintoff’s accident, the BBC said that he had been “regrettably hurt.”
‘We have sincerely apologised to Freddie and will continue to support him with his recovery. Under the circumstances, we feel it would be inappropriate to resume making series 34 of Top Gear at this time,’ the message read.
‘We understand this will be disappointing for fans, but it is the right thing to do, and we’ll make a judgement about how best to continue later this year.
‘This has also impacted the production team, who we continue to support.’
Top Gear is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Source My Celebrity Life.