Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, the co-hosts of Amazon Prime’s “The Grand Tour,” are calling it quits. At least that’s the rumor, as reported by the BBC. If the BBC’s sources are accurate, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean that “The Grand Tour” is dead. Instead, “options are being explored for a new incarnation of the show.”
At the very least, fans of “The Grand Tour” will get one more special out of Clarkson, Hammond and May. They recently finished filming a new special in Zimbabwe that will air sometime next year.
This news comes on the heels of the BBC’s recent announcement that the filming of “Top Gear,” the show that was previously hosted by the trio, had been put on an indefinite pause. One of the current hosts, Freddie Flintoff, was seriously injured in a crash at the “Top Gear” test track. That incident was far from the first time a “Top Gear” host was injured during filming. Perhaps most notably, Hammond was left in a coma and nearly died following a 2006 crash.
While Clarkson, Hammond and May hosted “Top Gear” together for 12 years starting in 2003, it all came to an end in 2015 when Clarkson became upset that hot food wasn’t available at the end of a shoot and began verbally abusing a producer, ultimately punching him.
Clarkson’s decision to punch his coworker got him fired because, well, anyone who punches a coworker, especially over something as trivial as food, deserves to lose their job. Both Hammond and May decided to leave the show following Clarkson’s departure, and the trio were quickly picked up by Amazon Prime for “The Grand Tour.”
Clarkson, of course, couldn’t avoid controversy going forward. Most notably, about a year ago, he wrote an absolutely vile column about Meghan Markle in the British tabloid The Sun.
In the meantime, Amazon has renewed Clarkson’s show about his farm, named “Clarkson’s Farm,” for a fourth season, according to Deadline. Fozia Khan, Amazon Studios’ head of unscripted in the UK, told the entertainment news publication that “The Grand Tour” might make a come back, just without its current famous leads:
The Clarkson’s Farm renewal came as Khan confirmed that Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May have filmed their final installments of The Grand Tour.
“It’s come to its natural end,” she said, but admitted that the format may continue with new presenters. Khan said her team was “thinking about” how the show can live on.