After four successful seasons on Top Gear, Matt LeBlanc has announced that the show’s next run will be his last.
Citing the time pressures and absence from family, LeBlanc said that he’d no longer be involved with the show.
Top Gear has been a global phenomenon. Since its 2002 re-launch with Clarkson, May and Hammond, the show was a juggernaut. Although it had a few misses (India Special, anyone?), it was consistently the best car-based entertainment show on the planet. It was the BBC’s hottest property, sold to markets around the world and selling endless merchandise.
One tantrum in a hotel in North Yorkshire changed all that. The trio left for pastures new — and Jeff Bezos’s checkbook — while the BBC tried to revive Top Gear with a new battalion of presenters. The first effort was woeful, with famous car fan and TV presenter Chris Evans proving unable to carry the show as its frontman. But it did unearth a surprisingly effective talent in the shape of US actor Matt Le Blanc.
Le Blanc, along with racing driver Chris Harris and motoring journalist Rory Reid made a fine fist of things behind Evans’s whooping shadow. The BBC cut the chaff and selected them to present the next season as a threesome.
This combination proved far more successful, and although missing some of the original chemistry, the show was back on song. Now though it’s all-change again as LeBlanc has stepped aside.
LeBlanc said:
“The time commitment and extensive travel required to present Top Gear takes me away from my family and friends more than I’m comfortable with.
“It’s unfortunate, but for these reasons I will not be continuing my involvement with the show. I will forever be a Top Gear fan and I wish the team continued success.”
Is this how it ends? Has Top Gear finally met its maker after 40 years? Will Harris and Reid soldier on, or will the BBC need to find a third man? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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