'Top Gear' gets a new host to replace Jeremy Clarkson
It's official: Chris Evans, a British television and radio personality,聽, has been named as Jeremy Clarkson's replacement as the host of聽Top Gear. 聽
The news was announced earlier today via Twitter.
Venerable BBC presenter Evans聽is already familiar to British audiences from popular programs shows like聽TFI Friday听补苍诲听The Big Breakfast, and signed a聽聽which will make him the leader of the show for the next three years. Speculation now turns to who will join him in hosting duties,聽
But regardless of who is picked for聽Top Gear's聽next iteration, the trio will have unprecedented competition from聽
Given the resumes of both hosting lineups, the real winners here will be fans of irreverent, hilarious and occasionally informative car shows. Because in that regard, two is definitely better than one. More聽聽when we have it.聽
Recently, the聽聽for a special episode of聽Top Gear聽that will round out the current season 22 of the popular car-themed show and, more importantly, be the last to feature Jeremy Clarkson. In case you鈥檝e been living under a rock for the past several months, Clarkson was fired from the BBC back in March for his聽.
Despite no longer working there, Clarkson recently returned to the BBC to do some voiceover聽聽for his final聽Top Gear聽episode. A BBC spokesperson confirmed the news to聽, and explained that Clarkson wasn鈥檛 paid for the job and that he is still free to appear on BBC shows despite having been fired by the聽.
鈥淸Jeremy Clarkson] has done the voiceover for聽Top Gear,鈥� the spokesperson said. 鈥淗e came in to the BBC the week before last.鈥�
The BBC still hasn鈥檛 confirmed when the final Clarkson-era聽Top Gear聽episode will be screened but it is expected to be sometime in the next few weeks. It will contain two segments shot before Clarkson was fired, with the rest of the episode expected to mostly feature co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May in the studio. There were previously meant to be three more episodes for season 22.
As for future seasons, a handful of British celebs have been speculated as new hosts and there鈥檚 also been talk of a different host appearing each episode. At the same time, it鈥檚 been reported that Hammond and May have been offered seven-figure deals to continue with the show but many believe they鈥檒l stick with Clarkson and turn the offers down.
Meanwhile, the famous trio are still working together on the series of Top聽聽Live shows, now referred to as "".聽Rumors are abound that all three hosts may be聽聽to Netflix to start a new show called "", but no confirmation has been received from any of the parties.
