Jeremy Clarkson Canceling His Show Because He Got ‘Fat and Old’
Jeremy Clarkson joined the original Top Gear in 1988. BBC rebooted the show in 2002 and by 2003 had settled on with the now famous trifecta of hosts: Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. In 2015, the three of them left Top Gear to host The Grand Tour on Amazon. After three final seasons, they canceled the regular programming but continued filming occasional special episodes. Now, the band is finally breaking up for good.
While The Top Gear was a bit more focused on car reviews, The Grand Tour is a higher-budget show that features more expedition-style adventures and no home base. In November 2023, the Grand Tour crew wrapped two more special episodes shot in Mauritania and Zimbabwe. Then in January 2024, Clarkson told Deadline that he was through. The show is too taxing, and he’s out of ideas to boot.
The 63-year-old called the show “immensely physical” and said it only gets harder when “you’re unfit and fat and old.” Clarkson poked a bit of fun at other adventure-style shows, adding, “If you’re Bear Grylls you go to a hotel — there aren’t any hotels in the Sahara desert.”
This may be one reason that he is canceling The Grand Tour while continuing his show shot at home in England: Clarkson’s Farm.
Clarkson also admits his team is running out of ideas. “I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else. We’ve done everything you can do with a car. When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.”
Between The Top Gear and The Grand Tour, the trio of Clarkson, Hammond, and May have passed on a passion for sports cars, off-roaders, and quirky classic vehicles on to countless automotive enthusiasts.
Amazon representatives says they are still “thinking about” ways they might continue the show without its three hosts. But they have made no indication the change is related to controversy surrounding Clarkson’s since-retracted Op-Ed on Meghan Markle. Amazon will obviously employ Clarkson despite controversy, they hired him in the wake of his punching a producing and being fired from the BBC. And he is still employed by Amazon, as they produce and stream Clarkson’s Farm.
That said, journalists were prohibited from bringing up the Op-Ed during Clarkson’s press conference. They did ask if he feels pressure to continue being controversial. He said, “No! I like being controversial. Some people who see a still pond find that peaceful, but I cannot resist throwing a stone in it.”
See Clarkson, Hammond, and May discuss their decision to cancel the regular Grand Tour and watch a special look-back they put together in the video below:
