The chances of Top Gear returning to what it was before the so-called “Fracas-Gate” are smaller than ever now that James May said he won’t do the show without Clarkson.
James May said he won’t return to Top Gear if Jeremy Clarkson is not reinstated, adding that the show would be lame with a “surrogate Jeremy.” According to “Captain Slow,” the idea that he and Richard Hammond would return alongside a new presenter is a “non-starter.”
“Me and Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work. That would be lame, or ‘awks’ as young people say,” May told The Guardian.
“It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that,” May added.
Still, he said he wanted to continue working for the BBC and didn’t rule out all three presenters one day returning to the show. “It doesn’t mean I won’t go back, we may all go back in the future. It might just be we have a break from it. I don’t know,” May said.
Since James May refuses to do the show without Clarkson and there are reportedly no talks ongoing between the BBC, May and Hammond, there’s a big chance Top Gear will return next year with an all-new lineup.
However, May says the popular Top Gear team may return in the future when the echoes of the scandal would have faded away. “The BBC haven’t completely closed the door on Jeremy’s return. They’ve not banned him or fired him, only just not renewed his contract for the moment. It’s a subtle difference but an important one,” he stressed.
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