The Grand Tour’s third season kicked off with a bang a few weeks ago and seems to be going from strength-to-strength. One of the reasons for this is the lack of one of the show’s least popular segments.
Those who’ve been tuning in for the latest season may have noticed that the show no longer features any celebrity segment. This is a big change from the frankly awful ‘Celebrity Brain Crash’ segment of the first season and the ‘Celebrity Face Off’ from season two.
Discussing the decision to axe a celebrity segment with Metro last month, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson said it simply wasn’t one of the most popular segments.
“There are some changes to this one because we looked at what people loved and bits people liked the most.
“It turns out the bits people like the most are the bits we like the most, which are the big adventures, us three messing about in Mongolia or China or wherever else, usually in something wholly inappropriate to the task and arguing and suffering,” Hammond said.
“Many years ago, it [Top Gear] was a British show, it was only a British show in the UK. And then it became international and it still is very, very international – much better known in Italy and China than we are here weirdly,” Clarkson added.
“So there’s no point in having a guest where you go, ‘ladies and gentlemen it’s Howard from the Halifax advert,” because in Uruguay, they haven’t got a f@cking clue who Howard is”.
As international viewers of Top Gear and then The Grand Tour, there were certainly countless occasions where we didn’t recognize the celebrities featured. Even during the final few seasons of Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May, the celebrity segment often felt like a waste of time. We’re not sad to see it go.