Do you remember Top Gear’s Bolivia Special from back in 2009? If you do, you probably recall a hilarious scene where James May threatened co-host Jeremy Clarkson with a huge machete as the two drove along the country’s ‘Death Road.’
Fuelled by anger, May approached Clarkson and pointed the machete right at his fellow presenter’s face. If you consider yourself a reasonable human being, you probably think that’s the closest May has come to killing Clarkson. It isn’t.
In a recent clip posted to the DriveTribe channel on YouTube, May says his closest deadly encounter with Clarkson came during Top Gear’s infamous special in Argentina. Yes, that’s the one where the TV show was chased out of the country due to a controversial license plate featured on Clarkson’s car which seemingly made a reference to the Falklands War.
As May describes, Top Gear stayed at a lodge one night during filming and it was very, very cold. The lodge consisted of a large central room with a fire while bedrooms where located nearby. According to May, Clarkson volunteered to look after the fire throughout the night. He failed to do so.
At around 4 a.m. in the morning, May says he woke up absolutely freezing and soon discovered that the fire was out. Despite volunteering to do so, Clarkson hadn’t kept it burning. Tempted to end it all, May picked up a small shovel and says he thought about hitting or stabbing Clarkson with it.
Of course, there’s a bit of hyperbole thrown here, but it is one hell of a story. Sit back and enjoy.