On the whole, it hasn’t been a stellar couple of weeks for the new series of Top Gear.
The opening instalment was pilloried by fans and critics. Then ratings for the second episode of the Chris Evans-fronted series suffered a big drop from its debut a week beforehand, slipping to 2.8 million from 4.3 million.
The way Top Gear is being viewed is repositioning the way television is consumed. Last week 9 millions viewers. This week we shall see.
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) June 6, 2016
To compound the new series’ woes, the reviews and ratings in overseas territories, like the US and New Zealand, have also been extremely poor – which is especially worrying for the BBC, which reportedly earns £50 million in worldwide sales from the show.
At the same time, some fans started calling for Evans to be replaced entirely – perhaps by guest stars Jensen Button or Tinie Tempah.
Now some fans are putting the boot in further by saying they prefer a new YouTube video of former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson trying to assemble a box over anything Evans and new co-presenter Matt LeBlanc could offer up.
https://t.co/WsWmjesJn4 via YouTube To celebrate our new sponsorship deal, I've done a thing.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) June 6, 2016
In the three-minute video, which seems to have been recorded on a phone by Richard Hammond, Clarkson attempts to build a box as part of a new sponsorship deal with DHL for their new Amazon series The Grand Tour.
When someone uploaded the video to Reddit, commenters started piling in with unflattering comparisons between the basic Clarkson offering and the high-budget Top Gear series.
A LOT of people felt the same.
No, really.
Still, at least Evans has one person on his side.
https://twitter.com/stuheritage/status/740148375169978368
In his Guardian article, journalist Heritage wrote:
“To see the abuse he’s been receiving over the last fortnight, you could be forgiven for thinking that he’d run over a pensioner or desecrated a sacred burial ground, when all he’s really done is present a weekly motoring programme in a vaguely unsure way. That’s it.”
He probably has a point. Maybe Top Gear deserves more of a chance?
Or just choose the box instead.
