May and Hammond to walk out of Top Gear?
Monday, July 7th, 2008Top Gear Two talk to the Telegraph
Top Gear, reportedly the worlds most watched TV show, may be losing two of the jewels in its crown – James May and Richard Hammond, two of the trinity of presenters which is completed by Jeremy ‘Jezza’ Clarkson, have yet to sign new contracts recently presented to them by the BBC.
According to the Telegraph, they’re none too happy about the fact that Clarkson is in line for a multi-million pound deal from the Beeb, and their contracts offer them quite a bit less. The article implicitly suggests that the two “may leave” the show if their contracts don’t fatten up. However, the only source they’ve been able to get a quote from on the record is May, who suggests otherwise:
“The only reason I haven’t signed my contract yet is because it has not yet been finalized. The current one doesn’t expire until the end of July. I’m sure a new one will be sorted out soon. I’m not stomping around about Jeremy’s contract with BBC Worldwide. Quite frankly, I couldn’t give a **** about it.”
The Telegraph’s unnamed source however says that: “The presenters of the hit BBC Two series had not yet signed their new contracts even though their current agreements expire at the end of the month… they don’t want to accept second status anymore.”
There has been “a meltdown” in negotiations and that the pair “turned down flat” the first offer from Auntie. “There has been a lot of pulling out of hair, a Mexican stand-off. For the first time it is possible that one or both might leave.”
At it peak, Top Gear has commanded an audience share of 8.6 million viewers who tuned in to watch Richard Hammond’s infamous crash.
