Jeremy Clarkson shares unexpected James May reaction to last day of filming The Grand Tour: 'Emotions of a stone!'

The Grand Tour: Jeremy Clarkson shares James May's surprise reaction to the end of filming

AMAZON
Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 05/09/2024

- 12:48

One for the Road marks the end of an era for Clarkson, May and Hammond fans

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May's final ever special of The Grand Tour, titled One for the Road, is just days away from arriving on Amazon Prime Video.

The instalment brings to a close a 22-year working collaboration between the trio who've been entertaining motoring enthusiasts since their days on the BBC's Top Gear.


In One for the Road, the trio embarks on a final road trip in Botswana and Zimbabwe as they reminisce over their two-decade-long career and what the future may hold.

The trailer for the final Grand Tour with the trio dropped last month and quickly left fans reaching for the tissues as they predicted an emotional farewell.

And Hammond himself even admitted ahead of One for the Road's release that he "likes a good a cry" and was left in bits once the crew yelled "cut" on the last special.

When it came to co-star May, however, it was quite a different story as Clarkson recently explained.

The Grand Tour: Jeremy Clarkson and James May

The Grand Tour: Jeremy Clarkson and James May return for one final road trip in One for the Road

AMAZON

The Clarkson's Farm star opened up on what the atmosphere was like when the cameras stopped rolling on the final day and admitted May had a rather unexpected reaction given the significance of the moment.

"I'm not saying this in a derogatory way by any means, but James has the emotions of a stone," Clarkson explained.

"He just doesn't do emotions, so there were no tears from him."

Turning his attention to his other co-host, Clarkson added: "Hammond, yes. I was surprisingly unemotional in a weird way because I can see James and Hammond any time I want to, they’re only a phone call away, and I’m sure we will.

The Grand Tour: James May

The Grand Tour: James May during filming for One for the Road

AMAZON

"And I’ve done enough of the travel, I was worn out by it. Where I would have been emotional was saying goodbye to the crew because most of them started with us.

"There's a photograph taken on Kubu Island of Russ Edwards and Casper Leaver (Camera Operator) and Andy Wilman, who were there on the original crew, and they're still with us. You can’t say that about any other show.

"We are a dysfunctional family, and I’d miss that, except for one tiny detail..." Clarkson mused before revealing several of the crew continue to work alongside him on Clarkson's Farm.

He said: "There I was with all these guys that I've known and worked with for 24 years and I said, 'I’ll see you all on Monday morning' because they all work on Clarkson’s Farm. I'm 100 percent convinced I would have been a lot more emotional without the farm show."

The fourth season of Clarkson's Farm is on the way next year and will follow Clarkson as he opens his very own pub, The Farmer's Dog, in the Cotswolds.

Elsewhere, May was on hand to delve into the final day of filming and explain why he didn't deliver the tears Hammond and Clarkson may have been expecting - although there was one aspect that "moved" him.

"We all went round and had a bit of a handshaking thing and I realised that, although I'm sure I will run into them all again at some point, I may now not see some of them for years," May said.

"That was a strange feeling because people like Ben Joiner, the Director of Photography, he's been there since the first shoot, he's been with us all the way through.

"A lot of them have, and they’re as much a part of it as we are. All those people were devoted to putting us on the screen, which is quite humbling, and they often had even worse accommodation than we did.

"So, I found that, in some ways, slightly more moving than the idea of splitting up with the other two because I know I'm going to see them again. Unfortunately."

You may like