Jeremy Clarkson recalls producer's brutal assessment of Grand Tour trio while filming: 'How s*** you are!'
Jeremy Clarkson reveals brutal assessment from series boss
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The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson confessed that show boss Andy Wilman gave a brutal assessment of the trio's talents when it came to filming for the hit Amazon Prime series.
Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are finally returning to screens on September 13 for the final episode of the hit Amazon series, with the last ever episode - titled One for the Road - being filmed last year.
The episode will bring together the end of their 22-year working relationship after they officially dissolved their production company W. Chump and Sons earlier this year.
A synopsis for the last ever episode reads: "In their last ever Grand Tour adventure, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May ignore Mr Wilman’s instruction to drive EVs down a grey British motorway and go rogue, heading to Zimbabwe in three glorious cars they’ve always wanted to own.
"A 1982 Lancia Montecarlo, a 1974 Ford Capri 3-litre and a 1974 Triumph Stag. They embark on a classic road trip through some of the most stunning landscapes they’ve ever encountered, winding through mountains, going across dry planes, cruising down boulevards, and taking their chances crossing a crocodile-infested lake on three unusual car-carrying boats.
"Just for old time’s sake, they visit their favourite location from 20 years of travelling the world, where they say an emotional farewell to their lives together on The Grand Tour."
Jeremy Clarkson admitted he was "too old" to continue doing the series
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However, Clarkson recently admitted that Wilman previously took a brutal dig at their "talent" as car enthusiasts and TV presenters, comparing them to the likes of legend David Attenborough.
When asked what the secret was to The Grand Tour’s longevity, Clarkson explained: "I know exactly what made it work: paying attention to detail. When you think you’ve got something funny, make it funnier, then just work, work, work, through the night and then through the weekend.
"Keep on working to make sure that every little thing is right. It was beautifully edited, and it was beautifully shot. The average shooting ratio for a TV show in the UK is twelve to one, so for every hour you see on screen, eleven have been thrown away.
"Attenborough’s shows are five hundred hours filmed for every one hour on screen because he has to sit for hours on a glacier waiting for a seal. Ours is 1200 to one. As Wilman always says, 'That’s how s**t you are: we have to film for hours to get anything decent'."
The trio will be racing around Zimbabwe
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Clarkson also opened up on why they felt it was the right time to end the series, noting that he was simply "too old" and felt it had become a "young man's game".
"The other thing is that if we were to sit down and ask, 'Where next?' – Well, we’ve been everywhere. We’ve done everything you can realistically do with a car, and the world has shrunk and that's the tragedy.
"Years ago, we drove from Iraq into eastern Turkey into Syria, Damascus and Israel. We did the Crimea to Ukraine. You couldn’t do any of that now. There’s some rich ground in and around Indonesia but you can’t really go there either.
"North Africa, apart from Morocco, is completely out. We managed to find a bit of Mauritania (Sand Job, 2024) that was just about doable but even that came with a Foreign Office 'do not go there' warning.
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The final episode brings together their 22-year career together
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"The world is a much more troubled place than it was twenty years ago. We were very lucky to do what we did, when we did."
The trio's bickering and putdowns will be sorely missed as they have become an integral part of their motoring shows over the years, even back at the beginning of their days on Top Gear.