Tanner Foust and Rutledge Wood of Top Gear USA graced Jalopnik HQ with their presence this afternoon, and were kind enough to jump on Kinja to answer your questions! Here are some of the more profound nuggets we learned about them and the show.
First and foremost, Rutledge confirmed his signature shirt style is plaid, not flannel. Don't get it twisted:
I actually don't own any flannel shirts :) I own a bunch of plaid shirts, cause plaid is rad. Flannel is too hot for big dudes, so I pass on that. I have probably 20 shirts that rotate out as they get ruined shooting the show...they don't tell us much ahead of time so we experience it at the same time as you guys, so sadly, my limited wardrobe takes a hit. It's hard work dressing like a high-school kid with a part time job.
Rutledge also shared some insight on just how scripted Top Gear really is:
It's hard to explain the difference of a show being produced and a show being scripted. The Kardashians is scripted. TG US and TG UK Are produced...meaning someone has a roadmap essentially for what we're going to do. We don't know a lot of times where we're going or what we're doing...but someone does.
If we knew every challenge and everything we were going to do, it wouldn't be as fun and we might not do them. Remember that rat helmet they made me wear? There's no way in hell I would get on a plane if someone told me I was going to do that.
Roadkill that Frieburger and Finnegan do is probably the only reality show dealing with cars out there...and guess what, they have someone produce that too so they still tell a story and show what's going on vs turning on a go-pro for a week.
I just enjoy it for what it is. If I watched the UK show the way someone people tried to watch our show at first, you could pick it apart at every turn...but I'm not the kind of lonely, bored person who does that. I either watch it or turn the channel.
But thanks for watching...glad you're enjoying it.
Then Mr. Wood shut down somebody threatening to take his job, responding to allegations that the UK Top Gear crew has better chemistry than the Americans:
hahaha. If you believe that those guys all love each other, then you probably think that was actually Milli Vanilli singing on their album. If you're going to troll me, could you put some effort into it please? I love those guys. And you can tell we get along. Tell your friends if they're going to try and take our jobs to find a third, cause your game needs work.
Finally, Tanner defended his jump to Volkswagen:
Had to make the switch to VW! Who could pass up building and driving the most iconic car on the planet! Loved the run with Ford, looking forward to the future with VW... they have some incredible cars coming out!
Image: Top Gear USA