It hasn’t even been 24 hours since the final episode of Season 26 of Top Gear aired, the last one with Rory Reid and Matt LeBlanc returning as full-time hosts, and the BBC is already teasing the next season with Chris Harris and two other guys.
I haven’t finished getting through my screeners of the latest season of the show, which just wrapped on the BBC this weekend but won’t be on BBC America until April 25, and I already have to process my feelings for the two new hosts in this teaser for Season 27:
The clip shows Harris, who you should know, and new-to-the-show comedian Paddy McGuinness being driven by former cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff in a 1995 Daimler hearse.
Flintoff goes too hot sideways into a corner, appears to blow a rear tire, and rolls all three of them over. Paddy doesn’t seem happy about it.
The short clip isn’t much, but it gives us an idea that the next season will just be Chris Harris schooling two co-hosts who otherwise have no business handling cars in death-defying challenges.
According to the teaser’s description on YouTube, this clip is from a challenge where Paddy is convinced a hearse is the perfect second car for a family in one of the early episodes. The new season of the show is expected to start dropping episodes this summer.
So tune in? If you want to? Variety reported viewership for the 25th season was down to just 2.4 million viewers on its first episode last year, compared to 4.4 million viewers for the premiere of the relaunched show following the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Maybe this show can regain some footing this time. Maybe we’ll have a never-ending rotation of hosts. One thing is clear, though—Chris Harris is very much still the star of the show.