In a tweet earlier this morning, Chris Evans has now confirmed the lineup for the 2016 Top Gear team. We briefly look at the credentials of this entirely new breed of presenters taking on the mammoth task of holding onto a huge audience cultivated by Clarkson, Hammond and May.
Morning from the new Top Gear team. All present and correct and smelling of eau de petrol. pic.twitter.com/y8X3uVb2uH
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) February 11, 2016
Rory Reid
Moving from left to right, first up is motoring journalist and most definitely least well known of the bunch, Rory Reid. Rory was picked up in public auditions last year along with being a presenter on CNET’s Car Tech channel (no I haven’t seen it either but I did find him on YouTube).
Sabine Schmitz
Next up of course is everyone’s favourite taxi driver, Sabine Schmitz. She’s trading her M5 Nurburgring taxi for some screen time as our German VBH.
Matt LeBlanc
Matt LeBlanc needs no introduction as the megastar from Friends and self confessed Top Gear nut. I hope his fandom comes from love of the show, and not just of the three stooges that have nipped off to Amazon! Chris Evans had been taunting Matt on twitter over the last weeks with photos of the Top Gear team at various pubs wondering when he would join them… and it appears he has.
Chris Monkey Harris
Chris Evans is a given, and holding the sick bags for him is ex-Evo and YouTube success Chris Harris. Monkey is my most welcome addition to the team, as we know he can at least talk and drive at the same time.
Eddie Jordan
Irishman and F1 veteran Eddie Jordan stands next to the Stig. With such a large team though, will he get much screen time? There’s only so much that years of grand prix mastery can bring to the review of a new Kia.
And there you have it. What comes next is anyone’s guess.
RMS Forum Comments
G N K 09:45 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | ReportLet the crying commence. Me, it's got cars in it I'll give it a whirl.
Cooper 09:59 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
| Let the crying commence. Me, it's got cars in it I'll give it a whirl.
That size of cast reminds me of old Top Gear. Eddie Jordan is Tony Mason and rallying is swapped out for F1. Harris is the Clarkson - motoring writer comes presenter. Evans is a different animal; in his favour an astute guy in front of and behind the camera. He has the character and tenacity to make something work. S1 of 'new' top gear was particularly bumpy and this series may be no different. We may just have to ride out the Jason Dawe period. http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/189447996144bad42e6c234cf4a23d6cfcf4d48d.jpg No May here! And finally if you haven't read And On That Bombshell yet, or even if you have, this is well worth listening to. Matt Farah from the smoking tyre interviews Richard Porter on TG. And On That Bombshell - Richard Porter - The Smoking Tire
richie_mck 10:09 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
Hopefully there is some room in the bbc budget to get Chris Evans some new clothes
Rocko 10:10 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
He looks like he's wearing womens shoes with tassels on them. 105340
Lyons 10:11 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
I'm looking forward to it :).
veedubnoodle 10:22 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
I'll still watch it to be honest, but I can see a lot of that line up disappearing over the first few years of this new show. Everyone forgets how awkward the first few series of Clarksons Top Gear were and it took a couple of years to get it right. Give it time and I'm sure at least 3 of the people in that line up will gel together and create a good show, but at the minute it looks like the BBC are just hiring as many people as possible in the hope that they find the 3 they need.
DC. 10:23 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
Looking forward to it as well. Almost everyone complained about the previous show for the last 2 series so hopefully this will be better. I think they could have gotten away with having just 'Evans, Harris & Schmitz' What Eddie Jordan brings to it I don't know.
johnm 10:24 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
Its a car show not a fashion parade! Should be a good show, that actually will be car related instead of 2 planks arsing about.
Lyons 10:27 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
| Everyone forgets how awkward the first few series of Clarksons Top Gear were and it took a couple of years to get it right.
I was still waiting.
Mont 10:31 | Thu 11 Feb, 2016 | Report
I guess it's a big crew as PC BBC had to make sure they included a woman, one non-white person and a senior citizen. I'm still hoping that they can make it work though.