The Grand Tour

Richard Hammond Defends Jeremy Clarkson, Talks The Grand Tour

In an interview with the UK newspaper The Daily Mail, Richard Hammond was asked about the upcoming premier of Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour, his co-host Jeremy Clarkson, and his nerves over the success of the long time trio’s new show.

According to Hammond, who enjoyed well over a decade of massive success with Clarkson and May on the BBC series Top Gear, he felt a huge amount of pressure on the group to succeed with their new show. Hammond jokingly said in a separate interview with The Daily Telegraph;

“We’ve got to make this good or they will come and torch us – and rightly so.”

“We’re not going to disappoint, because we can’t.”

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It’s clear that Richard has a deep dedication to the new shows success. Along with his co-hosts, long time friend Andy Wilman, who was the former producer on Top Gear, now on The Grand Tour after following the trio, following the fracas incident, also commented on the new show. Wilman wants fans to tune in but remain open-minded, stating;

“not everything will be right’ with The Grand Tour because they have started from ‘scratch”

For months now, the three friends, co-hosts, and occasional thorn in each other’s sides have been working on the new show, touring the world and filming what we can only assume for now, is amazing new motoring show footage for The Grand Tour. Several new teaser trailers have premiered in the past few days amongst a multitude of other marketing ploys including an alarm clock, navigation, and wrecked Toyota Prius’ in the London, Berlin, and Los Angeles. The show, Amazon’s most expensive to date, is rumored to have already cost upwards of $160 million dollars.

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In reference to the new show and its future content, Jeremy Clarkson was quoted as saying that the core of the new show would revolve around the hosts “relentless and unending need to belittle and humiliate one another.”

In contrast, Hammond laughed off such notions, instead saying that while Clarkson is the first to give him a good ribbing over his height, that he is not a bully, and his jabs don’t bother Hammond these days. Hammond further replied;

“It used to (annoy me), it doesn’t now. We’re in the entertainment business and if people think it’s entertaining, it’s no skin off my nose is it?”

Further humanizing Clarkson, May, and himself, Hammond added;

“We’re all of us more complex perhaps than television can allow us to show”

The Grand Tour premiers this Friday. The first episode will be based in California, the second in Johannesburg, and the following episodes will be in Holland, Finland, and Namibia for the “Africa Special”.

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Be sure and follow Grand Tour Nation on Twitter, and Facebook for news and recaps of the upcoming episodes of The Grand Tour, as well as coverage of Top Gear and other automotive happenings around the world. Also be sure to check out our other new articles such as the Waze Navigation article, or the Amazon releases Top Gear seasons 2-17 article here.

Nick Dunlap

Nick is a lifelong automotive enthusiast, as well as journalist, and content creator. Nick also successful competes in a variety of automotive fields including national level car shows, autocross, SCCA races, and more. He enjoys designing and building a variety of cars and helping others do the same with theirs.

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