James May Admits Top Gear Blunders: “We Overstepped The Mark”
James May has talked about overstepping the mark during filming with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond on Top Gear and more recently The Grand Tour. Talking to The Times, he discussed his “inappropriate” history, while adding that they were still “human”.
One of Top Gear’s most memorable moments revolved around the show’s arguments with Mexico after they made “offensive” comments about the people of the country and its leaders. Admitting that they would often “overstep the mark”, James told us more about these moments.
“I mean, some of the things we did, we overstepped the mark. And they were inappropriate. Everybody does that.
“But if you do it on TV, it’s public and it’s open to scrutiny, which is possibly a reason why you shouldn’t do it. But we are only human.
“We make mistakes. I don’t think we did any really serious, permanent damage.
“And a lot of the things we did – and when I say ‘we’, I mean mainly Jeremy, let’s be honest – was all for the purpose of sensationalism.”
James continued, discussing the relationship he has with his co-presenters, admitting that they come across “a bit Brexit, or a bit UKIP”. In fact, they’re far from that according to the Our Man In Italy presenter.
Confirming that he was the least conservative of the three, he jokes that Jeremy and Richard are “trying to join the aristocracy” as they wear waistcoats and tweed. This way of life doesn’t appeal to James.
Previously, James has described their relationship as “very complicated”:
“It’s something very complicated and actually very fragile, easily broken,” he admitted.
“We don’t really understand it. It just happened to work. Which was a stroke of luck,” he told The Times.
