Chris Evans replaces Clarkson as Top Gear host

CHRIS Evans has been revealed as the new host of Top Gear, replacing Jeremy Clarkson who was sacked earlier this year, the BBC said.
Chris Evans will succeed Jeremy Clarkson as Top Gear host. Picture: PAChris Evans will succeed Jeremy Clarkson as Top Gear host. Picture: PA
Chris Evans will succeed Jeremy Clarkson as Top Gear host. Picture: PA

The radio and television presenter has signed a three-year deal to lead an all-new line-up of presenters for the popular BBC Two show.

He said: “I’m thrilled, Top Gear is my favourite programme of all time.”

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It is still unclear if it is the last time fans will see Hammond and May on the show after it was reported the pair were offered deals in the region of £1 million a year to stay with it.

That deal, which would make the pair among the corporation’s highest earners, is said to be part of a plan to include a different guest host on each show rather than directly replacing Clarkson.

The corporation used a similar tactic when another of its best-known faces - Have I Got News For You host Angus Deayton - was fired after reports emerged of drug use and encounters with prostitutes.

All three men’s contracts ran out earlier this year and the BBC refused to renew Clarkson’s after his much-publicised attack on Mr Tymon.

Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s former executive producer - and an old school friend of Clarkson - has left the show, which sparked rumours he was joining up with all three men to make an alternative programme, with Netflix and ITV among the broadcasters rumoured to be in the running to screen it.

BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw, the woman tasked with putting the programme back together after Clarkson’s exit, has previously refused to rule out a return to the show for May and Hammond, saying conversations were “ongoing” with the pair.