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James May has hit out at the BBC for dropping Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear when it did.
May first started working with Clarkson and Richard Hammond on the BBC’s motoring show in 2002, and they moved over to Amazon for Prime Video series The Grand Tour after an on-set “fracas” in 2015,
The altercation saw the presenter allegedly punch producer Oisin Tymon, which led to Clarkson’s tenure at the corporation coming to an end.
An investigation was launched and, in solidarity with their co-host, May and Hammond refused to sign a new contract, which brought the show in its most successful form to a close.
May has now reflected on the turn of events, revealing that he didn’t think their time on Top Gear “had to end because of” the fight.
“I thought it was very unfortunate and I don’t actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it,” he told The Times.
“I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest. It happened. It’s regrettable and it’s unfortunate, but it didn’t need to lead to the collapse of something very successful.”
May continued: “Maybe these things are ordained and it was time for us to move on. We had been doing it by then for a decade, I think.”
Clarkson was reportedly left annoyed that he could not order hot food while he and fellow cast and crew members were filming at Simonstone Hall Hotel near Hawes, North Yorkshire.
According to The Sun and Mirror, the hotel’s chef had gone home by the time they arrived and the stars were offered cold meat and cheese platters – but Clarkson wanted a steak.
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“I mean, without being big-headed about it, we were Top Gear and we were one of the biggest TV shows in the world at the time,” May said.
“It was quite an intense environment and it’s not entirely surprising that it occasionally went off the rails.”
May recently explained why his TV partnership with Clarkson and Hammond came to an end with the Grand Tour finale.
He said: “The idea was to land the car show format safely and not fly it into a cliff. We only cleared the cliff by a few feet but I think it will survive.”
May also said he isn’t “in mourning” as he thinks they “gave the format a really good thrashing and now it’s time to let a younger generation have a go”.
The presenter can next be seen on Channel 5 series James May’s Great Explorers.
