The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour: James May Admits They’ve Been Told To “Tone Down” Natural Friction Between Presenters

James May of The Grand Tour has admitted that he was told to “tone down” his anger with co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond as they filmed the latest special episode, A Massive Hunt.

The trio have spent almost 20 years travelling the world together to bring us these incredible special episodes, and while they’ve grown accustomed to the way they conduct themselves and respond to certain scenarios, this doesn’t stop the ex-Top Gear presenters from getting into heated conversations.

May has admitted that this happened far too much during recent filming, to the point where they were told to ease up on the anger on camera.

He told TVMag the following: “There’s genuine friction, we have to tone it down for television otherwise it wouldn’t be allowed.

“It was so hard to be honest to get up that road and we did, we did start to think that we, you know, we’ve been given something we actually wouldn’t be able to achieve which is a worry when you’re making a TV show because you have to you have to conclude the show in some way.”

But thanks to the episode giving them the difficult challenge of getting through some of the worst roads they’ve ever encountered, this forced a more than usual amount of camaraderie.

He said, “I think it actually probably inspired an unusual level of camaraderie on this occasion, which you didn’t get so much in the Seamen.

“For example where the other two were quite happy to bugger off and leave me [mumbles] and then I was quite happy to sail straight past Jeremy Clarkson when he was stuck on the beach because I didn’t care.”

The trio has found it very difficult to produce content during the pandemic, and James commented on just how troublesome it has been:

“It does limit what we can do, but I don’t think it stops us. It just means we have to think a bit harder and maybe be a little bit more creative.

“But maybe that will do us some good. It’s not going to stop The Grand Tour. It may change the flavour of it slightly. But the essential element, which is us three getting on each other’s t**s, will still be there.”

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2 Comments

  1. Personally I’m glad. I thought the “we hate each other so much (that two of us quit and followed the other one when he was fired and made a new show)” angle was getting kind of annoying. Yes, it’s funny when they bash each other and compete over everything, but I always felt before like they were actually mates who happened to show their affection by pretending to hate each other. This pretending to ACTUALLY hate each other, although it’s not very convincing, kind of distasteful. Laughing when the other one gets dunked in the river, good. “Oh I can’t wait to see him dead!” is not.It’s not funny, escpecially since it’s obviously BS. No one would stick together and work together so well for decades with someone they actually hated. So yes, I’d be glad to see it toned back down a bit to more of a secretly friendly rivalry and ironic show of dislike. Kind of like what I’ve had with some of my friends before. Some of my best friends are the ones I insult the most gratuitiously. It’s my enemies that I’m very polite to, because they don’t merit a little affectionate roasting.

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