I was horrified and scared out of my wits when I discovered an article online today (which apparently is over a week old, I'm not always up to date.) UK's
Telegraph reported on July 5th that
"the future of Top Gear has been thrown into doubt after reports that James May and Richard Hammond may leave the show. They were said to be arguing that they deserve a pay package similar to that enjoyed by Jeremy Clarkson, their co-presenter."
Yes I understand that Jeremy Clarkson is a well known and liked celebrity in the UK, and has been for longer than May and Hammond has, but I don't think he deserves a bigger wage than the two others, fact of the matter is that without any of them he and Top Gear wouldn't have reached the level of popularity it has anyways. I've been trying to imagine the show without either of the three presenters, and that just wouldn't work, it'd be like.. like... beer without having a fag, or pizza without cheese. And yes, I'm horrible at analogies. You could argue that none of the probably has any money issues, seeing what cars (and other transport) they all have between themselves (Porsches, Morgans, Ford GT40, several motorbikes.) I think the issue might be the unfairness of it all; Why should Clarkson get a bigger salary for this specific job when they all do just about the same? Which hardly could be called work anyhow, I mean come on, I want to drive a Pagani Zonda or a Bugatti Veyron through Europe too! Hell, I'd even settle for a new Porsche!
So, BBC, listen up: Give them whatever they want, all right?
Edit:
I just read another article in the Telegraph by Gill Hornby, in which he tried to comment on Top Gear. And I quote:
"Leaving aside Top Gear's inherent old-school blokiness - and while it's nice to dream, that will probably never go out of fashion - the programme is a celebration of, and a laugh about, everything that was recently thought to be ok, but soon won't be: thirsty cars with whopping engines and stonking price tags; Richard Hammond's near-fatal accident while travelling at 288mph; Clarkson drinking a gin and tonic at the wheel.With the price of oil rising, the environment falling to bits and more than half the world shrouded in poverty, we are all going to have to change our habits and opinions.
The values of the Top Gear blokes are values that belong to what soon will be a bygone age."
Seriously, are they still on about that damn Gin&Tonic at the wheel? They were in the arctic driving to the North Pole for christ sake, no roads and no other people to hit! As for the environment - they have spoken about "green" cars and miles to the gallon quite often. And isn't there enough car shows and magazines out there who takes care of the boring bits about new low-range Skodas and Toyotas? That's the whole point of Top Gear - silly blokes cocking about in silly cars that you can only dream about. This has nothing to do with values or habits- of course many of us would've liked to drive around in Ferrari's and Lambo's if we could, but our pockets don't allow that anyways. They've never claimed to be politically correct, and if they ever became that, I'd stop watching. Stop trying to suck the fun out of everything!
In a fit of restlessness my brother took my aunt and her daughter, me and le poodle out fishing today, we live near a bunch of rivers and he conveniently owns a boat. Nothing spectacular happened, we didn't tip the boat over, crash into anything or drown. But we did catch something! One tiny pike... And my big, manly 35 year old brother who fixes cars for a living, whipped out his not so manly gloves and killed it in a very unmanly fashion. I haven't laughed that hard in months. And my exceptionally well behaved dog didn't even notice the fish, and sat quietly for 2 hours while in the boat. That animal is incredible.