Drive? Only if it’s not too dangerous, says new presenter of BBC’s Top Gear LeBlanc
HE was brought in to the take the wheel of the BBC’s flagship motoring show.
But Top Gear host Matt LeBlanc has admitted he is not always in the driving seat – with stunt doubles brought in for when challenges get ‘really crazy’.
The 48-year-old said he will only do what he feels ‘comfortable with’, and that insurance firms are involved in the decisions.
He explained: ‘I’m not going to pretend I do all my own stunts. I do as much as I’m comfortable with.’
Speaking ahead of the new series, which launches on Sunday, the former Friends star told the Radio Times: ‘When it gets really crazy, I have a stunt driver. That’s no secret. Insurance companies are involved. If something calls for real precision driving, I let someone else do it.’
It is understood that his fellow presenter Chris Evans, 50, also has a stunt double. However LeBlanc’s approach of confessing ahead of the show’s broadcast is in contrast to his predecessors.
Jeremy Clarkson – who departed Top Gear with his team last year after a fracas with a producer – came under fire when the use of stunt doubles emerged in 2011. Sources from the show claimed that a clip from 2008 which appeared to show Clarkson going 200mph in a Lamborghini had been performed by Formula 3 driver Aaron Scott.
A spokesman for the show said at the time that professional drivers were sometimes used.
Racing driver Niki Faulkner also came forward as Clarkson’s regular double. He said previously: ‘It doesn’t make sense for Jeremy to do some of the really time consuming stuff – he just doesn’t have time during the filming schedule.’
Stunt doubles are expected to feature in Clarkson’s new show, The Grand Tour, which will be on Amazon. LeBlanc also refuted claims that he and Evans don’t get along. He said: ‘All this stuff that Chris and I are at war is a big load of b ******* . We’ve never had a rift. I’m a true car fan, Chris is a true car fan.
‘We’re hanging out, having a laugh, doing our best. He is an extremely smart guy. I’d beat him in a race, though – and you can tell him I said that.’
He added that he hopes to persuade former Friends co-stars David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox to join him in front of the camera.
He said: ‘Schwimmer is into cars. Courteney... is a car nut, believe it or not. She’s forever asking me about cars and I’m forever talking her out of some rubbish she wants to buy.’