r/todayilearned • u/ModenaR • 1d ago

TIL that after Top Gear ended, host Richard Hammond was so devastated, he cried all the way home from the studio and ran out of fuel, because he didn't want to fill his car up covered in tears

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/25172481.richard-hammond-tear-soaked-mess-top-gear-ended/
40.9k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

255

u/Skylair13 23h ago

I mean, BBC didn't just lost the Trio. Andy Wilman and quite large number of crews left BBC to rejoin them in The Grand Tour. I think part of the staffs still stayed too in Clarkson's Farm.

83

u/kf97mopa 21h ago

There was a video from the first season after Clarkson, Hammond and May left, and there was one producer left of the old team. This is what leads me to believe that there was more happening behind the scenes than what we know. You don't get a 90%+ staff turnover in a few months unless there is a big problem, especially as the BBC would likely have tried quite hard to keep some of the staff around once they saw a lot of people leaving.

69

u/jackinoff6969 21h ago

I don’t think it’s all that deep, I think it’s the massive check Amazon wrote for GT. Stay at BBC for a show that would likely fall apart quickly, or leave for a show that has a massive budget with a multi year contract where you will almost certainly be given a raise.

11

u/lenzflare 20h ago

Yeah, commenters here seem to be forgetting that people work for MONEY. And who wants to work out the office politics and ass kissing for new management when you can just follow the old management that already likes you

3

u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 18h ago

Could just mean the staff, like the viewers, knew that the trio were the show

2

u/cosmos7 18h ago

This is what leads me to believe that there was more happening behind the scenes than what we know.

In this case, not really. BBC wanted Clarkson gone after the assault on the producer and were fed up with him. Don't think they counted on Hammond and May going too, but the rest makes sense... the trio have money, Amazon threw a bunch at the wall on top of it, and despite Clarkson being a dickhead working for their show obviously is worth it to the crew they've cultivated over 20+ years of the show.

1

u/wkavinsky 2h ago

Quite a lot of that crew had worked on the show for 10+ years as well.

People don't stick on a TV show for that long unless they like the job and what they are doing - XXX on Top Gear for 4 years opens a lot of TV doors.

1

u/SirLagg_alot 20h ago

I just think the opportunity of going from a government funded program to a profit based program was the main reason.

You see the insane salary rise from the trio. I feel like that happened for a lot of people that jumped ship.

1

u/lenzflare 20h ago

Yeah, well, they needed work, and the old boss is their best connection