ON BOARD
Illustration – David HopkinsLippy from the Liffey
For Eddie Jordan, Top Gear is “the biggest TV show on the planet”. So, not surprisingly,
he’s pretty chuffed to be one of its new presenters, alongside his new friend Matt LeBlancI
’ve just thrown my sailing season into
chaos. Unless you’ve been living on the
moon you’ve probably heard that I’m one
of the new presenters on Top Gear. I think it’s
fair to say the announcement of the presenting
line-up was met with a mixed reaction! People
understandably love the old Top Gear, and
Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard
Hammond have left some seriously big shoes
to fill, but this is going to be a different type of
show and I think people will
be pleasantly surprised.
Seven years helping
to present the BBC’s
Formula 1 coverage has
certainly helped me develop
a thick skin – or else the
ego could take a bit of a
pounding. But on a serious note, I’m overjoyed.
It’s the biggest TV show on the planet. I was
speaking with co-presenter Matt LeBlanc- and obviously Friends was a huge sensation –
but even he said he was awed by the scale of the
show. Hundreds of millions of people watch it,
and when you look at the territories it goes out
in, it’s staggering.
My daughter is in New York at the fashion
show as I write this, and she keeps telling
me the addition of Matt to the Top Gear
line-up is generating big headlines over
there. He’s made a huge difference, and
added some Hollywood glamour to the
show. He’s actually the coolest guy on
earth and the most sensible one among
us. Chris Evans is off the charts – he’s
always doing about 50 things at once.
I’m not quite that eccentric – I can only
manage about six or seven. Matt, on the
other hand, is the most gathered human
being and incredibly balanced.
Sabine Schmitz is a great addition
to the team as well. I’ve worked with her
in the past and she’s quite an operator, trustme. She was driving when Chris had trouble
keeping his dinner down, which made a few
headlines. But the story that hasn’t been told
is that there was also a fighter pilot from the
Top Gun academy there as well, and even
he was green round the gills after a few laps
with Sabine at the wheel. For her to do that
to a fighter pilot is seriously impressive.When I was being interviewed for the role, they
asked me what boat licences
I had, so they’re probably
already lining up all sorts
of boats for me to drive, which
is a worry! There was all that
speculation over Christmas
about the future of Top Gear
and a lot of mud-slinging,
with people talking it down. They shouldn’t
have done that. Chris Evans is just far too
successful. Everything he touches just seems
to work. He will be part of a Top Gear that willmake amazing programmes. I believe that
100 per cent; it will be a breath of fresh air.
I probably should be apprehensive, but I’m not.
I’m convinced that this presenting team will be
able to handle most things thrown at us.The show is already taking over my life. I had
to pull out of the St Barths Bucket, which
is really disappointing. I have managed to keep
my entry to the Oyster Regatta in Antigua
in April, which is just after the Bahrain Grand
Prix. Some more news is that I’ve also agreed
to be part of the Formula 1 presenting team
for Channel 4 in the UK. I’m not sure how I
managed to make that work. So I’ll do a shoot
with Top Gear, then fly to Bahrain for the race.
I’ll fly out at 2am the night the event ends, land
at London Heathrow, get over to Gatwick and
board a flight to Antigua for the regatta.
I might be a little grumpy when I land.
Eddie Jordan’s fee for this column has been
donated to charity“Clarkson, May and
Hammond have
left some seriously
big shoes to fill”B17