The Grand Tour has reportedly announced the replacements for James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson.
To front the show, Prime Video executives have enlisted social media superstar Francis Bourgeois and YouTube sensations James Engelsman and Thomas Holland.
But why did Clarkson, Hammond and May decide to leave?
Why did Jeremy Clarkson leave Grand Tour?
In an interview with The Times of London, Clarkson claimed that the presenters were all getting on in years and that it was getting harder to come up with wild exploits for the show.
The 65-year-old said: “I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else. We’ve done everything you can do with a car. When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.”
The Grand Tour assignments are “extremely physical” he continued, and have gotten harder when “you're unfit and fat and old.”
“If you’re Bear Grylls you go to a hotel — there aren’t any hotels in the Sahara desert,” Clarkson said.
In terms of what’s next for Clarkson, he will remain the host of Clarkson's Farm for Amazon, as the series has become the highest-rated UK original on the streaming service, with a new season out now.
Clarkson will also be hosting further episodes of ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Why did Richard Hammond leave Grand Tour?
Hammond disclosed that he and co-stars May and Clarkson "decided years ago" when the well-liked show would end.
He previously told GB News: “The key thing on that whole issue [is] we had decided years ago that we wanted to be in control.
“Having set off on this incredible adventure that none of us thought would ever come our way, we all wanted to be the ones — and I don't just mean us three, all of us— to decide when and where and how we landed it, and we have done.”
Hammond recently reunited with May for a Grand Tour specials show on Amazon Prime called The Not Very Grand Tour. The first episode aired in April.
Why did James May leave Grand Tour?
The Grand Tour stopped because they had “exhausted” the show and didn't want to “overstay their welcome” according to James May.
The presenter told the Standard in February: “We always said, between us, that we would end it with some race, hopefully, rather than fly into the White Cliffs of Dover, desperately trying to keep it along - and I think we just about managed that.”
He added: "We’d exhausted the subject, we are getting on a bit. I believe it’s time for a new generation to find a new take - I don’t know what it is.”
May’s main focus at the moment is his YouTube channel, which he hosts his Planet Gin series.
