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Top Gear footage sees Chris Evans poke fun at 'car sickness' reports

Evans and Matt LeBlanc confirmed the other four presenters will not be in every episode

Jack Shepherd
Tuesday 23 February 2016 10:45 GMT
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Chris Evans, the new presenter of BBC's Top Gear programme, and The Stig pose together
Chris Evans, the new presenter of BBC's Top Gear programme, and The Stig pose together (Yui Mok/PA Wire)

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Chris Evans’s Top Gear is slowly but surely coming together, with filming finally underway in the UK.

While showcasing the newly revamped car show in Liverpool, Evans and co-host Matt LeBlanc revealed more about what to expect from the 23rd series.

According to Gulf News, a ‘high energy’ sizzle reel featuring new footage was shown at the event. The clip apparently ended with “Evans frantically asking [co-host Sabine] Schmitz to stop a speeding car so he can be sick on the side of the road. ‘Why is it red?’ Schmitz asked him, to which Evans replied, of course: ‘Strawberries.’”

Previously, it was reported that Evans was spotted ‘retching’ at the side of a track after a test drive with presented Schmitz, the clip likely poking fun of the incident.

Speaking to the BBC, the pair dismissed the idea of there being six presenters. “We’re the two co-hosts, the others come and go, as and when required,” confirmed Evans.

When pressed on whether all six of them had got together, the 49-year-old said: “No, because Eddie Jordan still isn’t here. He’s in South Africa.” Matt LeBlanc jokingly added: “He Doesn’t care.”

In a separate roundtable with journalists, the duo spoke about whether they felt there was enough room for both their show and the ex-Top Gear hosts’ Amazon Prime show on TV.

“I’m a fan of the old show. If they’re making their own show, I think there’s more than enough room on television,” LeBlanc said, according to a report. “There’s more than one cooking show, there’s more than one hunting show, there’s more than one comedy on TV. There’s enough room for two or more car shows.”

Evans added that the trio - Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May - had offered him “some tips” on hosting. “Gratefully appreciated. It doesn’t matter how it happened, but it happened. I’m going to keep them to myself. If they work, I’ll let you know.”

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Reporters in attendance asked whether the BBC had much impact on filming: “Honestly, I can say this hand on heart, I haven’t been given a single directive about the programme at all from June 13 when I got the show.

“I’ve been allowed to do, without having to ask permission, anything that I wanted to do, including getting together with Matt. I haven’t had a single directive from the BBC about anything, which was the deal.”

In other Top Gear news, while filming his first challenge, LeBlanc’s Reliant Robin unexpectedly broke down in a KFC car park, leading to hundreds of fans flocking the ex-Friends star.

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