Switching lanes: ‘Top Gear’ host resigns

Chris Evans calls it quits after just one series

It seems as though BBC’s popular motoring show Top Gear is stuck in second gear. Just about a year after its iconic host Jeremy Clarkson was fired for punching producer Oisin Tymon over a catering dispute, his successor Chris Evans has also decided to leave the show. Evans announced his departure, after his first series at the helm ended with audiences at an all-time low, reported Reuters.

“Stepping down from Top Gear,” tweeted the British television and radio star. “Gave it my best shot but sometimes that is not enough. The team is beyond brilliant and I wish them all the best.” Evans and former Friends actor Matt LeBlanc had taken over as co-hosts of the global hit after Clarkson was dropped in March 2015.

The first show with the new line-up was launched with 4.4 million viewers back in May but the revamped programme received lukewarm reviews from critics and viewers on social media, and the numbers soon dwindled to 1.4 million. Clarkson and his former Top Gear co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May are now making a new motoring-focused show for Amazon.com.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2016.

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