Hard to believe that it’s been nearly ten years since Jeremy Clarkson’s on-set punch got him fired from Top Gear, considering how successful his partnership with Amazon has been via the soon-to-conclude The Grand Tour and his rural unscripted series Clarkson’s Farm. (The latter will return on the 2025 TV schedule for Season 4, despite cancellation rumors fueled by his Meghan Markle comments.) Clarkson is used to making claims about others, but came to his own defense in regards to one of Top Gear’s more infamous segments.
Specifically, we’re talking about the fairly scathing review of Elon Musk’s early Tesla electric cars, which appeared in a 2008 Top Gear episode, and was later the subject of a lawsuit filed against the BBC by the billionaire investor. Chris Harris, who was part of Top Gear’s replacement crew from 2016-2022, appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience and agreed with the host’s claims that the Tesla test (which later led to a lawsuit) was faked, saying it wasn’t a standalone situation, either.
What Joe Rogan And Chris Harris Claimed About Top Gear
In the 2008 installment, Clarkson claimed to experience brake failure, that the engine overheated, and that the battery flat-out died upon reaching a speed of 88kmh on the track. During his podcast episode, Joe Rogan flat-out said the show pre-wrote that outcome and then filmed the segment to match it. In his words:
They did a terrible thing. I talked to [Musk] about it, and he was furious. They pretended that his car died, and they did it for a sketch. And this was the early days of Tesla, when Tesla had just that little tiny car that was basically just a lotus with an electric engine. . . . And they got away with it, because it’s entertainment and they were allowed to create a script, and apparently someone got a hold of the script and they read in the script before they even filmed it. And then the car dies, and then we have to figure out how the car died.
While Rogan spoke with the confiendence of someone who probably doesn't need to worry about being sued over his words, Chris Harris was slightly more wary about exactly how he worded his response. That said, he still supported Rogan's claims that Top Gear's segments were predestined, saying:
I have to be careful what I say here without wanting to shatter anyone’s illusions. That’s the way those car shows are made. So ultimately, you reverse-engineer an outcome. So you’re being told ‘This is what you’re going to find, this is what’s going to happen. All we need you to do is help us get there.’ Now in reality TV, I can understand it. But if you’re reviewing a product as you say that tens of thousands of people make, and they rely on that thing selling for their livelihood…
Joe Rogan's standpoint was tied to his belief that Top Gear gave an unfair review to Tesla's electric cars during that very early period for the company, and that the automaker's reputation was damaged by what he believes to have been falsified judgments.
The thing to remember here, however, is that Elon Musk did file a lawsuit against the BBC tied to Top Gear's review. In 2013, the Tesla complaint against Clarkson's on-air claims was dismissed, with the judge ruling that the company's reputation wasn't damaged.
How Jeremy Clarkson Responded To Claims The Show's Segments Are Scripted
Following the release and publicity of Chris Harris' Joe Rogan Experience appearance, Jeremy Clarkson took to his column in The Sun to call B.S. on the claims made in the podcast episode. But rather than directly stating that the two celebrities were telling stories, Clarkson's piece was focused on the prevalence of urban myths throughout history, from "Vikings wearing horned helmets" to those fishy John Bonham rumors.
While first giving Harris credit for his story about Freddie Flintoff's harrowing crash in 2022, Clarkson then turned to express his dismay over the idea that Top Gear's road tests were manufactured, saying:
There are lots of made-up stories about what happened when I hosted Top Gear. People still believe, for instance, that we did the H982 FKL number plate thing in Argentina on purpose. And in the big scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. But it does wind me up something rotten when Joe and Chris perpetuate the myth that my Tesla road test was unfair. And the fact is, Elon Musk took the BBC to court on the matter and lost. He lost the appeal, too. I know no one believes me.
It's not as if Jeremy Clarkson has spent years claiming that every single thing that happened within the scope of Top Gear was 100% realistic and natural. (He's talked in the past about the rigged Reliant Robin stunt, for instance.) But it's clear he sees the reviews and road tests as being on a different level of importance, as he continued:
On Top Gear we cocked about and upset a lot of people over the years. But our road tests were always scrupulously fair.
Obviously the idea of "reality TV" has long been separated from the concept of unfabricated reality, with cast members from shows like 90 Day Fiancé revealing allegedly faked storylines. But when it comes to what are ostensibly objective reviews, the line between real and fiction gets that much thinner.
The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm can be streamed in full with an Amazon Prime subscription, and fans will find plenty of other shows to enjoy throughout the rest of the 2024 TV schedule.
