Richard Hammond Talks Top Gear Audition, Sheep, Family & Jeremy vs. James

As The Grand Tour is a little over a month away, Richard Hammond has been doing an amazing job releasing short videos on his YouTube channel ranging from behind the scenes outtakes from Top Gear to lost interviews that he has kept in his private library.

Today, he didn’t let us down as he shared a video talking about his time on Top Gear and how he ended up being on the show.

It turns out that Top Gear was one of Hammond’s favorite shows when he was growing up and when his agent told him about the opportunity, of course, he wanted to give it a shot. He had been working in radio for so long with a few spots in smaller car shows, but his agent told him that he’d never make it because “they wanted a girl!”

In his audition, they asked him to talk about his radio days and he gave them the story of the sheep and the lambs, which in typical Hammond fashion, must have had them rolling with laughter.

Well, 3-4 months later and Hammond was the new host for Top Gear and the nerves never got to him even on the first show of the season or when celebrities show up on the set. Actually, the people who make him nervous are the people who have people, so there are those.

It’s a great interview where Hammond gives a little bit of insight into his life with his wife and daughters and who he prefers on long journeys: James or Jeremy?

What’d you think?