The Grand Tour

Jeremy Clarkson Defends BBC Over High Salaries

With the salaries of the BBC’s top celebrities being published lately, it’s no surprise there have been some complaints about how much people are getting paid. Chris Evans, the guy who put you all off the new Top Gear, earnt a whopping £2.25 million last year, Gary Lineker, the guy who talks about crisps and footballs quite a lot, took home £1.8.

Is this too much? Jeremy Clarkson doesn’t think so.

In his latest column for The Sun, he asks everyone to back off both of the presenters and consider the daily scrutiny they are put under with constantly being in the public eye.

He writes about Chris Evans, “When it all went tits up (Top Gear) the paps didn’t camp outside the commissioning editor’s house or the channel controller’s. They camped outside his.

“He and he alone took the flak. Which adds to the problems that beset every famous face. He can’t go anywhere without being photographed.

“He can’t go out for dinner with his wife without someone interrupting every two minutes for a bloody selfie.

“If he stops to take a leak at the side of a motorway, we are going to read about it the next day.”

From experience he continues: “He is a public figure and he is never allowed to forget that.

“So he’s not being paid to talk and play recordings for a couple of hours in a morning. He’s being paid to hand over his life.

“It’s the same story with Gary Lineker and Graham Norton and John Humphrys.

“You may say that you’d be prepared to do that for a couple of million ever year. And I don’t blame you. But I bet after you’d spent a little while as a prisoner in your own house, you’d think differently. And bugger off to Amazon.”

Obviously he remembers how hard it was to come under fire about his salary when it was published by the BBC back when he was presenting Top Gear with Hammond and May. He seems very pleased that he’s now working with Amazon presenting the Grand Tour. Especially with the fact that he doesn’t have to reveal his wage. He says on the matter:

“Would he earm more here? Aha. That’s the beauty of it. I don’t have to tell you.”

Do you think they get paid too much? Let me know in the comments below!

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

Related Articles

Back to top button