Top Gear has finally returned to BBC Two with all new episodes and a whole new line-up of presenters. The line-up of presenters included former Friends star Matt LeBlanc as well as BBC presenter Chris Evans.
The debut episode of the BBC show featured LeBlanc and Evans enjoying their time in Reliant three-wheelers from London to Blackpool. The episode also featured The Social Network actor Jesse Eisenberg as well as popular American chef Gordon Ramsay.
Image source: BBC
It was previously suggested that Brad Pitt could have made an appearance in the first episode of this year’s Top Gear, but the filming issues didn’t allow him to.
LeBlanc, Evans and co signed up as hosts of Top Gear after former host Jeremy Clarkson was fired following a scandalous incident, in which he punched the show’s producer.
However, it’s not clear what are the ratings of the debut episode of the all-new Top Gear, as they will be published no sooner than on Monday morning.
Evans previously said it would be a disappointment to get fewer than five million viewers for Top Gear’s first episode. Evans opened the show saying, ”Welcome to Top Gear with our all-new, improved audience.”
The scandalous punching incident between Clarkson and the Top Gear producer became the focus of one of Evans’ jokes at the start of the episode. The BBC presenter said “We don’t make jokes about catering on this show any more.”
According to reports, Clarkson punched the producer for not allowing him to have food late at night while filming the show. But Evans didn’t stop with just one joke, as he also mocked Clarkson by bragging he had “won custody” of driver The Stig.
The all-new Top Gear featured the same style as its previous version with Clarkson. In particular, the BBC show featured profiles of supercars as well as one versus one challenges between the presenters.
But there was, however, one difference between the revamped Top Gear and the Clarkson’s hosted version of it. If the Clarkson-hosted Top Gear featured the star in a reasonably priced car segment, the new series featured the two stars in a rally cross car segment.
Eisenberg and Ramsay were the revamped Top Gear’s first stars to take part in the challenge, and Ramsay scored the fastest time.
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In other news, former Glee star Mark Salling has been charged with child sexual abuse. Allegations claim that the 33-year-old actor, who played bad-boy football player Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman on the Fox show, has been charged with two counts of possessing and receiving images of child porn.
According to authorities, Salling has agreed to surrender himself next week, when the Glee actor is expected to stand in front of a federal court in Los Angeles. Salling was arrested in late last year after police discovered his computer equipment contained ‘thousands’ of images relating to child sexual abuse.
Mark Salling
Image source: Reuters
If Salling is proven guilty, he could get a maximum of 20-year jail sentence for each of the charges. After police arrested the Glee actor, he was released on $20,000 bail. But then authorities took time to investigate Salling’s child porn collection, and the case was handed over to a federal court.
One of the counts Salling was charged with says that the actor used the Internet to download porno images and videos of young girls, while the second one says the actor possessed two child porno videos featuring young girls.
“The traditional stereotype about the kinds of people who commit child sexual exploitation crimes simply doesn’t dovetail with reality,” Joseph Macias, who is in charge for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
Macias also added that those who possess child porn can be of “all ages and from all walks of life.”
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