Richard Hammond confesses the truth about quitting The Grand Tour
Richard Hammond has confessed he "would have carried on" working with his The Grand Tour co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May as well as producer Andy Wilman if all four had decided to continue together.
Richard Hammond "would have carried on" working with his The Grand Tour co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
The TV presenters all walked away from their Amazon Prime show back in 2024 and the series has since been rebooted with new hosts Francis Bourgeois, Thomas Holland and James Engelsman. However, Hammond has now confessed he would have happily continued working with Clarkson and May as well as their longtime producer Andy Wilman if all four had decided to carry on together.
Speaking during an appearance on the High Performance podcast, Hammond explained: "If the others had said let’s carry on, I’d have carried on.
"This time I didn’t have any choice. I’d have carried on ‘cause I would ... If they were ready to stop, we had to stop.
"There was no question. We all four had to be there to do it, so I was ready to stop because the others were. But equally, if the others had said let’s carry on I’d have carried on."
Hammond went on to add: "That’s not because I’m easily swayed, it’s because I wanted us to still be in that place. It’s quite a complicated four-way relationship, a 25-year career together like that.
"And if we weren’t all in that place of wanting to do it, then ... I wouldn’t want to do it. Because it wouldn’t work. Couldn’t do it."
The four had previously all worked together on BBC motoring show Top Gear before Clarkson's contract was not renewed following a bust-up with a producer.
The incident led to all three presenters and Wilman walking away and launching The Grand Tour with Amazon. The show ran between 2016 and 2024 before they all called it a day.
The Grand Tour has since returned to TV with the new hosts and all three former stars - Clarkson, Hammond and May - made cameo appearances in the new series.
Wilman previously revealed Clarkson only gave his approval to the new hosts provided the relatively unknown group "don't f*** it up".
He told The Sun newspaper: "Jeremy said he’d ‘only endorse them as long as I like them. So he watches the tapes and he’s like: 'Yes, I really like them. I’m happy to endorse'.
"There’s no way he’d endorse someone for a show he helped to create if he didn’t like them. He wouldn’t. He was on the front foot as soon as he saw them. Richard and James were the same."
