Who should, if anyone, replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear?

I hate Jeremy Clarkson (the person)

Always enjoyed him on Top Gear though, he's a good presenter and funny, but Top Gear has since outstayed it's welcome and got worse and worse over the past 5 years or so when it became totally 'self-aware'. It's been ready to be put to pasture for sometime... at least in my eyes, the growing viewer base probably thinks differently. The BBC should do something with that production crew though... pretty sure they're the best in television.

a better question might be what channel should pick up clarkson et al, a hbo funded top gear might be fun

I don't think anyone new should replace him. Just get those two other dudes to be the two main hosts and then get a third person to round out their goofy shenanigans. It doesn't even matter who it is, you just need someone who will fit in.

Hammond and May have stated that they won't do the show without him. So a better question is, what three people would you like to see host Top Gear?

Mr. Blobby

easy, @jeff

1 metric: does this ride kick out hot donuts? if so, how hot?

< Chris Evans, the American actor.

Zayn Malik and Jeremy Clarkson should become the new fifth member of 1D

HM Queen Elizabeth II

give him a new costume, a fake accent, call him Captain Britain and be done with it

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Kill it with fire. Clarkson's a dick, but Top Gear ain't Top Gear without him.

Brian Cooley can be kind of a mild dick, so that fits, but I think his British accent would probably suck.

Alan Partridge. Anyone else who is a dick really.

Bring in Jay Leno to host it.

Then like a year later, bring back Clarkson and unceremoniously bump out Leno.

Gordon Ramsey

I quite like Clarkson - yeah he's a git but eh.

Top Gear is now about the personalities more than anything else so I dunno if it'd work as well without him, it could probably go on for a little longer though

Steve Coogan could probably work.

Yeah people don't get it. Those three guys are not dudes who happen to work together, they are straight up best friends. Without Clarkson you have no Hammond or May. Without the three of them there is no such thing as Top Gear, they literally were the show. Don't believe me? Try watching any other version of Top Gear and see how many episodes it takes you to lose interest. I am betting it won't be very many. The only group that even comes close is the Aulstralia guys and even they are just trying to be Clarkson, Hammond, and May.

@forkboy: Alan Partridge is kinda fictional though ;) Then again Mr Bean is on the poll so...

The other presenters aren't gonna be there, so the show's over, as far as I'm concerned.

Plus, I agree with the other folks here - the show has been good for the past few years, but nowhere near as good as it was 7-8 years back. The repeating jokes and the heavily scripted segments got really boring at some point.

But in spite of all this, it's easily one of the best shows...... in the world.

Yeah... Clarkson is pretty much 98% of the personality on Top Gear, without him, I don't see it doing very well with another host or three new hosts. Top Gear America was ....bad? But still kind of watchable. It certainly felt like a terrible off-shoot either way. Tried to like Australia but I thought that was even worse than the America one.

I don't know, they might as well put the Stig out of his misery at this point.

Axe it, Top Gear will never be Top Gear again. ITV Gear on the other hand...

Adam Carolla?

I don't doubt the BBC is going to try to continue the show, but realistically, they should just kill it. For one thing, the question isn't just "who will replace Jeremy Clarkson?" but who is going to replace James May and Richard Hammond too. Those two have all but said they won't continue with Clarkson.

I think the show would stand a slim chance of survival even if they replaced just one of them, but all three? It's pretty much dead at that point.

Hugh quandary for the BBC - Top Gear's making millions for them every year but the reason it's doing that is Clarkson. This isn't just a long-standing presenter leaving a show, however, because the company which makes it is co-owned by JC and his best mate.

Like most people, I expect May and Hammond to follow him to Sky or whoever so the BBC are better off starting again from scratch or else killing the whole thing.

Don't replace him, let the show die. I made sure that BBCA was included in my cable package just to watch Top Gear, and I have no desire to see it continue with anyone but Clarkson, May, and Hammond. Some things don't need to be kept alive in a vegetative state.

The correct answer is Alan Partridge :P

@discomposure: Yeah, but Jeremy Clarkson that you see on Top Gear, man of the people, is also a character.

I don't care because I won't be watching it anymore.

I'll be following Jeremy, Richard, and James to whatever they likely do next together. ITV, Sky, HBO, Netflix, wherever they end up.

@flstyle said:

My reaction if he took over:

@flipperdesert: Ha! Looks a bit cooler these days.

His taste in shirts has only gotten better.

I bet they'll just take the show somewhere else, they don't strike me as the kinda guys who'd want to just retire.

Drew Scanlon

Matt LeBlanc

Vinny, Drew, and Dave.

Maybe it's the format, as US Top Gear has much different timing to fit in more commercial breaks, but the flow is really off. I've only watched one season, but the presenters never did much for me. I was just absolutely bored. Top Gear UK also never felt like advertainment, where I kind of got that vibe at times from the US version.