New Top Gear Presenter To Clarkson Loyalists: Grow Up And Move On.

So Rory Reid, former CNET employee and new Top Gear presenter on the TG spinoff “Extra Gear,” just sat down with Car Throttle for an interview about his new gig, what he’s currently driving, his media portrayal as a “gangster” because of an unfortunately timed pic, and other topics.

But there’s one thing he chatted about that has old Top Gear and now The Grand Tour faithful up in arms. Reid talked about how the new Top Gear crew is getting all kinds of bad press and that The Grand Tour will win against new TG. Not only that, but they also chatted about how internet warriors and commenters are saying that no one could possibly follow Clarkson, Hammond, and May.

His thoughts on that topic could piss you off slightly if you like C, H, & M.

Do media reports of all these rumoured Top Gear production disasters and setbacks piss you off?

Do they piss me off? No. Maybe in the very beginning I was slightly annoyed because I knew 99 per cent of it was nonsense, but now I’m used to it. You hear it every day. It seems like there’s a sticker on the wall of all these publications where they have to write about Top Gear every week. The more negative it is, the more response it gets.

Being around the Top Gear cast and crew for the last few months, I realise that everyone in there is just really nice and everyone’s working so hard to deliver something that’s incredible. So the only thing that pisses me off is that people try and belittle their work, but now I just look at it [newspaper rumours] as a joke. It’s all bullshit.

It’s clear when you look at YouTube comments and video dislikes that some people just don’t think anyone can follow on from Clarkson, Hammond and May. What do you say to people who hold that view?

As much as you love Clarkson, Hammond and May, they probably don’t love you as much as you love them. By all means hold a candle for them in your hearts, but just realise that they probably couldn’t give two shits about you.

If you love them that much, guess what: they have a programme coming out on Amazon this year which is going to be absolutely brilliant, so you get to watch them. Grow up, move on, wait for the new show to come out. And also on top of that, you might have another car show you end up thinking is brilliant, or mediocre or whatever. But the point is you’re not losing anything, so get on with your life.

Take that as you will, I guess. Personally, I’m firmly in the boat of “more competition is good competition.” The more car shows that have to go up against each other, the better. This least to better quality of content from every show trying to beat each other. It’s a similar concept to what is happening in the auto industry right now. Everyone is trying to one up each other and it’s awesome.

Reid’s words may be inflammatory, but they’re not untrue. People should move on. Watch one, watch both, or watch neither. I know I’ll be watching everything and getting my automotive fix from even more shows now and that’s a great thing.

To check out Rory’s full interview, click the source link below.

(Source: Car Throttle)