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Jeremy Clarkson had controversial joke planned with Top Gear presenters if one of them died in a car accident

Jeremy Clarkson had controversial joke planned with Top Gear presenters if one of them died in a car accident

The joke was set up in the event that one of them passed away

During his time at Top Gear and more recently, The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson is certainly known for cracking joke or two.

But some in particular are risky to say the least, and sometimes a couple of viewers believe they can overstep the mark.

But there is one joke in particular that Clarkson or any other member of the trio, which includes Richard Hammond and James May, had planned to say on TV if anything bad happened to them.

And touch wood, neither of them will have to say it in the future. Though, whether this joke is to be said in the current day is unknown.

Back in 2006, Hammond appeared on the now retired BBC show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, where he, of course, talked about Top Gear, which was in its heyday at the time.

Ross started the consecration by saying that he read somewhere that the trio had 'a pact' if one of the three were to die in a car accident while filming for Top Gear.

And if that were to happen, it turns out there was a pretty set way that the remaining co-hosts would have addressed it on the show.

Richard Hammond spoke about the controversial joke back in 2006.
BBC

Hammond said: "Should one of us croak [die], Jeremy or whichever one is left would stand there and go 'Last week, Jeremy, James or Richard was tragically killed'.

"The next word - this was the agreement - has to be 'anyway'."

He then said that the line had to be delivered in a certain way, before joking that the remaining presenters would move straight back to talking about cars.

The former Top Gear presenter then said that there was a 'sense of genuine disappointment' that the joke never got to see the light of day.

Neither of Clarkson, Hammond or May have referenced this again in recent times, so it is unknown if the pact was a thing for the show.

In 2006, Hammond was placed in a coma for two weeks after he crashed in jet-powered car at almost 320mph during a run at the RAF Elvington airbase in York.

At the time, it was feared that he wouldn't make it but Hammond made a miraculous recovery and returned to the show in 2007.

In February, Hammond spoke about his health scares after the accident, telling the Diary of a CEO podcast that he could have an 'increased risk' to memory loss.

The three presenters returned for The Grand Tour series.
Amazon Prime

He said: "I have to consciously write memories down and work hard to recall them sometimes.

"It might be because I'm 53, it might be because I'm working a lot and I'm tired, it might be the onset of something else."

And last year, May also had a terrifying crash during filming for The Grand Tour's 'A Scandi Flick' special but managed to come away pretty unscathed.

Speaking to the Radio Times, he opened up about the incident, saying: "It was very brief.

"Made a loud bang. It wasn't really that terrible, I don't think.

"It looks quite dramatic but I was basically OK."

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear, Richard Hammond, James May