The Grand Tour's Francis Bourgeois reveals 'hairy' moment which didn't make the final cut
The new stars of The Grand Tour found themselves face-to-face with a machete while filming the new season, according to Francis Bourgeois.
It's no mean feat to pick up the torch from some of the most famous presenters on TV, but it's a weight which Holland, Engelsman and Bourgeois (not his real name) are more than happy to bear – even if it does mean the group now have metaphorical 'back problems', "[My] discs are bulging," joked the 26-year-old.
Ahead of the trio's maiden season dropping on Prime Video this Friday (4 September), Holland, Engelsman and Bourgeois sat down for an exclusive chat with LADbible about what lies ahead for The Grand Tour.
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There are certainly some 'no expenses spared' moments: the first episode involves a $2.75 million hypercar and a Top Gun-esque relay race involving fighter jets. However, the presenters also have some pretty wild stories which didn't make it into the final cut.
The wildest of these tales? It involves encountering a man with a machete while travelling through rural Angola.
Explaining how the group ended up in the 'hairy' situation, Bourgeois revealed that Holland had experienced an unfortunate run-in with a pothole, which meant the crew needed to stop and change a tyre.
"That was a moment where Thomas ploughed into a pothole," Bourgeois said. "[And] what ensued involved a machete... That didn't make the cut, but that was a little bit hairy."
So how did a machete end up being whipped out during a tyre change? "It was a local," Holland explained. "He was wondering what we were doing on the side of a random remote Angolan road changing a tyre."
Fair enough.
Badly placed potholes weren't the only unfortunate situation which Holland found himself in during the group's trip through Angola, as the motoring YouTuber nearly sent his car (and himself) flying off the edge of a cliff.
"I accidentally almost drove off a little cliff," Holland revealed. "I didn't mean to, I didn't see it."
Fortunately for Holland, as well as fans and producers of The Grand Tour, his co-stars were able to rescue him from peril, ensuring that the first season of the reboot ended without any major casualties.
Outside of Angola and US fighter jets, the lads also race Japanese micro cars up a mountain in Colorado and take part in an indestructible car challenge in Wales.
"[It's] a bit of a childhood dream ticked off."
While The Grand Tour torch has well and truly been passed on, fans can expect a handful of supporting appearances from Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson – a moment which felt completely 'surreal' for the new hosts.
"Actually seeing them in person, seeing their faces, it all became so real," Bourgeois said of filming alongside the original hosts. "[It's] a bit of a childhood dream ticked off even just meeting them."
The Grand Tour returns exclusively to Prime Video on 4th September.
Topics: The Grand Tour
Brenna Cooper