Could YouTube’s top motoring sensation replace Clarkson?
While speculation surrounds Jeremy Clarkson’s next move – probably to ITV, Sky or even Netflix – the man to replace him on Top Gear could turn out to be a man who is hardly a household name, but a firm favourite with the nation’s petrolheads.Chris Harris’s videos regularly get hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. He’s known to be outspoken (Ferrari has only just starting to forgive him after a piece he wrote in 2011) and he loves to mess around in exotic supercars.
Harris is regarded more highly than Clarkson as a driver, has a track record in the motoring press, and is a hit with a new generation of viewers who think he’s the one to to follow.
Some say he would be a perfect fit in the Top Gear team – if Clarkson’s co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond decide they want to continue. Their contracts, along with Clarkson’s are due for renewal at the end of this month.
One motoring journalist described Harris as: “A better all-around driver than Clarkson, and a more interesting man as well.”
His popularity is not a recent phenomenon. Back in 2013 one blogger wrote on the PistonHeads chat room site: “Top Gear has had some moments and was great to watch the chemistry between the three when they first got together, but now it just appears forced and manufactured. I would watch Chris over TG any day of the week.”
Others thought to be in the frame include Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans, celebrity interview Piers Morgan, X-Factor host Simon Cowell and the model Jodie Kidd.
