‘Top Gear’ adds comedian, cricket player as new hosts

Matt LeBlanc’s announcement that

he would be leaving “Top Gear”

after last season immediately prompted the question, who’s next? Well the BBC has finally revealed that not one, but

two hosts will be added to the “Top Gear” lineup

. One of the two is Paddy McGuinness, a British comedian, and the other is Freddie Flintoff, a cricket player.

Now while it would seem like adding two hosts means “

Top Gear”

will be trying out a quartet of presenters, that’s not the case. For some unknown reason, Rory Reid will no longer be a main host. Instead he will be the main personality for the online “

Extra Gear

,” and will occasionally make appearances on the traditional broadcast show. Chris Harris will continue alongside Flintoff and McGuinness.

This new arrangement has us a bit concerned. It’s disappointing to see Reid leave the lineup in addition to Matt LeBlanc, since both of them were great additions, especially in the

highly entertaining most recent season

. And having Reid as a main host meant that there were two hosts, including Harris, with experience evaluating and discussing cars. We don’t know much about McGuinness or Flintoff, and the only automotive background mentioned in “

Top Gear

‘s” announcement is a quote from each of them about being passionate about

cars and the show

. Harris gives them his endorsement in the announcement, which may be genuine, but what else is he going to say for the official show announcement? But our worry may be for nothing. After all, LeBlanc had no traditional car writing or presenting experience, and was mostly known for his acting, so we

might

get lucky.

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