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Chris Evans has played down rumours Zoe Ball is set to join him as a co-presenter on Top Gear when the show returns to BBC2.
The Radio 2 breakfast show host said reports about Ball being brought on board for Top Gear because of evident good “chemistry” between the pair on camera were “hilariously inaccurate”.
“Re my good friend Zoe Ball excelling in Top Gear screen test. She hasn’t even been for one,” he said.
But Evans’ dismissal may not be taken seriously by some after the presenter disparaged reports he was set to join Top Gear
“I can categorically say I am not and will NEVER be running for office. Pls discount my candidacy,” he said in March.
It was reported Ball was set to join Top Gear alongside Evans as the two presenters have known each other since the Nineties, when they appeared on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast and had their own Radio 1 breakfast shows.
Gaby Roslin and Zoe Ball kiss Chris Evans in 1996 (Rex Features) Ball has yet to make any comments about the allegations. A BBC spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation”.
Jodie Kidd was among the bookies’ favourites to replace the Top Gear threesome, but has since ruled herself out of the running.
Motorbike racer Guy Martin, actor Philip Glenister and presenter Dermot O’Leary have also been tipped to join Top Gear as a third presenter.
Zoe Ball has remained tight-lipped about the speculation (Getty Images) Clarkson, Hammond and May have teamed up to present their own motoring show for Amazon Prime after leaving the flagship BBC2 show following Clarkson’s dismissal by the BBC for punching a producer on set.
The trio’s new show has a £160 million budget , but it has yet to be confirmed when the series will be available on the Amazon on-demand service.
Show all 7 1 /7Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Jodie Kidd What they call a dead cert: Jodie Kidd will be confirmed as the new May – the six-foot-something former model being too lofty to be the new Hammond. But does she want it? Doing the rounds of reality TV contests (Strictly Come Dancing, Celebrity MasterChef, The Jump) suggests a woman in search of a future in television, and assuming that the BBC is eager to rid Top Gear of its blokey image – and Evans has said that the new line-up will include a female – then Kidd would be ideal: she drives a Maserati, posted one of the fastest laps in the programme’s “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” and, as a veteran of the fashion industry, has probably encountered her fair share of misogyny before
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Guy Martin In retrospect, Channel 4’s Speed with Guy Martin looks like an extended audition reel for the Top Gear job, as the former motorcycle racing champ attempted to beat the world speed record for a hovercraft (as well as for a motorcycle on water!), while, like Hammond, Martin is a survivor of high-speed crashes. A television natural, Martin’s bushy sideburns will appeal to Top Gear fans who still groom like its 1974
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Dermot O’Leary Being a “safe pair of hands”, as Dermot has proved on The X Factor, is one thing – but unless the BBC secretly wants to kill off its troublesome export milch cow, then that’s the very last thing Top Gear needs. After all, recklessness, along with (lest we forget) some excellent, attention-grabbing motor journalism, is what has amassed fans in more than 200 countries worldwide. And will O’Leary really want to crease those impeccable suits?
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Philip Glenister The BBC drama Life on Mars, in which a policeman finds himself trapped in 1973, proved that Philip Glenister would be game to imitate James May’s old-rocker denim look. But what has grabbed bookies’ attention is Glenister’s more recent role as presenter of Channel 4’s For the Love of Cars, in which old motors are found and restored. Still, it seems unlikely that he’ll be turning down acting gigs because he’s too busy racing Ford Cortinas across the Gobi desert
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Steve Coogan Chris Evans would drown if he tried to trade banter with Coogan, a far sharper and funnier man who is also a petrolhead, and has driven around Italy with Rob Brydon. Those are miserable odds in the circumstances
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? Rowan Atkinson Who says bookies don’t have a sense of humour – and I mean the odds they’re offering, not a taste for Mr Bean? A wealthy car lover, collector and sometime racer, Atkinson has appeared before as a “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car”, driving a Ford Kia. His other car is a McLaren F1
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Top Gear: Who will join Chris Evans behind the wheel? David Beckham Beckham would instantly rid Top Gear of its fashion-dinosaur image – but would he be too busy self-grooming in the rear-view mirror to actually put his foot on the pedal? And let’s face it, Becks is always more impressive when he doesn’t open his mouth. The new Stig, perhaps?
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