Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson is known for inciting controversy, but 2014 was a particularly bad year for the BBC television host and hammer enthusiast.
After a string of incidents, Clarkson said he’d been told he only had one strike left before being sacked.
Nonetheless, Clarkson and co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May are close to signing a new three-year contract, according to the Daily Mirror.
The trio’s current deal with the BBC ends in April, but the new contract is expected to be approved shortly.
That’s a bit of good news after what was not a stellar year for Clarkson and Top Gear.
Last year, Clarkson was publicly criticized twice for inappropriate remarks, first for mumbling the “N-word” in an outtake, and then for allegedly using the derogatory term “slope” during the Top Gear Burma Special.
Top Gear was then forced out of Argentina while filming there, after protestors were incited by the license plate “H982 FKL” on Clarkson’s Porsche 928, which was seen as a reference to the 1982 Falklands War.
This Patagonia Special aired recently, complete with shots of the Top Gear’ production crew’s convoy being stoned by protestors. It was followed by the first episode of the show’s 22nd season last Sunday.
With Clarkson, Hammond, and May set to continue, it looks like there’ll be plenty more of their car-based hijinks to come. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
