As you may have guessed, Chris Evans came running to Top Gear’s aid earlier today on Twitter and defended the backlash and the ratings saying that the show “is a hit”.
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Okay well, it got slated.
And viewers weren’t impressed with the new series with “Flop Gear” even trending at 1 point. Fans were also annoyed at Evans persisting shouting and LeBlanc’s scarce appearance between scenes.
“The new Top Gear is a hit”, he said. The final Top Gear show attracted 5.3 million viewers last June.
“Top Gear audience grew throughout the hour”.
The much-loved motoring show returned to our screens tonight with Evans and former Friends actor Matt LeBlanc at the helm.
The season premiere drew an audience of between 4.3 and 4.4 million viewers, a figure that is expected to rise with repeat and on-demand viewings this week. The new episode has not received the greatest reviews and the number of viewers were lower than what one of the hosts expected.
An underwhelming 4.4 million people tuned in to the relaunch of BBC Two’s Top Gear. This week, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond put out videos of themselves opening and folding boxes in a tie-up with logistics company DHL, which many fans declared were “better than the new Top Gear”.
The show also featured the unveiling of new segment Star in a Rallycross Car, which replaced the popular feature Star In A Reasonably Priced Car. “It’s been longer for us than it has for anybody else”, Evans said in a video release to mark the show’s launch on Wednesday. Many critics have slammed the new series for it’s lack of originality and innovation, stating that they stuck rigidly to the tried and tested formula.
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The first guests this weekend are the Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg and chef Gordon Ramsay.
