Women love Top Gear and it’s down to Freddie Flintoff – we should sell ‘scratch and sniff’ undies, says Paddy McGuinness
TOP Gear has for a long time been associated with bitter-drinking middle-aged men reeking of Harley- Davidson aftershave.
But since a hosting overhaul in 2019, the long-running BBC1 car series has attracted a huge female following — and it’s all down to Freddie Flintoff.
That’s the view of his co-stars Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, who believe the former England cricketer is the show’s “eye candy”.
And they are keen to exploit his good looks to the max.
In an exclusive chat with The Sun ahead of the new series starting tomorrow, Paddy, 48, says: “Freddie is the reason why more women than ever are watching Top Gear — that’s absolutely true.
“For the next series, we are going to get him in some Speedos and oil him up.”
Chris, 47, adds: “Dads like me and Paddy because he’s funny and I can drive a bit, and mums like Freddie because he’s the eye candy.”
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The presenting trio are on their way to returning Top Gear to its glory days following a turbulent few years since the departure of popular hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Now in their sixth series as a trio, they have not only attracted female viewers, but Freddie and Paddy’s North West roots have boosted the numbers of Northerners tuning in.
Figures show a younger audience is also watching.
But not everyone is happy, as Chris explains: “There’s a million people who only wanted Jeremy and the others to do it again.
“They’ll never overcome that and we’ll never win them over. We could make the best show in the history of TV and people would still say it was s**t because Jeremy’s not on it.”
Face-slapping contest
Chris hosted Top Gear for three series before being joined by Paddy and Freddie — and knew immediately the new line-up would do well.
He adds: “I remember the first day I worked with these two and I’d literally known Freddie for five minutes before he said to me, ‘You need to wear a looser-fitting top’.
“I thought there’s an honesty here and I can work with them.”
“The crew perked up too. They were relaxed around them and all the stress and stiff shoulders I’d worked with for years on set just went. Then I knew it was going to be OK.”
The natural rapport between the three hosts is evident in the new series, which sees them take on a motorsport mission in America — the home of grassroots racing.
They hired an old, battered RV, which they also slept in, and travelled through Florida, taking on an array of high-speed challenges.
In one scene, during one of many mechanical breakdowns, the trio play a game of cards which turns into a face-slapping contest. It must have brought back painful memories for Top Gear bosses who famously fired Jeremy in 2015 for punching a producer.
Paddy says jokingly: “That’s not the first time we have hit each other, just this time it was on camera.
“But it was totally unscripted and that’s the beauty of being together.
“Because of Covid, we have all been in separate cars but now we can be in the same vehicle and play to our strengths and have a bit of a giggle.”
Chris, who took the biggest beating, adds: “That really hurt. Have you seen the size of Freddie’s hands? They’re like dustbin lids.”
Away from the RV, which Chris described as a “personal hygiene crime scene”, it was Freddie who put himself in most danger.
He takes on the scariest stunts, including racing a Sinclair C5 down a bobsled track in a hair-raising challenge in episode two.
Chris admits the Ashes hero has his own stunts category and he’s yet to turn one down.
Chris says: “There’s a stuntworks department in the corner, a load of people with white coats on and big foreheads. They’re not functioning quite right. All their ideas go to him and we say, ‘We’re not involved, thanks’.”
The stunts are so scary that Freddie, 44, doesn’t even tell his wife Rachael he’s doing them.
Otherwise, she might fear a horror crash like the 288mph smash that almost killed Richard Hammond in 2006.
After retiring from cricket, one of the father of four’s first shows, Freddie Flintoff Versus The World, saw him take on 21 extreme sports while touring America.
Freddie recalls: “I didn’t tell her about them and she had a word afterwards.
Swamp-buggy shootout
“I’ve got confidence in the people putting these things together and myself as well, I suppose.
“I don’t want the family at home worrying about what we’re doing, so I just get on with it.”
Freddie’s competitive spirit is evident in the three challenges in episode one: A donk-car drag-race duel, a swamp buggy shootout and a Nascar-style cop-car showdown.
During the latter race, Freddie “accidentally” crashed into Paddy, eliminating his fellow Northerner. And he couldn’t hide his frustration when his swamp buggy got stuck in the muddy Everglades waters.
However, racing pro Chris will remember the race most of all for all the wrong reasons.
"He says: “The swamp water was minging. I was given the lowest buggy of the lot. My eye line was right in the water. So I had swamp water pouring into my mouth for an hour when we were filming and — surprise, surprise — I got a massive dose of the runs that night.
“But I was due a colonic so that cleared me out. The morning after that, I was about a stone lighter!”
Despite not even seeing any of the new episodes, the lads are already filming the following series.
They have some way to go before eclipsing Clarkson, Hammond and May’s record of 20 seasons together, but Freddie says catching their total is not on their minds.
He explains: “It’s dangerous to think like that. We’ve just got to get it right now, keep improving. I’ve always found, whether it’s sports or this, if you’re getting too far ahead of yourself or think you are cracking it, that’s when you get found out.
“As long as I’m doing my job right and enjoying spending time with these lads, then we’ll see what happens.”
Spending time in each other’s company extends beyond Top Gear, for Paddy and Freddie anyway.
And former Take Me Out host Paddy, who has three children with model wife Christine, makes no secret of the perks of being pals with Freddie.
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He adds: “I took my kids around Freddie’s the other day because he’s got a swimming pool. It’s cheaper than the council baths for me.
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“I can’t afford that level of luxury but luckily I have a friend who does. It was lovely.”
- Top Gear’s latest series begins tomorrow at 8pm on BBC1.
