Entertainment
The Grand Tour’s James May ‘well buff’ after spending months away from Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond
James May has said the reason behind his ability to get ‘well buff’ in lockdown is due to not being around The Grand Tour co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.
According to the Top Gear host, he’s managed to get fit on his bicycle during the pandemic mainly due to not having Clarkson and Hammond around to take the mick out of him for doing so.
And when it comes to his motoring chums, he’s enjoyed a few minutes away from them having spent the past 15 years in one another’s pockets, travelling around the world and causing mayhem.
Feeling he’s looking ‘well buff’ these days, he told The Sun of the pair: ‘I wouldn’t say I’ve particularly missed them. I’ve seen so much of those two idiots over the past 15 years of my life. I don’t pine for them in any way whatsoever.
‘I’m definitely healthier, no doubt about that. I’m slightly slimmer, I’m stronger. I’m still falling to bits but I’m falling to bits in a slightly trimmer way.
‘I think over the past year I’ve taken my car out a few times to the dump to get rid of cardboard for recycling, so I’ve driven a mile down the road.’
May went on: ‘During the bit where the lockdown stopped I drove down to the countryside to my pub a few times but, honestly, I reckon in the past year I’ve driven probably a dozen times.
‘I’ve done a lot of cycling because I’m allowed to. I’ve tried to stick to the rules, but I’m allowed to ride my bike once a day for exercise so pretty much every day of lockdown I did between five and 10 miles.’
He added of how his return to the trio’s hit Amazon Prime show may go: ‘I’m well buff now but probably can’t drive my car any more.’
Fans are eagerly awaiting the trio to reunite on screen for their upcoming Scotland special, filmed in between lockdowns in 2020.
Hammond previously spoke about the new special on Good Morning Britain and teased the future of the series, saying ‘There’s another special coming up and we managed to get one done.
‘I mean, it’s difficult going anywhere because obviously it’s about travel and that’s been off the cards. But there is another one coming out later on this year. I don’t know when though.’
On the future of their international exploits for the series, May said this week they weren’t abandoning their overseas trips permanently.
He said this week: ‘We’ll do some bigger ones in more far-flung and exotic locations.
‘We don’t know what they are yet. A lot of that will depend on what happens with Covid, whether or not there are second waves, whether or not you need passports.
‘Our guess is as good as anybody else’s. Well probably worse actually, because we tend to be terrible at this sort of thing.
‘But yes, we’re not abandoning it. We are pausing it but in the meantime we’ve done Scotland, we’ll probably do another UK-based one fairly soon.’
