'Everything is genuine'
Top Gear star Paddy McGuinness has denied that anything is set up on the BBC2 series.
The 46-year-old presenter, who returns this Sunday with co-hosts Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris, insists that everything you see on the long-running favourite is real.
Asked if anything is set up, Paddy replied: “No. Everything is genuine. We show it as it happened. We want to keep it as real as possible. It is sometimes very frightening, but it all makes good telly.”
Among the highlights of the new series is an epic race between a fighter jet and the latest McLaren hypercar and a spectacular roadtrip through Peru.
MORE: Everything you need to know about the new series of Death in Paradise
We can expect some hair-raising stunts during the series and Paddy reveals they don’t get the chance to say “No” because the producers never give them any warning in advance!
“They don't give you the option,” he says. “If they told you beforehand: ‘You're going to drive this road and it's really high up and windy’, you might say: ‘Oh, I don't fancy that.’ But you just come to it in a car, so you can't do anything else. You have got to drive it. When you're there, you are that in it, you just do it.
“When I've seen footage recently of what we've done, I have thought: ‘Wow, that is high up.’ But you are that swept up by it in the moment, that you just get on with it. At the time, you are driven by adrenaline and you are usually tired and wet, so you just do it. It's is one of those things.”
Meanwhile, Paddy says he’s delighted by the positive reaction to the first series hosted by himself, Freddie and Chris.
“Yes. We are all very pleased. When you are filming it, you're having a laugh, weighing it up and saying: ‘Yeah, I think that'll be all right.’ But you never know until it's on, and some things work and some things don't.
“I always felt comfortable personally about what we had filmed. You can't do much more than that. But it's really pleasing to hear the positive reaction.”
When is Top Gear back?
Top Gear returns to BBC2 on Sunday 26th January at 8pm.
