Top Gear host Chris Evans says his experience on Top Gear has given him a long overdue wake-up call regarding the future of his career. “I am a realist hoping for the best, while preparing for potential imminent career death,” he wrote in the Mail On Sunday’s Event magazine.
“My Top Gear experience has given me a long overdue and welcome wake-up call with regards to career mortality. I think we can all agree that some people in my business would currently prefer me/my career/preferably both to be shot on sight rather than apprehended and taken in for further questioning. So what might I do if it all goes pear-shaped in the next few weeks? After licking my wounds, I could attempt to seek similar employment, like Zippy, Bungle and George did after their infamous exit from Top Gear last year. You know, for ten times the cash but a fraction of the audience. Failing that, I could sit at home and drive my wife insane until she throws me out, applies for a restraining order and calls in the lawyers.” – Chris Evans
Evans also used the article to address bullying claims, which were leaked to press agencies by one or more BBC insiders. Evans called his accusers “untalented weasels… whose only role in life is dealing in slander about others in order to extend their otherwise moribund existence. I have no idea what it is that’s driving these rabid malcontents to stoop so low, but I wish them well with their inner demons. In the meantime, I’m going to get on with my job while I still can.”
John Revell, Evans’ co-star at Radio 1 and Virgin during the 1990s, also accused Evans on Facebook of being “vile” and added: “He’s out of control. I had hoped he’d got to an age where he would have stopped bullying and shouting and screaming at people, but by all accounts he hasn’t. The BBC is unable to control him.” Revell also alleged Evans’ recent behaviour had caused issues at the BBC .
Speaking to website Heat Street, he said: “Everybody knows he has a ferocious temper and I think the BBC management is just spineless.”
The BBC said at the time: “There is nothing to investigate as the accusation that Chris’ behaviour has fallen below the standards required of BBC staff since taking on Top Gear are completely untrue – something we have made clear a number of times.”