No, they were first teamers. Hazard, Costa, Thibaut Courtois etc. All big names.

Thanks for that. And I'm betting they weren't actually saying what the subtitles said they were!

Another great episode and looking more natural, the Chelsea part was funny and overall probably the funniest episode

I think it's been the weakest episode in this series. Every film was dull, and the only entertaining parts of the episode were the studio conversations... mostly comments from Clarkson.

I agree, it kind of felt more like the show we're used to seeing from them. Liked all the video clips too, there was variety which made it interesting and the bits in the tent was more natural.

Fantastic yet again, the only bit for me that grates slightly is the American test driver he's just not funny would be much better if he didn't speak.

Might be seen as a bit "Stigish" though, attracting the attention of the BBC legal team.

Really enjoyed this one. It seemed to flow better and they seemed a lot more relaxed. I wonder if the tent bits were filmed after the first episode aired so the team knew how successful the launch had been.

This is exactly why he can't be silent. I do wish he wouldn't swear so much though

I'm not a fan of the The American either but that was the best he has been, at least it's short.

It seems as though people have a tendency to blame every editorial decision made on the show different from Top Gear because of the BBC lawyers.

If they were that niypicky, they'd never let them get away with the introduction "This week...James goes to a gym...I shoot a rifle..." etc. The spoof style is taken straight from their top gear days.

I liked the two part specials apart from the same predicable breakdown and the others driving off gag. Also I hate it when they insult us by making out they slept under the car. Where did the massive crew sleep then? Also why when Jezza had a problem the crew (according to his VO) helped him but with the serious problem at night they didn't help a bit?

ETA why was it when Richard went down that steep sandbank and Jezza thought he was gone, did we not see Richard's dashcam?

Or maybe (following your line there) they know that such an introduction is OK and is NOT "Top Gear" (having pushed that particular boundary and found no resistance).

I have no doubt from the interviews that Andy Willman and JC have given that the team has to look very carefully at what they do to ensure that they are not seen as doing something that is seen to be part of the Top Gear setup (and therefore copyrighted or owned by the BBC). Otherwise we would have been able to see a full-on, Top Gear clone from the opening titles, through to "the producers gave us/sent us ....." (it's now a direct reference to Andy Wilman) and ending with "and on that bombshell". Also notice that James May no longer says his trademark "cock".

This just seems wrong to me. James May is James May. He isn't a character as such. Why should what he says be property of Top Gear/BBC?

They might be worried the BBC could argue he only said that because it was in the script.

I agree, it does seem odd but he has yet to utter it on TGT.

Yes, but the language is fractionally more 'fruity' now they're not on the Beeb. There's no effing and jeffing but there is a sprinkling of 'shits' - perhaps he doesn't feel the need to say 'cock', when a good 'shit' will do?

I was really happy with episode 9.
Subjective of course, but literally the first week that entertained me all the way through.

I do hope this continues and it wasn't just the luck of the draw.

Never a truer word said.

I agree I think a lot of 'the BBC lawyers' nonsense is imagined, the producers of GT are doing it this way just because they want it done different to probably find their own style because that what they want rather than just copy something else, it would more likely the viewers that would moan about the copying rather than the BBC and/or their 'lawyers', I see this first series as a tester for them to find out what works, popular with the viewers and what needs a tweak etc.

Weak after a steady improvement. Blowing up vehicles with military weaponry is boring now, it's been done too often. The show still seems 10 minutes longer than the material they have to fill it. Surely it cannot be that difficult to find ideas / locations / history / drives relevant to where they are in the world? Still good but it needs something else in there.

I enjoyed it, although it certainly wasn't the strongest of the series. They are definitely coming across 'less obviously scripted', which is a good thing and I'm warming slightly to the American.

They need to chop the celebrity brain crash though.

I agree but are all episodes now 'in the can' or can these still be edited up to the time of release?

They were all recorded before the first Tent show was done so it's hard to remove something completly as that would leave more time to fill.

There are only 3 more episodes so CBC will stay along with the american and then, having taken note of the feedback from the first series, they will make changes for the second one. As was said above this is a tester series to see what works and what doesn't. Andy Willman has said that in interviews.

Maybe there is nothing more sinister behind it than they themselves were fed up of having to say "cock" etc and saw the new start as a way of dropping certain things whilst introducing other things. They will review things and make changes in the next series.

On the whole it is working and working far better than what the BBC have done to a show they used to do.