There is an electric feeling of excitement in the air. And I’m not talking about Airlink’s latest batch of flight plans. I’m talking about the fact that the latest season of The Grand Tour drops tomorrow on Amazon Prime. Arguably the world’s BIGGEST car show, petrol heads all over the world are waiting to see what the new season brings.
Now I say ‘car show’ but perhaps, especially towards the end of the last season, it would be more accurate to say ‘car BASED show’. The Grand Tour in its latest variants certainly featured some cars, but it was more about the adventures that the 3 TG Legends would embark on than the cars themselves.
The new season’s format has not been discussed at great length yet, so we are yet to see what it brings. What has been discussed is the trio of hosts. Now initially, when it was announced that the GOAT Trio were stepping down and that the Grand Tour would continue without them, I had feelings of Déjà vu. This was Top Gear all over again. New hosts come in, try too hard and in the end it doesn’t really work.
New Hosts Announced
However, as time went on and the new hosts were announced, I got more optimistic. Not just me either, the internet and social media seemed to agree. Unlike Top Gear the comments weren’t just doom and gloom. Gone were the “you’ll never replace Carkson, Hammond and May” comments. People are genuinely excited to see what is coming.
I have been watching quite a lot of the Throttle House content on YouTube lately, and I must say, I’ve really enjoyed it. There is authenticity in what they are doing. A genuine love for cars, a genuine friendship and the laughs, the ribbing and quips are real. That’s what the Top Gear reboot with 15 strangers picked to host it, lacked.
Someone With Strong Personality
But when you have an established duo like Thomas and James, how do you add a third presenter? You can’t just add another buddy to your established friendship dynamic. You have to find someone who has a deep routed love for the same thing that they love, namely cars. Someone with strong personality so they are not just over-shadowed by the other two. But, still someone with a unique point of view and able to give a different perspective. You need an alien.
Enter Luke Magnus Nicolson, better known as Francis Bourgeois. Francis gained quite a following for his trainspotting videos on YouTube and his massively excitable personality. His childlike enthusiasm for machines is infectious and you can not help but get excited with him. Now, having seen some of his content and some of the later interviews that he’s given leading up to the release of this new season of the Grand Tour, I can say he seems like a really lovely guy. And probably a perfect fit to join the Throttle House guys. But – I have to admit – when I first saw a picture of him… I did kind of think to myself… that is a bold style choice.
You see if you were to see Francis in the street walking towards you, one of 2 things are immediately going to happen. Either you are going to cross the street in fear of this person who looks like an escaped serial killer. OR you’ll be checking your watch and phone to make sure you hadn’t mysteriously been transported back to the 1940’s.
Absolutely uncontrollable, yet strangely loveable nutter
Either way, I honestly can not think of a better candidate (myself excluded obviously)! You take the guys from Throttle House, already great and entertaining, add in an absolutely uncontrollable, yet strangely loveable nutter and maybe, just maybe you have another one of those lightning in a bottle moments.
I am hugely excited to sit down tomorrow night and watch episode 1. I think the new trio are going to do great things. Not because they are the best, most popular or most polished presenters in the world. But, because they truly love cars and they don’t have to pretend to do anything more than that.
Good Luck Gents! I’ll be tuning in as soon as I get home tomorrow. And let’s face it…. when it comes to car content, we can never have enough, so it’s a bit like pizza. Even when it’s bad, it’s still good!
