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Top Flop? SA fans react to all-new Top Gear

Cape Town - The anticipation for an all-new season of the world's biggest motoring show has been building for the past few months.

Top Gear (TG), the no-holds barred, tongue in cheek, pedal to the metal car show that the world has come to love, aired for the first time on South African television without Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

The trio have started their own show called The Grand Tour.

Evans and LeBlanc lack chemistry

Back to Wednesday night's show (June 1), Season 23, Episode 1: The main hosts, Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc, starred in the episode's feature film: a USA vs UK motoring challenge. The duo were set a number of challenges and while the production value is high, as one would expect, Evans' 'shouty' delivery was weird and to be honest, did not fit the TG style.

In January 2016, the Daily Mail reported that during filming for the new season Evans struggled to drive and talk into the camera at the same time.

During a film, in which two American muscle cars were pitted against each other, it was evident that Evans certainly isn't natural when reviewing a car on camera. A brief appearance by another presenter Sabine Schmitz, showed glimpses of her racing driver background, but as a Top Gear host, she didn't look comfortable at all. As I said, it was a short stint on camera, so we need to give her more time.

I thought LeBlanc did a good job, his persona, delivery and dry sense of humour came to the fore and he put his own stamp on the show. The former Friends star's driving skills and presenting work was highlighted in a film with the bonkers Ariel Nomad in Morocco.

As for Evans, well he was lambasted in the UK for his performance in the first episode. But hit back at 'haters', claiming the debut episode raked in 5.6-million viewers according to the Evening Standard.

The second episode will air on Wednesday (June 8) at 8:00pm on BBC Brit.

WATCH: LeBlanc get acquainted with the Ariel Nomad

Let's see what SA viewers of the show thought:


— Snapchat: Spaga23 (@Spaga23) June 1, 2016
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