BBCThe new series in Top Gear has come under fire once again, this time being accused of using canned laughter after some of Chris Evans’ cheeky one liners were met with the sound of silence.
It’s an embarrassing accusation for the ailing motoring show which has been getting a pasting in the media recently after a number of highly publicised gaffes; including on set melt downs, an incident involving The Cenotaph and rumours that the hosts Evans and Matt LeBlanc don’t get along.
Eagle-eyed reviewers did point out while watching Top Gear that despite there being a raucous laughter throughout, the audience were stood around stony-faced not reacting to the gags at all, The Huntington Post reports.
BBCThe Sun now claim to have spoken to someone in the crowd who explained how awkward things were becoming in the studio and his surprise at the amount of laughter he heard when he watched in on TV.
He said:
There were so many long, awkward silences. But when I watched the show back I just couldn’t believe how much laughter they had added in.
The episode made it sound as though we were in fits of hysterics throughout the recording but that is far from the truth.
After seeing Chris and Matt do hundreds of takes and spiel out horrendous jokes for four hours straight we were all bored out of our minds — not in stitches like they made it seem in Sunday’s show.
GettyThe BBC responded to the suns allegations saying:
There were no awkward silences during filming as reported by The Sun newspaper which clearly has an agenda against the show.
It’s well known that Top Gear isn’t a live programme and that the show is edited after filming, but last week’s episode was edited in exactly the same way as previous series.
It’s proof that you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the news as despite claims that Evans had a melt down on set after audiences failed to laugh at his jokes, we spoke to someone who was in studio at the time of recording who claimed that the media was exaggerating.
BBCHe said:
Of course, a few lines were messed up, but not to the extent that people have been describing, it was a few words here and there, and was quite funny more than annoying.
He [Evans] didn’t throw temper tantrums, he got as many people in shot as he could. [He] endlessly thanked everyone after the show and made it quite a funny day.
Having watched last weeks Top Gear I’ve got to admit that it wasn’t the best, but to be fair it was the first episode and Evans has some pretty big shoes to fill, so things could have gone far worse.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.