Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear: ‘I want it to be a success – I get paid every time it gets re-commissioned’

Jeremy Clarkson wants the new series of Top Gear to be a hit as he gets paid every time it gets re-commissioned.

While the former BBC host is keen for the show to continue without him, he has admitted that he finds it ‘entertaining’ to watch Chris Evans ‘having a hard time’.

During a talk at the China Exchange on Tuesday, Clarkson said: “What's very entertaining is that Chris Evans is having a very hard time at the moment as he attempts to put Top Gear back together again.

“It's been suggested that I am behind it, that I am trying to scupper him.

“But I discovered the other day that every time it gets re-commissioned I get paid, so that's a curious bit of BBC contract but I wish them all the very best.”

Clarkson went on to say that leaving the BBC following a ‘fracas’ with a Top Gear producer has been a blessing a disguise.

“To be honest, I think we would have stayed at the BBC and then the show would have got tired and boring, eventually we would have piloted it into a hillside and that would have been the end,” he said.

“Now we're looking at losing Top Gear as a fantastic thing to happen.”

The presenter admitted that he still hadn’t come up with a new name for his forthcoming Amazon Prime show.

“It's going to end up being called Dingleberries or something like that,” he joked.

The new series of Top Gear is due to air later this month, while Clarkson’s Amazon Prime show will hit screens this autumn.