New Top Gear frontman Chris Evans has called it quits after just six episodes.
Evans, who has starred on both radio and television, confirmed the news via Twitter.
“Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough,” Evans said in a Twitter post. “The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best.”
Stepping down from Top Gear. Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough. The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best.
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) July 4, 2016
The British personality won’t be disappearing into the night, though, revealing also via Twitter that he’ll remain on radio and continue his various charity projects.
The news comes just as the sixth and final episode of the new season of Top Gear, officially 23 of the current format, has aired. Evans was signed on for at least two more seasons.
It’s believed producers won’t hire a new host to fill his role. If we’re lucky, though, they’ll fill the void with more of Chris Harris. Harris so far has appeared primarily on the spinoff series Extra Gear. He’s also signed up to start the new web series Chris Harris Drives in partnership with the online version of Top Gear.
Chris Harris
It took a lot of guts to take on the daunting task of replacing former hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, though judging by your comments as well as low ratings—the last episode had 1.9 million viewers, the lowest ever for the show’s modern era—Evans wasn’t quite up to the challenge.
There have also been allegations Evans was hard to work with and that he even threatened to quit while still filming. British police have also confirmed to The Telegraph that they are probing a potential sexual assault following an accusation made by a woman that Evans exposed himself to her and groped her during the 1990s, accusations Evans is said to have denied.
The next season of Top Gear is due to start production within a few months. Meanwhile, Clarkson and company are due to appear on their new Amazon Prime show The Grand Tour sometime this October.
