As we reported last week, the first episode of Top Gear wasn't exactly greeted with open arms by viewers.
In fact, the Twitter reaction was nothing short of hostile for Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc and the show's new hosts. That now seems to have borne out in the figures as it's been confirmed that Top Gear drew it lowest audience figures in over a decade.
The second episode of Top Gear was watched 2,800,000 viewers - 14% of the viewing public on a Sunday night - which is close to a third of its audience gone in the space of a week. The show is worth close to £50,000,000 to the BBC in licensing and oversea sales, meaning that it'll need to do something drastic to correct the lacking figures.
To put the figures in context, the final episode before Clarkson and co. departed attracted 5,100,000 viewers.
There may be other reasons as to why Chris Evans' Top Gear performed poorly. For one, the warm weather meant that significantly less people were inside watching television. Not only that, ITV's Soccer Aid - which ran right through Top Gear's slot - was also drawing viewers away. Another reason that's been speculated is that most people saw the first show back with Evans and weren't bothered to return.
For his part, Evans seems ready to take the slings and arrows of whatever comes his way. In a recent interview, he talked about how "my job for this year has been not only to make this show but to take all the shit, which was going to happen. I knew I was going to get the shit kicked out of me."
Before the show even aired, there were rumours suggesting that LeBlanc and Evans were clashing. This, coupled with the exit of one of its producers and complaints regarding a stunt near a British war memorial statue, put Top Gear under a cloud.
Like any new show that's finding its feet, some things will work and some won't. What remains to be seen is if Evans and Top Gear will stay the course and continue on as is - even with falling audience figures.
Via Guardian
