Top Gear’s Matt LeBlanc has described the new presenting line-up as a “Swiss Army Knife” with each of them having “a certain skill set”.
The former Friends star is back to host the BBC Two show, which returns this Sunday, with Chris Harris and Rory Reid as his co-presenters.
Motoring journalist Chris joined the show last year after becoming known for his YouTube channel, Chris Harris on Cars, which he launched in 2014.
Talking about the presenting line-up, Chris, 42, told Press Association: “The great issue with this reboot of Top Gear has been the word chemistry because you can’t just create chemistry, you can’t just say ‘Right, you three do chemistry’.
“The guys before us had a long time, they had a decade to generate chemistry, so we’ve been under pressure to do that, but we are, we’d like to think, moderately intelligent people with a view of the world and bit of banter, and that’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Matt, 49, hosted the motoring programme alongside Chris Evans last year following the departure of hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Chris quit after one series following plummeting ratings and poor reviews, saying he gave it his best shot but it was “not enough”.
“You can please some people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time,” Matt said of the show’s critics as he promoted the 24th series at the BBC Worldwide Showcase, adding: “There’s going to be people that like it and there’s going to be people that don’t like it. Our job in my opinion is to make the best show we can possibly make.”
Both Chris and Rory, a motoring journalist who won the public vote last year to join the show, said their YouTube background has prepared them for any criticism that has come their way since joining Top Gear.
Chris said: “We knew what we were undertaking when we signed up to it. We’re following three of the best people that have ever worked in my industry. I’m a motoring journalist just like they are. I hugely admire them, so we knew this was going to be difficult.
“Some of the things that are said are unkind, but we come from a YouTube background so if you think TV critics have got teeth, they’ve got nothing on a 14-year old with a keyboard in Alabama at four in the morning. You just have to be grown-up about it, don’t you?”
The first episode will see the trio head to Kazakhstan where they are tasked with buying second-hand cars with at least 480,000 miles on the clock to compete in various endurance challenges.
Matt recently commented on reports that the trio had eaten horse penis while filming the episode, insisting “nothing below the belt” was consumed.
:: The new series of Top Gear starts on March 5 at 8pm on BBC Two.
