Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond trousered a whopping £35.8 MILLION to make Grand Tour
Ex-Top Gear trio's company reported a profit of £6.7 million following BBC exit in 2015
JEREMY Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were given a massive £35.8 million to make Amazon’s Grand Tour last year, new figures reveal.
Details of the payments are revealed in accounts for their company Chump Holdings Limited which was formed when the three left BBC’s Top Gear.
The trio were paid £3.75 million between them “for presenting services” — with the company left with a profit of £6.7 million at the end of the year.
It is the first time the company has produced accounts and demonstrates the lengths streaming site Amazon went to attract the ex Top Gear team.
The £35.8 million represents the cost to make the 13 episodes of the first series of Grand Tour.
Taking away the profit and tax, it means that £27.4 million went on the shows — or more than £2 million per episode.
In total, 28 staff were paid £3.3 million, which works out an average salary of £118,000.
New motoring show The Grand Tour was created when Clarkson, 57, was sacked by the BBC for an ”unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on a producer on the show.
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Despite offers from the BBC, colleagues May, 54, and Hammond, 47, decided to quit Top Gear and along with Clarkson listened to offers from rival TV companies before settling on the Amazon deal.
The accounts, which cover the period October 2015 to the end of December 2016 and signed by James May, said: “The Group’s profit for the financial period was £6.7 million. The profit was driven by television programming produced during the period ended 31 December 2016.
“The directors are keen to continue focussing on quality programming whilst ensuring that the company’s overheads are kept stable.”