Fans of Top Gear have been dealt another gut-shot today as co-host James May officially announced he will not be carrying on his involvement with the show in the near future.

It has long been rumoured that the sacking of Clarkson would signal the end of the hugely popular BBC show but now May has laid bare his plans. Metro quotes him here:

Me and [Richard] Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work. That would be lame, or “awks” as young people say…

It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that.

A glimmer of hope remains that the three could be reunited again, even if it is not under the Top Gear name. May again:

It doesn’t mean I won’t go back, we may all go back in the future. It might just be we have a break from it. I don’t know.

Oh well, all good things must come to an end. I’m sure there are other TV stations with less scrupulous ethics that would have no problem boosting their ratings by getting the three back together.

Let’s hope May stays away from the recorder in the interim.

[source:metro]