6 September 2024, 22:04
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Alamy
Top Gear presenter Chris Harris has claimed he warned show producers that “somebody would die” before a crash that left Freddie Flintoff with life-changing injuries.
The former cricket star and TV presenter sustained injuries that “changed his life forever” while filming an episode of Top Gear at the Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey, in December 2022.
Harris, 49, admitted that believed his friend and former co-star had died when he crashed on the show’s test track.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he said: “What was never spoken about was that three months before the accident, I’d gone to the BBC and said: ‘Unless you change something, someone’s going to die on this show.’
“So I went to them, I went to the BBC, and I told them of my concerns from what I’d seen as the most experienced driver on the show by a mile.”
The public broadcaster issued an apology to Flintoff after the crash, paying him a reported £9 million settlement.
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BBC/Getty
Harris continued: “I ran to the window, looked out, and he wasn’t moving.
“So I thought he was dead. I assumed he was, then he moved.
“I said, ‘If we carry on, at the very least, we’re going to have a serious injury, the very worst we have a fatality.’
“And I think what happened with Top Gear was I saw repeatedly too many times my two co-hosts who didn’t have the experience I had in cars. This is the critical thing.”
Speaking about co-stars, Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness, Harris said he’d raised concerns about their lack of experience in cars.
He told Joe Rogan: “They weren’t [as qualified]. One of them is an actor-comedian. The other guy is a pro cricket player.
“Brilliant entertainers. They were great hosts. But their roles were to make people laugh. And my role was to tell people what cars were like.”
He added: “What’s really killed me is that no one’s ever really acknowledged the fact that I called it beforehand.”
“I thought I’d done the right thing. I’m not very good at that. I normally just go with the flow but I saw this coming.
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Getty
“I thought I did the right thing. I went to the BBC and I found out really that no one had taken me very seriously.”
Flintoff avoided the public eye for several months after the crash, but has now made a return to the cricket world as a coach.
Speaking at the start of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour, a new BBC show documenting the journey of a young cricket team, the Top Gear star admitted to suffering from nightmares and anxiety in the wake of the crash.
“I thought I could just shake it off. I wanted to shake it off and say ‘everything’s all right’, but it’s not been the case,” Flintoff said.
He added: “I thought I could just shake it off … but it’s not been a case of that. It’s been a lot harder than I thought. As much as I’ve wanted to go out and do things, I’ve just not been able to.
“I was full of anxiety. I had nightmares, I had flashbacks.
“It’s been so hard to cope with. But some of these lads have had a tough life.
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Getty
“You’ve got to try and put it into perspective and I feel guilty I can’t do that. I don’t want to sit here and feel sorry for myself, I don’t want sympathy.”
Fans had been hoping Freddie may be able to return to Top Gear at some point but the BBC has confirmed it will not be revived ‘for the foreseeable future’.
Freddie is understood to have opted against suing the BBC, which may have earned him a “bigger payout”, The Sun reports.
The BBC has since “sincerely apologised” to Freddie. Both parties are described as being ‘satisfied’ with the outcome of the settlement.
Flintoff was seen in public for the first time since his horror crash in September, 2023.
Flintoff, 45, was seen on the balcony of Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens to watch England’s opening one-day international against New Zealand, which they lost by eight wickets.
Speaking at the time, England captain Jos Buttler said it was “great” to have Flintoff around the squad and he had “settled in really well”.