The bookies were swift to shorten their odds this week on James Norton becoming the next James Bond, now they have another TV star in their sights. What DO they know?
James Martin has shot to the top of their favourites to replace Chris Evans on ‘Top Gear’ for the second series - this despite the BBC affirming that they aren’t looking to recruit another star name.
The former ‘Saturday Kitchen’ presenter is now 3/1 favourite for a role, according to the Sun, leaving motorcycle racer Guy Martin and former F1 driver Jenson Button trailing in his wake, with odds of 6/1 and 8/1 respectively.
James quit ‘Saturday Kitchen’ in March this year, explaining that he could no longer cope with the early starts. For 10 years, he was getting up at 3am on Saturday mornings to present the show live. He also revealed that he’d just taken his first holiday in seven years, and found himself on a Saturday morning walking around Disneyworld, thinking “this is surreal”.
Since then, he’s appeared on TV regularly, including a guest presenting role on ITV’s ‘This Morning’.
Chris Evans quit ‘Top Gear’ this week following dismal ratings and scathing reviews. In a gracious sign-off on Twitter, he explained he’d given it his “best shot, but sometimes best isn’t enough”. He dedicated his radio 2 show the following day to the rest of the ‘Top Gear’ team. Although there is talk of Matt LeBlanc being promoted to the central presenting role, the BBC have said the present lineup will stay the same for Series 2.
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