Richard Hammond feared James May was dead after his horror crash while filming 'The Grand Tour'.
Richard Hammond feared James May was dead after his horror crash while filming The Grand Tour
The 52-year-old TV presenter feared the worst when his 59-year-old co-host smashed his motor up while shooting a stunt in Norway for their Amazon Prime Video show.
Speaking on 'The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X', he said: "I don't know what came over him, genuinely, I don't [...] he really wanted to win. But he came through.
"We were genuinely concerned and I thought my mate was dead.
"We ran up that tunnel thinking ... and then saw the car and thought 'Oh God!' "
James' crash came while he was filming a stunt which involved driving down a dark tunnel and the star was meant to stop before he hit a wall.
Richard explained: "I don't know why we thought it was a good idea.
"The challenge was to drive down a dark tunnel, the lights came on as you passed them, and it did end in - very much as James discovered – like a wall.
"And it was to see which of us could get to the highest top speed, and then break, and then – key bit - stop before hitting the wall. Jeremy [Clarkson] went first, quite brisk, wahey!
"I was waiting to go last, James went second, very brisk departure and didn't stop."
Richard recently admitted he was “surprised” James's limbs "didn’t just fall off” after his crash.
He said: “It was a moment of singular lack of judgment on James’ part. He’s not that well strapped together.
“He once told me, ‘Hammond, exercise makes you stupid’, so he doesn’t do any at all.
“He’s sort of held together with bits of cotton and sponge. So it was a hell of an impact. It’s pretty dramatic. And I was surprised that all his limbs didn’t just fall off.”
Tune into 'The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X', weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and Saturdays 8am – 11am
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