Top Gear: Patagonia Special
| Top Gear: Patagonia Special | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | James Bryce |
| Presented by |
Jeremy Clarkson Richard Hammond James May |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Wilman |
| Producer(s) | Chris Hale |
| Running time | 120 minutes (60 minutes per part) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 720x576, anamorphic 16:9 |
| Original release | Part 1 - 27 December 2014 Part 2 - 28 December 2014 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Top Gear |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Top Gear: Patagonia Special is a full length special that was aired as two-part episode for BBC motoring programme Top Gear; the first part was aired on 27 December 2014, while the second part was aired a day later on 28 December. The special sees hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, using a selection of cars with V8 engines to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the small-block V8 engine, on a journey across Chile and Argentina, starting from Bariloche and ending on the outskirts of Ushuaia, and includes the infamous scene involving the protesters that the presenters and their film crew encountered and the events that happened; it is the last Top Gear special to be filmed with the hosts, prior to Clarkson's exit from the show in March 2015 followed by May, Hammond and Executive Producer Andy Wilman shortly afterwards. The incident with the protesters was widely documented and reported by the media, prior to the broadcast of the special.
Unlike previous specials, despite each part doing well to draw in viewers during Christmas week it was aired on, it received mixed reviews from fans and critics, many of whom felt that it was not as entertaining as past specials by the hosts.
All three presenters met in an area near Bariloche, where they brought and compared their cars. Clarkson had bought a Porsche 928, which both Hammond and May berated for being "boring". Hammond had bought a Ford Mustang, which though both Clarkson and May initially liked, they pointed out the numerous flaws with the car, in that most of the car's features were "pointless". May, arriving last, bought a Lotus Esprit, which was mocked outright by both Hammond and Clarkson for its unreliability and faults. The producers then presented them with a challenge; they were to drive from Bariloche to Butch Cassidy's final resting place. Amazed by the apparent ease of their challenge, the three set off towards their destination. Though May and Clarkson enjoyed the journey, Hammond's Mustang struggled, with poor steering and heavy fuel consumption, causing him to break down a mile and a half from the destination and be abandoned by May and Clarkson. When Hammond caught them up, they were informed by producers that they must continue driving southward to Ushuaia. Once there, they were to play a game of football using their cars. Their route to Ushuaia - planned by Jeremy - took many odd turns along the way. The trio took a side road that ended up leading them to a strange area where the road essentially disappeared. Eventually, they encountered an unstable bridge which they had to cross in their cars. May was the first to cross, who discovered that the end of the bridge led to a dead end, though chose not to inform Clarkson or Hammond about it. Around this time, the presenters noticed that a Citroën 2CV had been following them, allowing them to realise this was the back-up car if one of theirs was to fail. After heading back, they encountered a swamp, which bogged down the Mustang and the Porsche. Clarkson admitted that the Lotus had been performing better than anyone had expected, as it had not suffered any breakdowns thus far. After stopping at their hotel for the night, Hammond became extremely upset with his drive along the route and sought to take control, taking them on a different route where he believed the roads would be better. This route, however, ended up taking them on worse terrain than before, causing all three cars to struggle and Clarkson's Porsche to break down due to an electrical fault. Though he managed to fix the fault, Hammond was stripped of his leadership and Clarkson took back control of the route.
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