Former Top Gear host Steve Berry has called out BBC bosses as he said the show should vet participants better in the wake of Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s horror crash.
Berry, who was a presenter on the motoring programme from 1993 to 1999, spoke about the dangers involved in the series and insisted that non-motoring experts shouldn’t participate in the show.
The 59-year-old shared: “The difference back when I did it was, they used to appoint motoring journalists.
“I was completely aware of the dangers that could often occur. I was under no illusion.
“The problem for me with the modern Top Gear is you’re asking a cricketer to do things that really should be done by people who know what they’re doing,” he told GB News.
The Standard has contacted a BBC spokesperson for comment.
The former England captain, 45, has kept a low profile since he was taken to hospital after being hurt while filming for the motoring show at its test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome last December.
Last Friday, Flintoff was pictured in an England coaching kit on the home balcony at the opening one-day international against New Zealand in Cardiff, but sported large cuts or scars on his face and surgical tape on his nose for the first time in nine months.
It is believed to be the first time Flintoff has been photographed in public since the accident.
His son Corey said at the time he was “lucky to be alive” and described it as a “pretty nasty crash”.
Filming of series 34 of Top Gear was halted and it has been reported the daredevil presenter intends to quit the hit programme.
Flintoff was seriously emotionally and physically affected by the incident, a source told The Times when it first reported the accident.
The BBC said in March that it would be inappropriate to resume making the series at that time following an internal investigation into what happened.
Former sports star Flintoff began presenting Top Gear in 2019, and also appeared on Sky’s A League Of Their Own and won the first series of the Australian version of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
He is known for his time as an England all-rounder, most notably during the Ashes victory in 2005.
