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Chris Evans Quitting ‘Top Gear’ Takes New Meaning In Light Of Sexual Assault Allegations

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:56 PST, Jul 22, 2016

Chris Evans has quit Top Gear, according to the Guardian. The 50-year-old BBC presenter said he wants to focus on his radio show, but it’s believed that it’s not the only reason that he made the decision to quit.

Chris Evans’ announcement to quit the BBC motoring series comes a few days since the final episode, which had only 1.9 million viewers tuning in, one of the worst ratings for the show that has run for 23 seasons (and the worst rating for any Top Gear final episode in a season).

But it’s not just the ratings that prompted Chris Evans to quit Top Gear after just one season. The BBC presenter has been the center of attention from the media lately. Evans reportedly failed to find common ground with his Top Gear co-host and former Friends star Matt LeBlanc and was reportedly rude to the rest of the show’s staff.

Chris Evans then took to Twitter to say that even though he gave the motoring BBC show his “best shot,” sometimes “that’s not enough.” But did Evans really give the show his best chance? The BBC presenter had tensions with LeBlanc, and it didn’t seem as if he wanted to do something about it.

In his statement shortly after quitting the BBC program, Chris Evans said that his decision to quit is “the single best thing I can now do to help the cause.” His statement came shortly after it was revealed the finale episode gathered only 1.9 million viewers.

Despite reports that Chris Evans didn’t get on well with his co-host, Evans has nevertheless backed Matt LeBlanc completely, saying that he is the perfect person to continue hosting Top Gear.

Chris Evans and LeBlanc were selected as hosts of Top Gear after the previous host, Jeremy Clarkson, was fired last year for punching the show’s producer. But many Top Gear fans weren’t happy about the producers’ decision to fire Clarkson, and that could be clearly seen from this season’s ratings.

But Chris Evans’ decision to quit was kind of expected since it was reported just a few days ago that LeBlanc threatened to quit the show if his Top Gear co-host wasn’t sacked. According to data released by the BBC, Top Gear this season had over 30 million views in the U.K. alone.

Such plummeting ratings of Top Gear cannot but disappoint the BBC, as the motoring show has always been one of the top-selling shows on the network along with Doctor Who. But will Chris Evans quitting the show help it get back on its feet?

Top Gear has the largest motoring media channel on YouTube, with more than 1.2 billion views on all of its videos uploaded over the past years. And now that Chris Evans has quit, there are rumors that the BBC could bring Clarkson back in an attempt to save the show’s ratings.

But it appears that Chris Evans has a lot on his mind, as the BBC presenter is currently being investigated over sexual assault claims, according to the Mirror. It was confirmed by police earlier this week that they are investigating a woman’s allegations of “non-recent sexual assault,” which she originally made on May 23.

According to police, the woman’s allegations were related to sexual assault incidents that took place in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s. It’s not clear how Chris Evans’ name became the center of the investigation, but police say no arrests have been made and no person has been interviewed so far.

In a recent statement, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said the woman made the sexual assault allegations against a man.

“The allegation was made by a woman against a man and relates to incidents in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s. There have been no arrests and no person has been interviewed under caution.”

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

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