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Matt LeBlanc Still Hasn’t Re-signed For ‘Top Gear’ Despite $1.3 Million Deal, Bromances With Matthew Perry

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 21:47 PST, Aug 20, 2016

Matt LeBlanc will reportedly sign a £1 million deal (approximately $1.3 million) if he returns to host the new season of Top Gear, according to Auto Blog. The former Friends star is rumored to be in doubts whether to continue hosting the revamped BBC motoring show or whether he should quit.

The news comes over a month after Top Gear’s Chris Evans, who co-hosted the last season alongside Matt LeBlanc, quit the show amid plummeting viewership ratings and rumors about his unfriendly behavior on the set of the British motoring series.

If Matt LeBlanc indeed inks the new deal, he’ll earn twice as much as he did last season. Interestingly, Evans had a £1 million deal with the BBC. Both LeBlanc and Evans were selected to host the BBC show earlier this year, several months after previous host Jeremy Clarkson had been sacked from the show for punching one of its producers.

In his recent interview, while promoting his latest CBS sitcom called Man With a Plan, Matt LeBlanc said he wasn’t sure about his deal with Top Gear, but added that he would “like to” continue hosting the motoring show next season.

“There’s nothing officially happening yet. Follow the BBC.”

The new deal offered by the BBC to Matt LeBlanc will reportedly allow the 49-year-old former Friends star to easily quit Top Gear if it doesn’t recover from its plummeting ratings shown last season.

A BBC source cited by the Mirror admitted that Matt LeBlanc was one of the “positive aspects” of the revamped last season of Top Gear, which is why the BBC “definitely” wants him to return in new series.

“We think he will be back filming soon and he is excited about some of the ideas we have lined up.”

The BBC has previously indicated that it doesn’t plan to change Top Gear’s current presenting lineup, which means that with Evans quitting the show, the next season will feature Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz and Eddie Jordan.

But with reports saying that Top Gear’s upcoming 24th season is set to begin filming in September, there is something fishy about Matt LeBlanc not signing a deal with the BBC.

In other news, the hit NBC sitcom Friends may have aired its last episode over 12 years ago, but it doesn’t mean Matt LeBlanc (who played Joey Tribbiani) and Matthew Perry (who played Chandler Bing) can’t continue bromancing, according to People magazine.

Matt LeBlanc and the 46-year-old Perry have been friends since the time they met on the set of the hit comedy sitcom, and now the 49-year-old Top Gear host explains why he’ll always be BFFs with his Friends co-star.

During the 2016 Summer TCA press tour, Matt LeBlanc had a few sweet things to say about his Friends co-stars, and Perry in particular.

“I saw him [Perry] yesterday. He’s one stage away. I love that guy. I love all five of them. We spent a lot of time together.”

Matt LeBlanc also revealed that they are seeing one another quite often now that he is currently filming for his new CBS sitcom called Man With A Plan, while his Friends co-star is filming for The Odd Couple, which also airs on CBS.

Matt LeBlanc also admitted that even if he didn’t see Perry for five years and then found himself in the same room with him, it’d be like they saw each other yesterday.

“We still short hand with one another. It’s amazing. Ten years in a building with no windows with the door locked, we got to know each other pretty well.”

Man with A Plan starring Matt LeBlanc debuts on CBS on October 24.

[Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP]

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