The Grand Tour is easily one of the most popular car shows in the world. You can boil down the success of the show to the incredible chemistry between Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. It’s a joy for any petrolhead to see them on the screen working their magic.

In addition, to the chemistry there are all the brilliant cars and stunts. While the show has gone more towards the entertaining side of things than purely reviewing cars, it’s always a brilliant watch.

What most fans don’t know is that a lot goes into the production of the show behind the scenes. From make-up mishaps to hospital stays, the boys have seen it all. However, a lot of people ignore what goes on in the background to make the show possible. Only the most hardcore fans who eagerly await the next season might know of everything that goes on behind the scenes of the show. Here are 15 things that happened behind the scenes of The Grand Tour.

15 Fastest Celebrity Driver

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The Grand Tour didn’t have a Top Gear like segment, where different celebrities would come have a go to set a lap time. However, it did have a different format where two celebrities would face off against each other. They didn’t compare the times with every celebrity but after all the seasons Kevin Pieterson was the fastest driver.

RELATED: These Are 15 Cars Jeremy Clarkson Either Absolutely Hates Or Adores

14 Lost Mike Skinner Fast

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The first season of The Grand Tour was very experimental, and a lot of the things had to go. One of the segments to receive the most backlash was the American test driver, Mike Skinner. Fans often found that his comments about all non-American cars were out of taste, and the show promptly replaced him with a new driver.

13 Multi-Million Dollar Opening

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While naturally, you could expect a show that features stunts and incredibly expensive vehicles to have a high production budget. However, the introduction scene of the very first episode costs an incredible $3.5 million. It involved a massive fleet of vehicles, as well as the largest civilian jet displays in the world.

12 Hammond Crashes Again

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Richard Hammond has had his fair share of scrapes during his filming career, it’s fair to say he’s been in a few horrible accidents. However, none of them have been as horrifying or as well documented as the Rimac crashing. It’s a miracle that he managed to survive, and kudos to the team that manages to rescue him.

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Due to the split from BBC and the Top Gear, there was a lot of trouble filming the new series. While a lot of the show were ideas that came from the three hosts, and producer Andrew Wilman, it was still the property of the BBC. A lot of the ideas from Top Gear never made it in the Grand Tour.

10 Clarkson’s 400th

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Due to having the same hosts, Top Gear and The Grand Tour are inexplicably tied together. The show won’t ever be the same without the three, and that’s no criticism towards the current hosts. If the split hadn’t happened, the first episode of the Grand Tour would have been Clarkson’s 400th episode of Top Gear, it’s a shame how things had to end.

9 Smell Of Mongolia

The Grand Tour in Mongolia
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One of the few issues that the three presenters face when filming their specials is dire living conditions. It involves some epic journey and it’s arguable that Mongolia was the grandest of them all. However, according to Clarkson it was also one of the hardest. Despite the difficulty, Clarkson remarked that the smell of Mongolia was incredible!

RELATED: 10 Easter Eggs Most People Missed On Top Gear (And 9 On The Grand Tour)

8 May Kept The Buggy

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Another story from the special, this one involving the lads driving their beach buggy’s across the Namib Desert. It showcases everything that makes their adventures so special, and the cars were exceptional. So exceptional that at the end of everything, James May actually decided to keep his buggy and it’s still a part of his garage.

7 Eboladrome

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Top Gear had its testing track, and the Grand Tour would not be the same without its signature track. The show got its own signature track and it’s brilliant. It properly tests out the capability of each car that comes to the show. It’s called the Eboladrome and is designed to look like the virus.

6 Christmas Special

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Every year, the boys would whip out a Christmas special for the fans to enjoy over the holidays. The Grand Tour is slightly different than Top Gear and it involves a moving tent that acts like a studio around the world. Each new location has a backdrop, and the Christmas special nearly had a backdrop without any snow!

5 Test Track Filming Takes A Day

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While the adventures are great and everything, the segments featuring one of the lads reviewing a car on the track are truly informative. They discuss all the quirks, and everything that makes a car good or bad. While these segments might be short, filming them is hard work and often takes a full day.

RELATED: Why Jeremy Clarkson Left Top Gear

4 May’s Lost Catchphrase

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James May is one of the funniest TV show hosts of all time, and his comedy often involves the use of signature phrases. Over the years, James would repeat the phrase “Oh Cock” at every unfortunate occurrence. However, coming towards a more American viewing platform, some things had to change.

3 Blowing Up Clarkson’s House

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Admittedly, it’s a lot of fun to make a little wager with your friends and see who comes out on top. The Grand Tour lads are no different, except they raise the stakes of the wager significantly. Clarkson made the bet, that his McLaren was a better car than the other two and ended up with his house blown up.

2 Celebrity Brain Crash

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Another segment from the first season of the show, Celebrity Brain Crash was supposedly a session that would involve a celebrity coming over for an interview of sort. However, it was more a comedy stick and each celebrity would hilariously fail to reach the studio. Yet, it wore off pretty quickly and only lasted one season.

1 Hospital Stays

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Filming the series isn’t an easy job, and the lads are starting to get older as well. However, the guys don’t get as much respect as they deserve for putting their bodies on the line. All three of them saw hospital stays in between filming that would cause delays. It’s undeniable that they’ll eventually have to stop.

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