dimanche 5 octobre 2014

Top Gear Argentina Special

No it has not aired yet. They may not have even started on the editing. But it will probably be their most anticipated episode ever, thanks to a license plate that set off a riot.






Quote:








Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has claimed he was thrown out of Argentina by state officials after being pelted with rocks.



He said in a tweet that "thousands" of locals rounded on the Top Gear team in apparent protest at a number plate which appeared to refer to the 1982 Falklands war.



A Porsche used in filming had a registration plate that read H982 FKL.



Clarkson and team had been filming in South America for a Top Gear special.



On his return to the UK Clarkson tweeted: "The number plate WAS a coincidence. When it was pointed out to us, we changed it.



"Thousands chased crew to border. Someone could have been killed."



He added: "This was not a jolly jape that went awry. For once, we did nothing wrong."



Clarkson told the Sun newspaper, for which he writes a regular column: "We knew absolutely nothing about the number plate, it was just an unbelievable coincidence. I swear on my kids' lives.



"When we saw people on Twitter getting upset we took the plate off. But they still attacked us so we made a break for it to our hotel in Ushuaia.



"The mob just descended on the hotel and encircled us. State representatives came and ordered us out of the country."



Damaged Top Gear vehicleVehicles carrying Top Gear production crew were also targeted

He added: "I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan but this was the most terrifying thing I've ever been involved in.



"There were hundreds of them. They were hurling rocks and bricks at our cars. They were trying to attack us with pickaxe handles.



"They were shouting. 'Burn their cars, burn them, burn the pirates'. I am convinced the mob was state organised."



In a tweet, he said the programme's crew "abandoned our cars as they thought they might be what was making people angry".



The BBC confirmed the show's decision to leave, but denied the offending car was chosen for its number plate.



Andy Wilman, executive producer for Top Gear, said on Thursday: "Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme; to suggest that this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue."



The team departed three days early after being denied permission to film by local authorities.



Clarkson flew into the country last month to film a special which saw him and co-stars Richard Hammond and James May drive the famous Patagonian highway - Route 40 - to the southern city of Ushuaia.



A BBC spokesman said: "We're pleased the team is safe and would like to thank all of those who have helped. As the executive producer has made clear, the number plate issue is a very unfortunate coincidence."



Personally I am a bit skeptical that nobody involved in the filming thought anything of the plate, since in the UK personalized license plates are made using clever combinations of UK-standard number plate sequences, like Richard Hammond's "OL1 V3R" for his beloved Opel "Oliver" from the Botswana special.



They should have also remembered that 30 years later, losing the Falklands War remains an open, festering wound in Argentine culture, and them being Brits makes it feel like an even bigger insult to them.




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