What the New Grand Tour Hosts Change About the Show
This article explains who the new Grand Tour presenters are, what their first episode keeps from the old format, and why the new series feels deliberately low stakes.
The Grand Tour is getting a total reset. After a long run fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, the Amazon motoring series has handed the keys to a much less familiar trio. This new version still visits old landmarks, but the chemistry, the tone and the stakes have changed.
A Line-Up With a Different Backstory
The new presenters are Thomas Holland, James Engelsman and Francis Bourgeois. Holland, a Canadian with a beard, and Engelsman, a British presenter with a posh manner, come from the YouTube car channel Throttle House. Bourgeois made his name with enthusiastic clips about trains on TikTok. None of them has the television profile of their predecessors.
The Guardian's review of the opening episode says the first thing the new hosts do is visit Diddly Squat Farm, Jeremy Clarkson's farm, to "genuflect before Jeremy Clarkson." That choice looks like a signal to worried fans: the old world has not been erased.
Same Set Pieces, New Temperature
Then the show falls into familiar Grand Tour patterns. Each presenter takes a supercar — a Mustang, a Corvette and a Hennessey — and they tear around California. They race each other. Jenson Button races on their behalf. They also race a set of jet planes. The episode plays out without a live studio audience.
The review describes the new trio as a "decent, if slightly anonymous, presence." It calls the returned Grand Tour deliberately low stakes. The formula's grooves are so worn, the review argues, that a returning viewer instinctively knows every beat before it happens. That predictability protects the format, but it also makes the new hosts harder to read.
There may be more to come. The Guardian suggests the opening episode could be pandering to Clarkson diehards before later instalments tear up the blueprint and build something more distinct. For now, the clearest sign of change is cultural. At one point Holland stage-whispers "I don't pay my taxes." On an Amazon show, the review notes, that line is almost revolutionarily provocative.
A Different Kind of Chemistry
The Grand Tour's appeal always rested on the relationship between Clarkson, Hammond and May. Their bickering and shared sense of mischief carried the show even when the stunts were repetitive. The reboot cannot rely on that history. Instead, it is testing whether a different kind of chemistry can carry the same set pieces.
Throttle House fans know Holland and Engelsman as calm, analytical car reviewers. Bourgeois brings the energy of an enthusiast whose main love is rail, not road. That mismatch could create a new dynamic, or it could leave the show without a clear point of view. The Guardian's review treats the series as a work in progress, but one thing is already clear: the old Grand Tour is over.