A Russian Army television station is offering sacked Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson a job hosting its version of the popular car show.
The 54-year-old presenter was sacked on Thursday (NZ time) after the BBC concluded that he launched an unprovoked physical attack on Oisin Tymon, one of the show’s producers.
The Russian Defence Ministry-owned Zvezda television station published a letter written in English on Friday (NZ time), which it said it had sent to Clarkson and his agent this week inviting him to Moscow to discuss launching a Russian car show.
“The Russian Armed Forces Broadcasting Company ZVEZDA expresses deep honour to you and kindly asks for co-operation,” the letter says.
“We would like to invite you to be a presenter of motoring show on our TV Channel in Moscow.”
The station also published a reply from Daniel Rix, who it identified as Clarkson’s director.
“I can only imagine what an episode of Russian [Top Gear] would look like!,” Rix reportedly said.
“It could feature a Tsar in a reasonably priced car!” Rix said, in a reference to a Top Gear segment called “star in a reasonably priced car” where celebrities race in a regular production car around an airfield circuit.
Zvezda did not seem to get the joke, translating Rix’s words into Russian as: “[The program] could become a Tsar among shows about reasonable priced cars in Russia.”
A spokesperson for Clarkson told the network that the presenter was considering the offer, adding that talks were planned in Moscow at the start of April, Moscow Times reported.
