Ultimate Top Gear host rich list – from star’s £479m fortune & £32m superyacht to presenter who commutes via helicopter
THEY are the speed demons who have made millions racing the world’s fastest cars and travelling the globe.
Top Gear has been a lucrative show for its presenters over the years – but now its future looks bleak.
Filming of the BBC show has been on hold since Freddie Flintoff‘s horror 124mph crash in December.
And today we revealed bulldozers have moved onto Dunsfold Park Aerodrome, Top Gear’s official track, as work begins to build a housing estate.
Despite being laid up while he recovers, cricket legend Freddie is still in the money, having seen his assets rise by £500,000 in the last financial year.
But he’s by no means the wealthiest of our Top Gear hosts, as we reveal in our ultimate rich list.
Eddie Jordan – £479m
Prior to joining the Top Gear line-up, Eddie Jordan earned a fortune in Formula One – first as a racer, then as a team manager.
He later became a TV pundit and was head of the BBC’s F1 coverage for six years from 2009, before moving to Channel 4 in 2016.
That same year he returned to the Beeb to present Top Gear.
Multi-millionaire Eddie bought a private jet during his racing days – calling it a “no-brainer” as it meant he could spend more time with his family – and owned sprawling properties in Monaco, Cape Town and Surrey.
In 2014, Eddie paid a reported £32million for the luxurious Sunseeker 155 superyacht, named Blush.
The 155 feet vessel boasted an onboard nightclub, multiple lounges and dining rooms, jacuzzis, bars and a parking garage for jet skis.
Eddie sold it in 2017 and now reportedly owns a 45-metre-long sailing yacht, also called Blush.
In 2018 the F1 legend – reportedly worth £479m – raffled off his £750,000 flat in Tooting, south London for tickets priced at £10 each.
Chris Evans – £95m
From the Big Breakfast to TFI Friday, Chris Evans was the king of 90s TV.
He was announced as Jeremy Clarkson’s replacement on Top Gear in 2015 and signed a three-year deal for a reported £3m.
But it wasn’t to last as Chris, who also earned £600,000 a year from his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, quit Top Gear after one season following an alleged fall out with co-star Matt LeBlanc.
Before leaving in 2017, the star was paid between £2.2m and £2.49m – making him the BBC’s highest-paid presenter at the time.
He returned to BBC radio, but one year after being forced to take a £600,000 pay cut he moved to Virgin Radio as part of a reported £2m deal.
In the past, Chris was renowned for wild spending – famously buying a rectory in Kent, a Bentley, and blowing large sums on partying.
Some of his biggest outgoings came while dating Billy Piper, who he was married to between 2001 and 2007. The day after they met in 2000, he bought her a silver Ferrari – despite the fact she couldn’t drive.
Chris also owned three pubs at one point, and has done well out of property.
In 2001 he sold his Chelsea home to the singer George Michael for £7.5m – making a half a million pounds profit. In 2011 he made £5.5m on the sale of a Californian home, and a year later he sold his Surrey pad to a Russian tycoon, netting £4m profit.
Now the star, believed to be worth £95m, lives in Marlow in a five-bed pad he bought for £4m in 2019.
Matt LeBlanc – £66 million
Matt LeBlanc pocketed a fortune from Friends, reportedly earning him up to £800,000 per episode, and was later paid £2m for the special cast reunion in 2021.
Alongside his three year run on Top Gear until 2020, which earned him £1m a year, he starred in the sitcoms Episodes and Man With A Plan.
Matt, said to be worth £66m, owns a sprawling LA mansion for £5.6m but lives a very quiet life, insisting that unlike his Friends character Joey Tribbiani, he’s actually “shy”.
He also has an impressive car collection including a Mercedes, Ferrari and at least two Porsches.
Jeremy Clarkson – £55.8m
Yorkshire-born Jeremy, who is worth a reported £55.8m, started off as a motoring journalist for the Rotherham Advertiser before landing his big break on Top Gear.
He hosted the format for 10 years from 1988 and later as part of its revamped show in 2002 – eventually becoming the BBC’s highest-paid star with a £1.5m-a-year salary.
In 2012, Jeremy raked in a reported £5m from selling his half of Bedder 6, supposedly a play on ‘better sex’, which was a production company that held the rights to Top Gear.
The BBC parted ways with the presenter in 2015 amid an alleged fight with a producer.
Three years on, Jeremy bagged his Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? gig, earning him an estimated £3m a year.
But his biggest TV deal was a slice of £160m from Amazon Prime to produce 36 episodes of The Grand Tour. Clarkson reportedly earns £10m a year from the show.
In 2021, Jeremy started an unusual side-project – running his own farm, which he turned into the TV series Clarkson’s Farm.
It’s estimated the site, where he also brews his own beer, was bought by Clarkson for £6m and is currently worth a whopping £12.5m.
Away from TV gigs, Jeremy is rumoured to be paid £25k for giving after-dinner speeches and tops up his earnings writing books and newspaper columns.
Like any fast car fanatic, Clarkson has a drool-worthy collection of vehicles that are reportedly worth over £500K, including a Ferrari, Mercedes, Lamborghini and McLaren.
Richard Hammond – £35m
Richard Hammond received a massive pay bump after moving from Top Gear to The Grand Tour where his annual earnings rose from £500,000 to a reported £7.2m.
He also made money presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse from 2003 to 2006, Total Wipeout from 2009 to 2012, and Planet Earth Live in 2012.
Richard, known as ‘The Hamster’ on the show, has an impressive car collection including a Ford Mustang, Porsche, Lotus Esprit Sport and a 1931 Lagona, as well as a Bentley.
In 2009 he treated himself to a £150K helicopter that he used to commute to and from his £2.5m Herefordshire home, Bollitree Castle.
He purchased the grade II listed building – which has six bedrooms, a swimming pool and 20 acres of land – with wife Mindy in 2008.
James May – £31m
He was branded ‘Captain Slow’ on Top Gear – but we’re sure James May was laughing all the way to the bank after netting a smooth £31m.
James reportedly made £500,000 a year from his 12-year stint on Top Gear, which ended in 2015 and has since been topped up thanks to The Grand Tour and a clever business deal.
James, Jeremy and Richard co-founded production company W Chump & Sons Ltd, which owns the rights to the show – much like Clarkson did with Bedder 6.
The trio reportedly make £18,783 per day from The Grand Tour and James is believed to be on £7.2m per year – roughly £600,000 per episode.
Like Jeremy, the TV star owns an impressive array of cars including a Ferrari, Tesla, BMW, Rolls Royce and a Bentley – as well as a VW Beach Buggy used in the Amazon Prime show.
James, who has a £5m home in Hammersmith and another property in Wiltshire, tops up his earnings by writing and fronting TV shows about cars, food and travel.
Freddie Flintoff – £14.5m
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff made a fortune from his cricket career as one of the best international all-rounders.
He’s since used his cheeky personality to bag TV gigs including A League Of Their Own and Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams. He also won I’m A Celeb in 2015.
It’s believed Freddie was paid £500,000 per season for Top Gear before his crash.
Freddie, believed to be worth £14.5m, has beautiful cars ranging from a £180,000 Lamborghini to a slick black Porsche.
Paddy McGuiness – £7.3 million
Paddy McGuinness became a household name after starring in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights and hosting dating show Take Me Out.
He took over the BBC quiz show A Question Of Sport in 2021, and also earns £500,000 a year from Top Gear.
Paddy, believed to be worth £7.3m, lives in a seven-bedroom Cheshire mansion with his estranged wife Christine and their three children.
Despite owning a £115,000 Porsche Taycan Turbo T, Paddy claims he prefers driving vans.
Chris Harris – £7m
Part-time journalist, racing car driver and presenter Chris Harris is believed to be worth £7m.
For years he worked at Autocar magazine and later joined Drivers Republic and Evo to write about and review vehicles.
The star topped up his earnings with the YouTube series Chris Harris On Cars, which was adapted for DRIVE and later bought by the BBC as a standalone series in 2016.
In 2017 Chris signed up for Top Gear and reportedly took home around £716,000 per series.
He also earned a tidy sum from racing in the Nurburgring Tournaments and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Amateur Cup.
The star – who owns a Porsche, Mercedes Benz and Ferrari – was reportedly so ‘posh’ growing up that his parents hid his presents in their sauna.
Chris is reportedly married with three children although he likes to keep his personal life private.
Rory Reid – £3.9m
Rory Reid was the ‘tech geek’ of the Top Gear crew, having made a name for himself as a tech journalist.
Before presenting Top Gear between 2016 and 2019, he fronted Sky’s Gadget Geeks, ITV4 show Speed Freaks, and regularly appeared on The One Show.
Throughout his time on Top Gear he presented its sister show, Extra Gear, and as of 2021 fronts Discovery+ show Fifth Gear Recharged.
Rory, who’s reportedly worth £3.9m, drives a Ford Focus despite stating his dream car was a 1969 Corvette Stingray because astronauts drove them.
The Stig – unknown
Fast, faceless and worth a fortune, the drivers behind Top Gear’s The Stig character have made a fair amount, too.
Perry McCarthy, who played the character in series one and two, is estimated to be worth £1m.
He previously raced for Andrea Moda’s team in F1 before switching to drive sports cars, including in the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times.
Racing driver Ben Collins was also one of the men behind The Stig – and reportedly earned £70,000 doing so – but denied it for years.
In 2010 he released an autobiography finally outing himself as the character.
Ben – reportedly worth £1.1m – has also been a stunt driver for Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale and Skyfall.
The current Stig is unknown – and if Top Gear really is doomed, he may well take his secret to the grave.