What Chris Evans told friends before he quit Top Gear – as he dedicates today’s Radio 2 show to former colleagues
The 50-year-old quit the motoring show amid plummeting ratings and a sexual assault probe
FED up Chris Evans quit Top Gear after growing sick of taking criticism for the revamped show's failings, it has been claimed.
A friend of the 50-year-old explained that towards the end of the season's run they believed his detractors needed to "f*** off and die".
The friend told : "Every single day he has been accused of a different thing, all of which have been completely untrue. In the end you just think, 'f*** off and die'.
"If the show had done better, perhaps the battering would have been less bad. But he just thinks doing this will make him and his family happier. It is as simple as that."
A BBC source has confirmed co-host Matt LeBlanc is now close to signing a new deal as the show's front man.
Evans' resignation arrived as police confirmed they were looking into allegations he exposed himself and touched a woman's breasts while working for Channel 4 in the 1990s.
This morning Evans dedicated his radio show to his former Top Gear colleagues - suggesting it was time to "move on".
The 50-year-old announced yesterday he was stepping down from the show after just one season which saw miserable ratings.
Today on his Radio 2 breakfast show he addressed his departure.
He said: "Today's show is dedicated to all the Top Gear gang - morning gang. And today's show is entitled Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On. As we must, as we should."
Under Evans' stewardship, Top Gear's ratings dropped from around 8 million viewers to 1.9 million.
Sunday night's episode, featuring US star Patrick Dempsey, was the worst-ever rated Top Gear show.
He also referred to his exit while reading out the newspaper headlines during his breakfast show.
"I've got to go here, so bear with me," he told listeners, quoting the Daily Mirror front page: "Evans quits Top Gear: My best wasn't good enough."
"That's true - that's what I said yesterday in a tweet," he said.
After reading out a few more headlines referring to him, he added: "It's all true.
"But of course there was another high-profile, much more important resignation yesterday that doesn't make some of the front pages, and that's Nigel Farage stepping down from a very influential political party that had a lot to do with the EU referendum last week or the week before."
However, a Top Gear source told The Sun: "Chris is gone – everyone here is celebrating. It’s been a disaster.
"But Matt is going to get the big job on his own. There are already active negotiations and he’s almost certain to sign now that he doesn’t have to work with Chris.
"The plan is that Chris won’t be replaced but Matt will become the star presenter surrounded by the existing team to support him.
"The show is about more than one person."
His resignation comes as police confirmed they were looking into allegations of sexual assault against the presenter.
The incidents were alleged to have occurred in the 1990s, while he worked for Channel 4 in Tower Hamlets.
He is believed to face police questioning within days.
Last night a TV insider revealed: "The BBC have some serious questions to answer about why they’ve shown blind faith in Evans, while immediately suspending other presenters.
"He remains broadcasting every morning on Radio 2 with the full support of his bosses."
In a statement released to the media before Evans’ quit, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “An allegation of non-recent sexual assault was made to police on May 23.
"The allegation was made by a woman against a man, and relates to incidents in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s.”
"There have been no arrests and no person has been interviewed under caution. Enquires continue".
A BBC spokesman said of the sexual assault claims: "No individual has been named so we cannot comment."
Perry McCarthy, the original Stig, said Evans had "just not gelled with the audience".
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he said the show had been doomed after the first episode.
He explained: "I thought he would go, I thought he would make that decision, because the ratings have been going down and he's just not really looked comfortable and he's just not gelled with the audience.
"I think the biggest mistake was the first show.
"I feel that their first show was unfortunately really, really bad. They got it wrong."
He added: "It was too long, it was boring. They had all the resources there, the funny thing is the shows subsequent to that have been so much better, but it was that first one."
McCarthy said Evans had not been able to follow in the footsteps of Clarkson, Hammond and May.
"There was one thing they had which Chris didn't have," he said. "They created their own environment, didn't they, so everybody loved them, so Chris did have a real tough act to follow fitting into that, I'll give him that one, but I just maintain they got the balance wrong.
"They opened this up as a kind of game show around cars. You can't do that. It's got to have all the elements, it's got to have the balance of loads of fun, loads of banter."
The racing driver, who portrayed The Stig in the first two series of Top Gear, said he did not approve of the BBC continuing with the rest of the line-up and putting LeBlanc at the helm.
He said: "I believe the BBC have really got to have somebody replacing Chris, because what's Matt going to do, stand there on his own having banter?"
We can disclose he first met with BBC Studios director Mark Linsey last week to discuss the possibility of leaving.
Staff suspected something was up when he missed the Thursday night wrap party to mark the end of his first six-episode stint in charge.
Evans is also believed to have sought the advice with close friend Danny Baker – a consultant on the show – who recommended he go.
Yesterday Linsey said: “Chris is stepping down from his duties on Top Gear.
“He says he gave it his best shot doing everything he could to make the show a success.
“He firmly believes that the right remain, on both the production team and presenting team to take the show forward and make it the hit we want it to be.”
One insider said: “Everything Chris has always done is his own show, or he has made it his own, like the Radio 2 breakfast show after inheriting it from Terry Wogan.
“But fans loved Jeremy Clarkson and Chris could never make Top Gear his own.
“He’d never taken this much public criticism before and he just cracked.
“He spoke to Mark last week and let’s put it this way, he didn’t try overly hard to get him to stay.”
The Sun was the first to reveal discontent into “out of control” Evans’ behaviour in April after an incident behind-the-scenes at his Radio 2 breakfast show that resulted in a producer being reduced to tears.
We also told how BBC insiders believed he was becoming “more volatile” than previous presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who the Beeb sacked after a run-in with a producer.
Top Gear executive Lisa Clark quit after only five months in the job and we revealed how Evans and Le Blanc had fallen out before the show even went on air.
But at the time Beeb bosses stuck by him, wrongly claiming we were publishing “unfounded nonsense about Chris” that was “no longer worth any serious consideration or response.”
However, the show – which had its run cut to just six episodes – soon launched to disastrous ratings and reviews amid further reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil.
Then the former colleague came forward to reveal how Evans exposed himself to people who did not do what he wanted.
She told The Sun on Sunday: “I have no idea if he was getting some gratification out of this, but he used to get his penis out every time I saw him.
“He’d either just get it out, or he’d walk into a room naked.
“Sometimes it was erect, sometimes it wasn’t.
“I know other people experience the same thing at work but this was quite extreme because of the relentlessness of it, almost every day for two years.”
She claimed her complaints were ignored and the ordeal left her traumatised and on anti- depressants.
She also insisted she was speaking out to protect others at risk of being harassed by him.
'I GAVE IT MY BEST': EVANS'S ANNOUNCEMENT
"Stepping down from Top Gear. Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough. The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best. Full steam ahead then with Radio 2, CarFest, Children In Need, 500 Words and whatever else we can dream up in the future.
"I have never worked with a more committed and driven team than the team I have worked with over the last twelve months. I feel like my standing aside is the single best thing I can now do to help the cause. I remain a huge fan of the show, always have been, always will be.
"I will continue to focus on my radio show and the allied events that it encompasses."
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