British newspaper believed Top Gear was real, “exposes” fake airship police chase
In case you saw last week’s Top Gear episode, or read our review for that matter, you know that James May tried piloting an airship with a caravan stuck to its belly as new way of caravaning through England. During his adventures, he supposedly breached the restricted air space of an airport, and a police helicopter chased him through the area.
Although it was clear that it was a scripted event, as breaching the airspace of an airport is a serious crime, the UK’s second largest newspaper, the Daily Mail, ran a full investigation, and was shocked to find out that the whole event was staged.
“The whole event was set up,” revealed the man who provided the fake police helicopter. “It was completely scripted, there was no real emergency - we were hired to play along.” The newspaper also said that while James May, which has a pilot’s license for small aircrafts, was in the airship, a professional pilot handled the trickier maneuvers.
Seeing as how thing were getting serious, a representative of the BBC come forward and said that: “As an entertainment program, Top Gear prides itself on making silly films that don’t pretend to represent real life. Any suggestion it deliberately misled viewers is patently ludicrous.”
Frankly, I think the joke’s on the reporters who actually believed the things shown in Top Gear. Sure, most of the car-related things are real, but the show is also an entertainment one, which focuses on making people laugh.
Source: Daily Mail via Jalopnik
The Daily Mail is an unfortunate joke in itself.