Matt LeBlanc to front Top Gear in 2 year deal – and be paid by BBC Worldwide

Matt LeBlanc will front the next two series of Top Gear following the departure of Chris Evans, in a two-year deal reported to be worth up to £2 million.

If anything of substance came out of the last Top Gear run – the one with Chris Evans instead of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May – it was that Friends actor Matt LeBlanc is a proper petrolhead and a very competent presenter.

So it comes as no surprise that the BBC has done a deal with Joey to present Top Gear for the next two series, a deal said to be worth somewhere between £1.5 and £2 million.

But the amount LeBlanc will be paid looks set to stay secret, because it seems he’s going to get the bulk of his fee paid by BBC Worldwide, a commercial arm of the Beeb and therefore outside the proposed White Paper rules that will see BBC stars’ salaries disclosed.

Matt will be presenting alongside Chris Harris and Rory Reid – ironically the two presenters pushed to the side in the first series of ‘New New’ Top Gear – with the ‘Star’ contingent of Eddie Jordan and Sabine Schmitz relegated to more occasional appearances. The Stig, of course, will remain ever present.

And by the time the next series of Top Gear arrives, we’ll be able to compare it properly to The Grand Tour from Clarkson, Hammond and May, which airs in November.