'Top Gear's Rory Reid says he's 'disappointed' over Matt LeBlanc's departure

This current series of Top Gear will be Matt LeBlanc’s last, and co-presenter Rory Reid sounds like he’s a bit gutted about it.

Friends star LeBlanc announced he’d be quitting the veteran BBC motoring show in May last year, in order to spend more time with his family in the States.

It was then announced in October that ex-England cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff and Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness will be taking over for the next series.

But speaking to Digital Spy, Reid said that the crew wasn’t aware while filming the 26th series that it would be LeBlanc’s last.

“We didn’t have any of that over our heads. I heard at a very similar time to everyone else. My reaction was… first of all I got a call from Matt, and Matt told me that he wasn’t going to come back,” he said.

“And he has his reasons for wanting to pursue… to be closer to his family. As a father myself, I completely understand his point of view.

“From a selfish point of view, I think it’s disappointing that we weren’t able to continue what we worked on over the last three years.

“We had a good thing going, but you know things happen. We move on.”

LeBlanc took on co-presenting duties of the show in 2016, along with Chris Evans, staying on after Evans departed after just one series.

New hosts Flintoff and McGuinness will be joined by racing driver Chris Harris too for series 27, which should air later this year.

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