The boys from Top Gear are getting hammered in the British media over more accusations of staging a scene on the scene on their show. This time, the "controversy" involves water. And hovercrafts. And lunch.
I put that word in quotes because while Top Gear has been accused of faking things before, this time, it all sounds rather silly. The UK's Independent reports that when Clarkson and company splashed a group of restaurant patrons with their Ford Transit hovervan in last weekend's episode, they were actually splashing actors paid to be there, not actual folks.
The newspaper reports that the story broke when one of the actors wrote about the experience on his blog, and mentioned that Clarkson actually splashed the crowd with the hovercraft twice.
Gasp! The horror of it all! Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children! I say that as far as Top Gear fakery controversies go — including the Tesla test that led to a lawsuit and other incidents — this one ranks way, way down the list. Way down there. Towards the bottom.
In other words, it's not a big deal. And the BBC had the right response:
A spokeswoman for the BBC told The Times: "Top Gear is an entertainment programme and I don’t think the viewers would have been taken in."
One quick question to the British media calling this a controversy: Did you actually think Top Gear was real?
Top Gear Faces Another Fake ‘Controversy’ Over Splashed Actors