Jeremy Clarkson for both. Hear me out...
Not necessarily because he's an entertaining person, but because whenever he's done anything this year, ALL the trolls have come out to play.

And not just the 'net trolls, it's the middle class Telegraph trolls! It's people arguing, in chatspeak, with people who still think that addressing the greengrocer's comma is a risque argument. On public forums!

This is something I find vastly, endlessly entertaining. I can see how it's also very annoying, though. So, yeah. Both.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Sun 1 Jan 2012, 22:51, 12 replies)

James May does that for me.
& so much more.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 5:25, closed)

Most of the people who get red faced about Clarkson only do so becuase they've been told they should. Bit like those that act as if Comic Sans is worse than Hitler.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 10:53, closed)

Comic Sans
gassed my grandfather, you insensitive cunt.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 2 Jan 2012, 20:36, closed)

It never happend.

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 21:05, closed)

Jeremy Clarkson
is little more than a caricature.

It seems that he started as a bog standard TV journalist, developed his bombastic alter-ego over the course of about 10 years, then it started consuming him. He now seems unable to stop himself making the same absurd and provocative rants outside of the place where they make sense (or at least are funny) - top gear.

The result is he is a tedious and irritating bufoon. In an ironic turn of events, his tiresome real life self has now started to consume his once-funny TV personality, and Top Gear is being spolied by his presence.

All quite depressing - especially as he gets paid so much money for it.
(username failed moderation, Tue 3 Jan 2012, 12:34, closed)

i used to like Top Gear but its turned into a all year round panto
my opinion changed regarding Clarkson when i found out through media sources (related to my job) that he pretty much joint owns a company called Bedder 6 with BBC Worldwide

details of the company (taken from wiki)
Bedder 6 is a British company, responsible for exploiting the Top Gear brand. It was founded by presenter Jeremy Clarkson and executive producer Andy Wilman in October 2006.
In November 2007, BBC Worldwide purchased 5001 shares giving them a stake of just over 50% of the business. They are believed to have paid £100 for the shares, but also transferred merchandising and some foreign sales rights to the company.
The remaining 5000 shares are split 60/40 between Clarkson and Wilman respectively

It amazes me that Top Gear a TV Show funded by Tax payers hasnt been investigated considering that Tax Payers money is used to fund Top Gear.

Money generated from magazine sales and third party products seems to be shared between the BBC and Jeremy's own privately owned company ?

Wouldnt this mean Tax payers are funding a large part of a private company and advertsining ? isnt this against white paper rules regarding the spending of tax payers money ?

google bedder 6 and if you are still wondering why the top gear brand has been sold to so many countries
youre already Clarksons key audience. Be rich be famous but use your own money to gain wealth Jeremy.

Bedder 6 makes almost 2 million a year add this to Jeremy's wages for the TV show and then relate it to Jeremy moaning about car tax or London's congestion charge .....
(Cov Boy, Tue 3 Jan 2012, 14:33, closed)

I dont suppose it's
that rare - if JC is able to generate a chunk of his income from other commercial activities, facilitated by the beeb, there'd be an argument that it's saving taxpayers money. I know what you mean though, it's a bit fishy.

And what's with Andy Wilman? He sometimes gets listed as 'talent' for Top Gear. Makes me laugh. 'Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman'. Er, no - some little prick is letting his ego get ahead of itself.
(username failed moderation, Tue 3 Jan 2012, 16:31, closed)

Bedder 6 the company Clarkson and Andy Wilman own makes its profits from third party Top Gear products and overseas franchising (American Top Gear and Aussie Top Gear and all the others). Also anything not related to the TV show which includes Top Gear magazine any Top Gear related products jigsaws bendy stigs pens etc. The Company and Top Gear brand is currently being split away from the BBC portfolio altogether because of complaints from other private Magazine publishers. Is bedder 6 reinvesting their yearly profits back into the Top Gear brand to make life cheaper for the tax payer ? If it is where are the savings can we see them ? I believe that bedder 6 takes its profits and the BBC get the other half (their share of the profits) either way the way i see it, it seems a tax payer funded show is being used to generate private profits.
(Cov Boy, Tue 3 Jan 2012, 16:44, closed)

Yes, I get that.
The point is that

a) To some extent, Top Gear / Jeremy Clarkson are the same thing. So, he is being allowed to exploit his own brand. What they're saying is Top gear would not survive without him, and it's probably true.

b) Arguably, the dividend he receives from the spin-off is money the BBC don't need to pay him.

Bottom line is; The BBC earn a good chunk of cash from the venture, which is based pretty much around the popularity of Jeremy Clarkson. They mitigate their liability to pay him fees, so it makes sense.
(username failed moderation, Tue 3 Jan 2012, 17:15, closed)

Top Gear isn't paid for out of general taxation,
it's paid for by the BBC, who derive their income from the license fee (not a tax) and the revenues generated by BBC Worldwide. This is all quite proper, and certainly not a terrible secret.

"Tax payers' money" is generally taken to mean money paid in tax, not any and all money spent by those who also pay tax.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 4 Jan 2012, 15:13, closed)

incorrect monster munch. The TV show Top Gear is paid for out of the licence fee. BBC Worldwide which handles the magazine division and online content is funded (or used to be funded) as you say by sales from BBC worldwide made products. My issue with Clarkson is the fact he has made a private company to syphon off profits from the fame of a tax payer funded tv show (although i do take on board hes a large part of that product). I dont lose sleep over it but i do think its hypocritical of Clarkson to moan as much as he does at the lengths he moans at when hes milking the pot as much as he is. Just for the record BBC Worldwide (Magazine Division) has actually now been sold to Immediate Media a private investment company. BBC (TV Show) magazines no longer contain the purple BBC logo's on them for this very reason (including Top Gear magazine) . BBC Worldwide now exists for online educational and white paper related content only, its been seperated recently for a good reason.
(Cov Boy, Thu 5 Jan 2012, 10:03, closed)

Bashing Clarkson
used to be beneath me, he never said anything that was worthy of my attention for more than a couple of seconds, good or bad. However, after seeing him vandalise a sweet old XJS and ram a Rolls Royce the other night, in the name of light entertainment, he's top of my Cunts List.
(Rsoles, Wed 4 Jan 2012, 13:35, closed)