Podcast guru Joe Rogan was left blown away by claims the BBC ignored safety concerns prior to Freddie Flintoff’s accident.
The former England cricket star, suffered life-threatening injuries during an accident during filming in December 2022.
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Flintoff was driving a three-wheeled car when it flipped over at a high speed, causing facial scarring and broken ribs.
The 46-year-old was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and such was the magnitude of the crash, co-host Chris Harris thought Flintoff had died.
The 2005 Ashes star recovered from the horror crash but suffers from flashbacks from the day of the accident.
Harris admits he had warned BBC bosses prior to the crash that ‘someone’s going to die’ if safety concerns weren’t addressed, but was ignored.
“What was never spoken about was that three months before the accident, I’d gone to the BBC and said, ‘Unless you change something, someone’s going to die on this show’,” Harris told Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“So I went to them, I went to the BBC and I told them of my concerns from what I’d seen – as the most experienced driver on the show by a mile.
“I said, ‘If we carry on at the very least we’re going to have a serious injury at the very worst we’re going to have fatality’.”
Harris revealed that co-hosts of the popular BBC show – Flintoff and TV presenter Paddy McGuiness did not have the experience he had he cars and were not qualified to make decisions.
In a damning interview, Harris said BBC and Top Gear bosses provided an insufficient briefing for the three-wheeler stunt.
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“He wasn’t wearing a crash helmet,” the presenter said of Flintoff. “And if you do that, even at 25, 30 miles an hour, the injuries that you sustain are profound.”
Recalling the moment the crash took place, Rogan was left speechless when Harris added: “[Flintoff] wasn’t moving, so I thought he was dead. I assumed he was, then he moved.
“He’s a physical specimen, Fred, he’s a big guy – six foot five, six foot six, strong. And if he wasn’t so strong, he wouldn’t have survived.
“He’s a great advert for physical strength and conditioning, because if he hadn’t been that strong, he’d have just snapped his neck, he’d be dead.”
He continued: “It’s a very, difficult car, you know.
“You have to be aware of its limitations. And I think that really was difficult, and you need experience.
“There were two people that had driven a Morgan three-wheeler before, present that day – me and someone else, a pro driver.
“And we were sitting inside at that time. No one had asked us anything about the car. They’d just gone on and shot it without us.”
Harris continued his damning indictment of the Beeb, saying bosses expected too much from those not from motoring backgrounds and far less ability behind the wheel.
“I think if I’m looking in the mirror, I find it very difficult, even now, that Andrew, who I loved to bits, a lovely man, he was a pro cricket player. He wasn’t an automotive guy.
“And because of the call times that day, that was the first time we’d never had the chance to talk about how he might approach a difficult vehicle.
“And that was the one day that it went wrong. I find that very difficult to live with. And I feel partly responsible because I didn’t get the chance to talk to him.”