Watching Jonathan LaPaglia, Beau Ryan and Blair Joscelyne careering through Colombia in, respectively, a 1977 Dodge Dart, a retro Jeep and a Renault 4, ribbing one another over the two-way radio and stopping for a skinny-dip, it would appear the new hosts of Top Gear Australia are old mates.
- Advertisement -
But the two seasoned television presenters and Joscelyne, the Mighty Car Mods YouTuber, only met at a casting test at the Sydney Motorsport Park shortly before they embarked on the 130-day shoot for the series, which also took them around Australia and to France, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco and the US.
Top Gear Australia hosts Beau Ryan (left), Jonathan LaPaglia and Blair Joscelyne.
“We hit it off instantly, but we’re so different,” says Ryan, host of The Amazing Race Australia. “We like different cars, which suits the show perfectly. We choose from our heart. We each genuinely think our car is the best.”
- Advertisement -
Adds LaPaglia, the long-time Australian Survivor host: “Beau likes big flashy cars – supercars. I have a vintage bent and Blair just likes the crap.”
Joscelyne agrees: “If you have two supercars and a little cheap Japanese modified car trying to keep up, that’s me. Japanese cars are accessible. They bring performance for the every-person, and parts are really cheap. I’m a cheap guy.”
Although a television novice, Joscelyne is the most car-literate of the trio. LaPaglia, along with his actor brother, Anthony LaPaglia, grew up learning from their mechanic father, and now drives a self-built 1973 Dodge Challenger. Ryan’s motoring credentials are limited to an uncle having owned a dealership.
- Advertisement -
Together, they follow the 2002 Jeremy Clarkson Top Gear format that took its lead from the original BBC show that ran from 1977 to 2001. Outlandish challenges are undertaken in clapped-out vehicles, new models are test-driven, and, back at the studio, celebrity guests appear in front of a live audience. On the road in Europe, UK Top Gear crew and producers took the reins.
“They’ve seen multiple iterations of the show,” says Joscelyne. “They were really welcoming of us into their family, and they worked their arses off. As long as the sun was up, we were filming … Sometimes we’d say, ‘What happens if we break down?’ And they’d say, ‘You just work it out, and we’ll keep filming’.”
