- Andrew Flintoff was involved in a horror car crash while filming Top Gear in 2022
- He’s claimed the BBC treated him ‘like a piece of meat’ while he was on the show
- Flintoff’s revelation came in his new eye-opening Disney+ documentary
Andrew Flintoff has criticised the BBC for treating him ‘like a piece of meat’ in order to gain more TV viewers prior to his life-changing Top Gear car crash in 2022.
Cricket legend Flintoff, 47, took over presenting duties on Top Gear in early 2019 and had almost four years on the show before his horror crash in December 2022 left him fighting for his life.
He suffered severe facial injuries and remained away from the public eye for months before returning to cricket in a coaching capacity in the late summer of 2023.
Now, over two years on from his crash, Flintoff has opened up on his time on Top Gear for his new Disney+ documentary that will be released in full on Friday, and claimed the BBC were always willing to push the boundaries of what was possible to improve viewing figures.
‘That’s the danger that TV falls into — and I found out the hard way, eventually,’ Flintoff explained.
‘Everybody wants more, everybody wants that thing that nobody has seen before, everyone wants that bigger stunt. In some ways it’s, “Let’s have that near miss, because then that’ll get viewers”. Everything is about viewers. Always, always.
Andrew Flintoff has taken aim at the BBC for treating him ‘like a piece of meat’ during his time on Top Gear
Flintoff claimed the BBC pushed the boundaries for more viewers prior to his 2022 car crash
Flintoff was left with severe facial injuries after being airlifted to hospital following his crash
‘And I should have been cleverer on this, because I learnt this in sport as well… and was just treated like a piece of meat.
‘That’s TV and sport, I think that’s where they’re quite similar.
‘You’re just a commodity, a piece of meat.’
Flintoff was involved in two crashes while filming Top Gear before his December 2022 ordeal, but managed to escape serious injury on both occasions.
He was not so fortunate the third time and had to be airlifted to hospital before receiving treatment.
Top Gear was put on hold for the ‘foreseeable future’ after Flintoff’s crash and is yet to return, while the former England all-rounder received a £9m payout from the BBC.
Flintoff laid bare his struggles in the documentary, even admitting he wished he had died in the aftermath of the crash after fearing his ‘face had come off’.
His wife, Rachael, who shares three children with the ex-cricketer, also revealed she’d ‘never seen someone so scared’ after being by Flintoff’s side throughout his recovery.
Flintoff’s wife, Rachael, (pictured together in 2015) revealed she had ‘never seen someone so scared’ after helping her husband through his recovery
Flintoff admitted he rarely speaks to Paddy McGuinness anymore in the wake of his crash
Flintoff has returned to the public eye through coaching with the England cricket team
Flintoff presented Top Gear alongside Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, but stated in the documentary that he barely speaks to McGuinness anymore in the wake of his near-fatal crash.
He has embraced the sport that he once flourished in, though, after being welcomed back into the England setup over the past 18 months.
Flintoff revealed it took him ’10 goes to leave my bedroom’ when he first agreed to take on a coaching role with England, but he quickly settled back in after chatting with the likes of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Joe Root.
He has since been named head coach of the Northern Superchargers for the Hundred, and was placed in charge of the England Lions over the winter as he looks to develop the next generation of talent for the national team.
Flintoff is available exclusively on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland from Friday, April 25.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .