The Grand Tour takes on epic Mozambique roadtrip to end hunger in poor villages with fish deliveries
THE Grand Tour has ditched its “pointless” challenges in favour of an epic series finale to help locals in Mozambique.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May try to bring fish and seafood to hungry villages in the centre of the African country.
The episode, which ends the current run before another special later this year, tackles the diet problem of small central villages who can’t get access to the plentiful supply of fish in coastal towns just 100 miles away.
The trio look to solve this by attempting to transport food to the parts where dinner is mainly low fibre and low protein grain.
Clarkson, who came up with the idea after watching an Anthony Bourdain documentary, said it was “one of the most successful things we have ever done”.
The 57-year-old said: “Normally our challenges are pointless. If it is something people ask, then we will try and answer it in the most entertaining way we can think of.
“We have done that again but this time it had some meat to it because it is ‘well why can’t they get the fish from there to there?'”
And while it has a serious message, show bosses admitted there’s a hint of tongue-in-cheek poking fun at celebs like Bono and Angeline Jolie.
Producer Andy Wilman said: “They think they’re going to get these Nobel Prizes for ending world hunger. It’s The Grand Tour (tries to) saves the world.”
May added: “What we’re actually doing is not played for laughs, it’s a genuine attempt.
“To a certain extent, the programme is also slightly taking the mickey out of charitable things done on certain TV channels where well – known celebrities turn up somewhere very poor and say, look, isn’t this terrible and have a cry and then fly home again, first class.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be The Grand Tour without a few ridiculous moments, either, as the trio cannot agree how is best to get the fish to the destination.
Hammond decides he wants a motorbike, May is in a beat up old 1980s Mercedes while Clarkson goes with a Nissan Hardbody pick-up.
And predictably the accident-prone Hammond, who survived another supercar horror crash this series, was in the wars again.
The Hamster fell off £800 TVS Star HLX 125 bike almost 30 times during filming as he tackled the boggy roads.
He said: “Things that have gone wrong this series. I had a slight incident in Switzerland when I departed the road backwards in quite a fast car but I also crashed a number of times on a motorcycle in Mozambique.
“Basically, what’s gone wrong is I keep getting injured.”
Naturally his co-presenters found this rather amusing with Clarkson admitting “there are moments in the Mozambique film where I laughed so much, you know that dangerous laughter when you think if I do not breathe in I am actually going to suffocate to death”.
The Mozambique special airs on Friday, February 16 as series two of The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime concludes.
The series has visited 14 countries with 700,000 miles flown and £11million worth of cars tested.
And it’s not been without mishaps with Clarkson, Hammond and May racking up one broken leg, one bout of pneumonia and one “undisclosed illness”.