The Grand Tour Season 4 was met with mixed reviews after its reveal over the Christmas period. Not only was the episode not focussed on cars (an issue for many), but it lacked story and, while it was funny, fell short. Read what we had to say about it here. But why has it changed? And why is there only two episodes per season? Read on…

Executive producer Andy Wilman was recently on The Media Show podcast where he revealed the reason for the change in the show. The podcast’s host, Amol Rajan, aimed some hard hitting questions at the man who was behind both Top Gear and The Grand Tour.

He asks: “What sort of risk assessment do you have to undertake before letting three multimillionaires set sail on tropical waters?”

Andy replies: “It’s got bigger because Richard Hammond keeps crashing and bumping into things so the risk assessment gets bigger, the premium goes up all the time.”

Amol pushes further digging for more information: “Have you got huge insurance policies? Give us a sense of how big.”

“It’s mental. I could make a special that we used to make on Top Gear for what we now pay on insurance.”

Teasing the amount of money he was talking about, Andy added: “Five noughts, it’s in that area with the premiums now.”

Amol then questioned the necessity of the insurance, asking if the hosts were ever truly in danger.

“Yeah it is genuinely dangerous,” Andy replied. “Because they do their things, we don’t get a stuntman in.”

This vast increase in expenses per episode could very well be the reason as to why there are only two episodes per season from now on. Surely, the money didn’t add up for The Grand Tour boys.

This is all guesswork, but it certainly rings some logic and, alongside their ages, may have worked out as the best option for the three (four including Wilman). We’ll have to see what the future holds.