Jodie Kidd: I won’t ever join the Top Gear boys
The model and petrolhead rules out teaming up with Clarkson and co – and ever doing another reality show again following her MasterChef and Strictly appearances
Jodie Kidd has packed a lot into her 35 years.
She has been a model since she was 15, plays polo to a high level and golf off a handicap of 18. Kidd has also enjoyed a successful career as a Maserati racing driver, competing at some of Europe’s most prestigious racing circuits in the Maserati Trofeo Series.
And if that’s not enough she was a finalist in the recent MasterChef final, having notched a creditable sixth place in the 2008 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Added to that she is also about to be the face of a raft of new equestrian coverage on CNN starting in September, presenting coverage from across Europe of the top events.
But one thing the model, presenter and petrolhead won’t be doing, despite persistent rumours that she might one day, is join the roster of Top Gear presenters.
Asked by RadioTimes if she would ever be interested in taking a berth alongside Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond Kidd said: “I couldn’t join those boys. No, God no.”
She declined to say why but suggested that the show’s appetite for controversy was not a reason.
“I just ignore them,” she said when asked what she thinks when the show hits the headlines for all the wrong reasons (controversies such as Clarkson’s use of the word “slope” in the Top Gears Burma special which recently saw the show receive a rebuke from Ofcom).
One thing that we can be sure about is that Kidd is not afraid of male competition and clearly harbours no fears of being the sole female in any company.
She tells us: “The one thing I have done my whole life is I’ve gone up with the boys and I’ve really tried to – not make women proud – but to go, ‘look, we can do it as well’. So I’ve always done very male-dominated sports and given the boys a run for their money.
“If I’ve won something, I’ve gone up against he boys and I’ve played better or raced quicker than them, and they’ve been giving me s**t, I’ve gone, yeah, what?”
Kidd, who has just finished filming Celebrity MasterChef – where she made the final three alongside eventual winner Sophie Thompson and adventurer Charley Boorman – is also clear that if she ever takes on motorcycle enthusiast Boorman in a race of any kind she would win.
“It would just be a waste of time,” she laughs about any kind of vehicular challenge with the man who rode his motorbike around the world with Ewan McGregor.
But despite enjoying her time on MasterChef the onetime Strictly alumnus is also adamant that she has finished with reality shows.
“I’m done now. I’ve learnt how to dance, and how to cook. I ain’t going to be sitting in a jungle if that’s what you’re getting at. There’s not a lot you come out with there.”
CNN Equestrian starts on CNN International on 13th September at 6:30pm
Additional Reporting: Celia Watson
