The BBC treated me like a piece of meat in bid for higher ratings says Freddie Flintoff as he slams Top Gear stunts
THE BBC’s Top Gear treated Freddie Flintoff like “a piece of meat”, according to the former England cricketer in his new bombshell documentary.
He claims the relentless drive for higher viewing figures meant bosses pursued increasingly sensational stunts — and the stars often diced with danger in the process.
In his new Disney+ show, Flintoff says when he first moved into television, he didn’t realise how badly he could be treated — until he suffered the crash that changed his life forever.
Freddie, 47, says: “That’s the danger that TV falls into — and I found out the hard way, eventually.
“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.
‘Triggering’
“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.”
Freddie got a £9million payout from BBC Studios following the accident in December 2022 during filming at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.
It comes as….
- Freddie Flintoff thought he was dead after his face was almost ripped off in horror Top Gear crash
- Freddie admits ‘I wished I’d been killed‘ in devastating confession after Top Gear accident in his new doc
- Freddie relives crash ‘every night’ and ‘hasn’t slept the same since’
- Heartbroken Freddie reveals his ‘frightened’ son, 3, ‘wouldn’t come near him’ as horrifying face wounds healed
- Jack Whitehall reveals bulimia battle as he praises ‘brave’ Freddie Flintoff on documentary
His horrific brush with death also led to the Beeb shelving the hit motoring show.
But the compensation payout cannot negate the trauma Freddie’s endured over more than two years as he tries to rebuild his life.
That meant he struggled in his relationships with his former Top Gear co-stars, Paddy McGuinness, 51, and Chris Harris, 50.
Freddie says he did have a particularly emotional reunion with Chris, who has also spoken out about the increasingly dangerous driving stunts that were being performed on the show.
But he has felt it too difficult to stay in touch with both of them on a more permanent basis. Freddie says: “We’ve been in contact . . . but I feel bad I haven’t been more in contact with Chris and Paddy.
“Part of it is, for myself a little bit, you know what I mean? I hate the word ‘triggering’, but I’m worried about that.
“(The show) is something that stopped, in some ways, because of what happened to me.
Everybody wants more, everybody wants that thing that nobody has seen before, everyone wants that bigger stunt
Freddie Flintoff
“Their careers have been altered as well so I feel, not guilty, but I feel bad for them.
“And also, it’s like, what happened gets dragged up enough on my own, without adding to that.”
Freddie reveals that as part of processing what had happened to him, he put himself through the ordeal of watching Top Gear’s in-car footage taken in the run-up to his car overturning.
He said: “I’ve seen it, I demanded it. I wanted validation for myself. ‘THIS is why I’m feeling like that, this is why I’m so bad.’ ”
He adds: “Sometimes I get disappointed in myself the way I have reacted to it.
“I was that proud. What do you call it? Toxic masculinity?
“You feel like, I should have just shrugged this off.
“I should have just got on with my life.” But he also admits that he suffers from frequent flashbacks and nightmares, and the crash also plays over and over in his mind nightly — just like a movie he cannot turn off.
Freddie says: “I still live it every day. I see the car every night when I go to bed. It’s so vivid. I’ve not slept the same since.
“Even the memories of it are real, to the point where now I’m talking about it I’m getting a bit jittery.
“I can feel the pain on this side of my face — I can feel phantom pains. It’s like a bit of a curse, really. I’ve got PTSD and I get anxious. For periods of time I just find myself crying for no particular reason.”
As a result, Freddie spent most of 2023 inside the Cheshire home he shares with wife Rachael and their four children.
Even though it meant he got to enjoy more family time, that basic joy was marred by his extensive wounds which took such a long time to heal.
I see the car every night when I go to bed. It’s so vivid. I’ve not slept the same since
Freddie Flintoff
In the documentary he says: “What I’ve done, I suppose, in this house, is become safe and be scared to step outside of it.
“You want to be there for the kids and you don’t want to miss stuff and fortunately I’ve got four of them. I’ve spent all this time with a three-and-a-half-year old.
“He wouldn’t come near me to begin with, I think it frightened him, my face. It frightened me. That was heartbreaking.”
The documentary also looks at how cricket came to the rescue of former England star and Ashes winner Freddie, as the sport he loves gave him a familiar space to return to along with his old mates from his playing days.
But even then, when he returned to the game, he knew he was effectively re-entering the spotlight, which he initially struggled with.
Freddie’s mate Rob Key, director of the England Lions team, asked him to coach them for an upcoming one-day series, but he struggled to just attend the first session.
He recalls: “I was in my room and wanted to go down, and I had about five or six goes at leaving the room. I couldn’t.
“The anxiety was just working overtime. Everything was just crashing down on me.
“Then it was, ‘I’ve got to do it at some point, I know there’s cameras on me, I know there’s going to be a reaction but I’m here. What am I expecting?’. And I finally ventured out — no big reveal like The Masked Singer.
“It was just the safest place I could have done it, with the best people.
“As a way to put my face back in public. It was the perfect way.
“I think sometimes you find help when you least expect it.”
The documentary also shows Freddie dipping his toes back in the water of TV presenting, following him backstage as he hosts the one-off rebooted episode of ITV’s Bullseye last Christmas.
In a more hopeful place
Freddie declares: “Bullseye is, for me, maybe an option to put TV to bed, on safe ground.”
Except he has now agreed to host a full series of the darts gameshow, plus he has a third BBC series of Field of Dreams — where he coaches a group of promising teen cricket players — lined up.
All this suggests that Freddie has not completely turned his back on the addictive world of telly, despite his ordeal.
And although the documentary sees him in a more hopeful place, Freddie says he doesn’t quite know who he is any more — TV host, cricketing coach, or something else entirely.
Freddie reckons: “If you ask me where I’m aiming with this, where I’m going? I don’t really know.
“Everyone goes on these ‘journeys’. But I think you only go on a journey if you know where you’re going. And I’ve got no idea.”
He adds on the documentary: “I don’t think I’m ever going to be better, I’m just different now.
“It’s just let’s find somewhere where I can sit quite comfortably, and I’m getting there, slowly.”
- Flintoff is on Disney+ tomorrow.