McGuinness said his former co-star is “very resilient”.

By Katelyn Mensah

Published: Monday, 26 February 2024 at 11:04 AM

---

Paddy McGuinness has given an update on Freddie Flintoff, after he was involved in a serious car crash on Top Gear towards the end of 2022.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain, the TV presenter told the hosts that he had no doubt that Flintoff is “right as rain”, admitting he hadn’t spoken to him in “a while”.

He said: “He’s all right. I’ve not spoken to him for a while, but, you know, he is getting on with it.

“He is a very resilient character, is Fred. So I’ve no doubt he’ll be right as rain.”

Flintoff and McGuinness both joined automotive journalist Chris Harris on the show as presenters in 2019, after Rory Reid, Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Jordan left.

In December 2022, Flintoff was involved in a crash at Dunsfold Aerodrome. The former cricketer was then airlifted to hospital, with his son Corey telling the MailOnline his father was lucky to be alive.

“I’m not too sure what happened but he is lucky to be alive,” Corey told the publication at the time. “It was a pretty nasty crash. It is shocking. We are all shocked but just hope he’s going to be OK.”

In October of last year, it was confirmed that Flintoff had reached a settlement with the BBC, reportedly worth £9 million, with BBC Studios “sincerely” apologising to the presenter.

Since then, the BBC has confirmed that Top Gear would not be returning “for the foreseeable future”, with the corporation making the decision “to rest the UK show”.

A statement from the BBC read: “We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do. All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus, including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing.”