I’ll just get right to the point — everyone’s okay and it wasn’t a serious incident. Nothing to worry about. However it’s still worth a little news post here.

On Friday, Jeremy and Richard were in a helicopter flying over Auckland Harbour in New Zealand when a seagull hit the helicopter’s rotor blade. They made an emergency landing nearby and luckily everyone is okay.

[Source: Daily Mail]

Yes this news is from last week, but I haven’t been reading my e-mail too well lately so it slipped between the cracks. Whoops.

During a press conference for Top Gear Live in Australia, Jeremy was asked about the American version of Top Gear and if he thought it was going to be shown in Australia at all. He replied that the show had been “canned” and that us Americans “just don’t get it”. Now he may have just been referring to NBC passing on the show, but it may also be really dead. I’m not sure as Clarkson isn’t usually the most reliable when it comes to these kinds of things.

Anyway, you can see for yourself at 6:30 in:

[Source: carsguide.com.au, thanks to everyone who sent in tips]

It seems that the Telegraph was wrong in their recent article. TopGear.com has come out to officially reveal that the Stig is none of other than dead legendary racer Graham Hill! Turns out his death in the 1970’s was actually faked and he’s been hiding out in a bush ever since.

They also revealed that the chairman of crisis-hit Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Tom McKillop as well as Barack Obama have also taken turns portraying the Stig.

Most shocking of all though is a scandal that has surfaced in which Clarkson has been exposed as a big liar after claiming that the Stig had magnetic knees. Turns out it isn’t true according to a smart scientist. Shame on you Clarkson for lying to us all.

Jeremy, Richard, and James were interviewed for Australia’s 60 Minutes show recently and here’s the video. It’s a surprisingly interesting look at behind the scenes of the show.

Jeremy’s new DVD, Thriller, goes on sale on November 3rd.

Here’s a short trailer for it:

Jeremy was in a head-on collision according to The Mirror:

He suffered minor injuries to his legs, hand and back in the head-on collision during filming for the BBC show.

Clarkson, 48, said: “My right index finger looked like a burst sausage, my left shin was fatter than my thigh and my back felt like someone had driven over it with a pile-driver.”

The Mirror also has a quote though from Jeremy’s wife: “My husband is fine”. Whew.

Thanks to diti for the tip.

The British Prime Minister’s office has responded to the petition to “make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister”:

We thought long and hard about the request to make Jeremy Clarkson the Prime Minister and in the end we put our thoughts down in a short film on YouTube. You can take a look here

Thanks to everyone that sent in tips!

How fast will Stig get the Nissan GT-R around the Top Gear Test Track? Time to see for yourself.

Andy talked about it earlier today as well, but now Jeremy has weighed in on the whole staged-or-real questions that always pop-up about the big races that they do.

During our race to Oslo, the poor cameraman in the back of the tracking car had to pee in a bottle. We do not stop.

In the Ferrari versus plane race to Verbier, I actually overtook the tracking car, leaving me with nothing but the on board mini cams. I was that desperate to get there first.

And we get back to be accused of fakery by some internet dweeb. It makes my effing teeth itch with rage.

Of course, once the race is run and the result in the bag, the camera crews stay behind to pick up the shots needed to make the whole thing work on television. The details. The icing. But that doesn’t affect the outcome.

And apparently Sunday’s race is “the best film we’ve ever made.” Sunday cannot get here quick enough.

In his latest Times column, Jeremy mentions that Top Gear will return in three weeks which works out to be June 22nd as we previously suspected. Yay!