Top Gear Australia new hosts reveal why there’s still a place for old-school petrol cars

Despite their merciless mutual sledging, new Top Gear Australia hosts Jonathan LaPaglia, Beau Ryan and Blair Joscelyne reveal how their love of old-school engines brought them together.

Jonathan LaPaglia admits there were times when he felt we was herding cats while making the new series of Top Gear Australia.

The veteran actor and Survivor host has teamed up with rugby league star turned TV personality Beau Ryan and musician/YouTuber Blair Joscelyne for the latest local iteration of the long-running and much loved motoring show, which airs on Paramount+ next week.

And it might be the jet-lag after flying in from his US base for a full-throttle launch at Sydney Motorsport Park last week, but sitting alongside his younger co-hosts in the streaming service’s offices, LaPaglia has an air of resignation as they banter relentlessly and he struggles to get a word in edgewise.

“Unfortunately, it was all the time,” says the 54-year-old LaPaglia, with a hollow laugh when asked if he sometimes felt like the only responsible adult in the room during the five months of globetrotting production for the shows. “It was like being with two 12-year-olds, who have eaten too much sugar. It was a lot.”

Right on cue, the irrepressible Ryan, chimes in with: “He’s very patient, very intense, mature and all that, but boring and needs to cheer up a bit.”

Not to be outdone, from the other end of the couch and sporting his trademark backwards cap, Joscelyne offers: “I think the role of children is to try to keep the older people young. I’m not that young myself. I’m 46 this year and Beau is 38 and Jonathan’s is heading towards 60, and so the point is for us, we have got to try to keep him zesty because otherwise, you know what happens when you retire and there’s no work – everything falls apart.

“We are keeping him alive – it’s all about longevity – and making sure he eats his greens and keeps his bicep isometrics going. They are the only exercises he does and he needs some cardio.”

Jonathan LaPaglia, Beau Ryan and Blair Joscelyne at home with their heads in an engine.

Despite the sledging – or more likely because of it – the trio clearly enjoy each other’s company and it was that chemistry that scored them the prize TV gig in the globally celebrated franchise. The producers had auditioned many different combinations searching for that elusive alchemy that can make or break a lifestyle-travel-motoring show like Top Gear but Ryan says that despite not knowing the other two, he knew immediately they had a winning formula.

“I think the chemistry test worked straight away,” he says. “Respectfully, we did it with a lot of different people, but soon as we got together I just felt right.

“I said ‘you can’t fake this – this is it and it’s ours to lose, just us three’. Mind you, I did say that to about six other teams …”

The Top Gear format goes all the way back to 1977 and has spawned several international versions including two in Australia on SBS and Channel 9. The most famous team was that featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May but other hosts have included cricketing star Andrew Flintoff and former Friends actor Matt Leblanc. And while the new trio knew they would inevitably be compared to those who had gone before them, once cast they were adamant that they would forge their own path rather than one already well travelled.

“We made a decision from the very start when we met up for some lunch, and we just went ‘let’s just do it our own way. Let’s do our own thing. Let’s not try and fulfil these characters or these roles that people know as the show because that would never work anyway’,” says Joscelyne.

Jonathan LaPaglia, Beau Ryan and Blair Joscelyne Top Gear filming Top Gear Australia in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Although they all come from different backgrounds, the three are united by a love of cars. LaPaglia’s father was a mechanic and growing up in South Australia with his head under the bonnet has given him a passion for vintage muscle cars. Ryan, who also hosts The Amazing Race and the coming Gladiators, is less car-literate, but has a penchant for flashy supercars as well as being a devotee of the humble but accessible Jeep. Joscelyne – aka Moog – has the least TV experience of the three but the deepest car knowledge thanks to his hit DIY YouTube series Mighty Car Mods, which he has been making since 2007 and is now one of the most streamed automotive programs in the world, with more than half a billion views.

Each says that the others brought skills that complemented their own, making the team greater than the sum of its parts. By popular acclaim, LaPaglia is the most-focused, best researched and the best driver of the three. Joscelyne had the most technical automotive brain as well as instinctively knowing how the program would come together thanks to years of making his own videos. Ryan brought a sense of teamwork and care for his colleagues courtesy of his sporting background, as well as a travel sense that came in handy when they hit the road to far-flung places such as Colombia, France, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco and the US.

They also trusted each other enough admit when they were struggling with tasks that took them out of their comfort zones.

“There’s a lot of humility in saying ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’,” says Ryan. “Your ego takes a strike when you walk up and go ‘boys, I’m struggling here – I don’t know how to do this’ and not many people, especially young men in this country, do it. You have to really swallow your pride and do it, and we did that nearly daily.”

Jonathan LaPaglia, Beau Ryan and Blair Joscelyne are united by their love of cars on the rebooted Top Gear Australia.

The new Top Gear Australia arrives in a very different automotive environment to previous season in this country, which last aired in 2011. Back then, Ford, Holden and Toyota were still making cars here, electric vehicles were almost unheard of and the fossil fuel debate was nowhere near as prominent as it is now. Accordingly the series has adapted to include information about EVs and renewables, but Joscelyne disagrees with the idea that old-school, gas-guzzling muscle cars might have lost some of their lustre and allure in a more environmentally conscious world.

“I reckon they are more revered than ever, actually,” he says. “I think the people that are into petrol cars understand that there’s something special and magical about them. Because really I think the reason people love them is they’re trying to hearken back to a simpler time, or maybe a time when they were kids.

“Maybe in 50 years, and no one will care and they’ll be going ‘I wish I had a Tesla because that’s retro’. I think that the love of the cars and the love for traditional engines is greater now than it’s ever been and I think people feel like their industry and their love is getting stomped out by an industry that maybe they don’t agree with. So, I think this is a perfect time for a show like this to come out and celebrate all cars.”

LaPaglia, whose current ride is a 1973 Dodge Challenger that he built himself, agrees.

“We actually do devote a significant portion of episodes to EV because it’s what’s happening and where the industry is going,” he says. “But I agree with you, there is always going to be a subset for the internal combustion engine.

“But also, let’s not forget that yes, this is billed as a car show, but it’s really a buddy show. It’s the adventure of the three of us and so I think that’s really the backbone of the show. That’s the reason I think people watch it. The cars are just the vehicles we take for the adventure.”

Top Gear Australia streams on Paramount+ from May 17.

Originally published as Top Gear Australia new hosts reveal why there’s still a place for old-school petrol cars