Following a horrific car incident during the shooting of British automotive magazine motoring-themed television programme, Top Gear, has levied massive allegations on the TV executives for treating him “like a piece of meat”. Flintoff’s life took a dramatic turn in December 2022 when he crashed a roofless three-wheeled car. Flintoff sustained a load of facial injuries.
Flintoff opened up on the dark side behind entertainment media, and how he should’ve been more wary of the BBC’s executives wanting to push him to the limit during the shoot, especially after several years of playing adrenaline-charged international cricket.
“I think that is the danger that TV falls into. And I found out the hard way eventually. It’s always more. Everybody wants more. Everybody wants that thing that nobody’s seen before. Everybody wants that bigger stunt. Everybody wants to dig that little bit deeper,” stated Flintoff, as quoted by the Daily Express.
“Everybody wants an exclusive. Everybody wants, ‘Oh, let’s have that near-miss, because then that’ll get viewers.’ Everything’s about viewers, always, always. And I should have been clever on this, because I learned this in sport as well, with all the injuries and all the injections and all the times I got sent out on a cricket field and just treated like a piece of meat. That’s TV and sport. I think that’s where it’s quite similar. You’re just a commodity. You’re just a piece of meat,” he added.
I had to take 5 or six goes at leaving the room: Flintoff
Flintoff’s life after his near-fatal crash takes centre stage in new documentary
For the unversed, the Morgan Super 3 roofless car, which Andrew Flintoff was driving, ended up flipping over. It was a split-second decision by the ex-English cricketer who opted to land face-first instead of in any other position. Following the near-death experience, Flintoff rarely ever ventured out of his house. However, in his new Disney+ documentary, it is understood that most aspects of his life are back on track.
