The Grand Tour producer Andy Wilman has shared with his social media followers the farewell gift he received from the team on the Amazon Prime Video series.
However, he appears to have left several fans confused – and some even “panicked” – after unveiling the rather odd present given to him by his colleagues.
The gift was handed to Wilman now that he, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have called time on their 22-year working collaboration together.
The quartet, who dissolved their joint production company earlier this year, all began working together on the BBC’s Top Gear but decided the latest Grand Tour special, titled One for the Road, would be the last.
Following the release of One for the Road – which left several emotional viewers “weeping” – Wilman revealed the team consisting of Clarkson, May, Hammond and everyone behind the scenes had bought him a plaque to say goodbye.
Wilman – who shared a touching tribute to Clarkson ahead of the finale – shared a photo of the wooden slab which has a gold plate stuck inside with the words engraved: “In Memory of Mr Wilman Who Loved this view.”
The accompanying caption to the photo on Wilman’s Instagram page read: “Very touching leaving present from the GT team, to put on a park bench of my choosing. Hmmmmm.”
While Wilman may have been looking for suggestions as to where the plaque should go, several followers were quick to share their confusion as the nature of the present led many to believe the producer had passed away.
“Omg I panicked then!” one fan commented before a second joked: “I can’t believe Mr Wilman left us so soon.”
“My sincerest condolences to your undead self,” a third similarly quipped before a fourth weighed in: “Let us know where so we can leave flowers!”
Elsewhere, a fifth shared their anguish as they typed: “S**t I thought you had died for a second!”
Wilman poked fun at the confusion in response to the latter fan’s remark as he typed: “Well I’d hardly be posting if I had, you daft sod. Xx.”
While Wilman may not have appeared on-screen during The Grand Tour’s run on Amazon, his impact can be felt throughout each special as he pulled the strings behind the scenes.
Reflecting on his time working on the show, he said ahead of One for the Road’s release: “It’s been such a privilege. To get paid to do this job is a privilege in itself.
“The fact our fans have stayed with us is a huge privilege. I made a speech on the last night, and we talked about how many billions of miles were travelled, how much petrol we’ve used, and those kinds of big numbers.
“But the most important numbers were the small ones. We’ve had five cameramen in 20 years. Five sound men. Four mechanics. Five or six editors, tops.
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“For that amount of time, that’s staggering. We’ve laughed, we’ve argued, it’s been this incredible little dysfunctional family.
“We organically made this thing that got bigger and bigger, and we never lost the dysfunctional chaos.
“We had to get more professional as it got bigger, but at the heart, it never became a shiny show.”
