The Top Gear Totty

First, I must confess that I'm well on my way to becoming a dirty old man. There's no sense in denying it. Once the gray starting sneaking in, the label was inevitable. So be it.

I'm sitting around watching Top Gear on BBC America and minding my own business. Sir Michael Gambon (aka Dumbledore #2) is being interviewed for their "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car" segment. I seem to be having a lot of difficulty concentrating on the interview. Then I realize I can't take my eyes off this blond in the audience.

If you're not familiar with Top Gear, the in-the-studio parts of the show have a live audience standing around the presenters, Top-of-the-Pops style. As with similar shows where the audience is clearly visible, wranglers are used to arrange the crowd before the taping to ensure that The Beautiful People are moved up to the front (E described this practice in a Bonez post not long ago). It has also been suggested that unknowns might be placed in strategic positions in an effort to "be discovered". So who is this woman?

Out of curiosity, I Googled around and found a forum where other, presumably dirty old men, had also been completed distracted by this same woman during the Gambon interview. So I'm not alone!

I spent about 20 minutes with VirtualDub to create the video above, cropped and brightened a bit.

Note: If the embedded video looks squashed or stretched, click on the link and watch it directly from the YouTube page.

You can watch the original, unedited interview here.

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