The redneck attack was FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE.

[Andx0r]

The State Line Pride is right on the border.

It takes more than a minute to round up that many rednecks. And they wouldn't have a dog with them.

The rock hits are uniform and fake. Foley edits.

You never actually see a single rock get thrown, or the person throwing it.

We lose camera but have audio for no reason.

The rednecks all sound the same regardless of camera orientation. See rock hits. Bad dubs and edits.

The reactions of both parties looked totally fake. And nobody with sense and humor enough to know and acknowledge that they're hicks living in a hick town would act that way.

TGTBTU proved that TG and Clarkson have no trouble finding actors to do good 'redneck roles'.

Truckful of teens and mexicans as gas station owner's hit squad?

James asking for the jump cables when he is fearful of a lynch mob getting him and there's a running truck with a friend in it right there? Please. He'd be in Hammond's truck and gone in 2 seconds.

Most damning evidence:

The rednecks in the back of the truck are in a green Dodge Ram. When they first pull in, they are at the left side of the gas station's front. At 48:43 there's a shot showing that the green Dodge Ram has moved and is now parked by the station doors with ALL of the guys still in it, just watching the filming with amused looks on their faces. Now, there is another, similar truck parked to the left of the gas station, where the Ram had been earlier. This truck is a green Ford F-150 and the gas station lady is standing by the green Ford F150 with some other guy. Right after this is where the 'rock throwing' starts, only a few seconds after the 48:43 shot. And the camera breaks away before you see anything thrown.

Somehow, despite the camera showing all the 'rednecks' all hanging out in their Ram a second ago, we get a few dubbed in rock sound effects and some crappy dubbed in voices that have way too extreme an accent to be real, while the camera gives us a closeup of the ground. In fact, during this whole thing, the only people to go near the three are the gas station lady and the younger guy with her. Everyone else is just parking/leaving and watching the crew and filming with either curiosity or amusement.

Even if the rock throwing did actually happen (which is unlikely), the 'rednecks' that the show claims was behind the attack actually didn't do jack squat.

At worst, this was a small something (ie, the gas station lady asking them what the deal was) that was cleverly edited. At best, it was completely scripted and acted out. Props to Top Gear for their editing skills, but face it, guys, nearly every single second of every show is scripted.

Seriously, watch it real closely and see if you can find any evidence that anybody actually did ANYTHING to the Top Gear guys.

*takes tinfoil hat off*

[Donington]

[Blythy]

The State Line Pride is right on the border.

yeah but they put the slogans on in bagdad - which is a good 25 miles from the border.

and frankly who cares?!

[Indiana Jones]

Why lock this? People on this forum think hicks attack foreigners in Alabama because they saw it on TG. No hicks attacked anyone, so this seems like a relevant point to me. Why get so defensive about just talking about it?

[maximus]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Why lock this? People on this forum think hicks attack foreigners in Alabama because they saw it on TG.

Most people on this forum aren't idiots either and won't think this.

[James May's Hair]

Originally Posted by Andx0r

It takes more than a minute to round up that many rednecks. And they wouldn't have a dog with them.

The rock hits are uniform and fake. Foley edits.

You never actually see a single rock get thrown, or the person throwing it.

We lose camera but have audio for no reason.

Point One: Yeah, it's not like they could have edited it. I particularly love your knowledge of redneck/canine association.

Point Two: Would you hang around pointing a camera at a rural inbred hurling rocks at you?

Point Three: The 'audio' comes from radio, not from the microphones. Listen again.

The Rest: Yeah, like I could be bothered...

[Andx0r]

Originally Posted by maximus

Most people on this forum aren't idiots either and won't think this.

Judging by the other thread, they already do.

James May's Hair, go for it. Come on, I'd like to see you refute me.

[superchevy]

Originally Posted by maximus

Most people on this forum aren't idiots either and won't think this.

have you read the episode thread? most of the posters there think everything went down exactly like top gear potrayed it. don't assume everyone is intelligent enough to see that the scene was edited to be outrageous. what's alarming to me is that there are so many of my fellow americans who can't recognize this. i can understand why a european wouldn't be able to pickup on the subtle giveaways, like the mexicans, but i figured an american would pick up on that immediately.

like i said there, i'm willing to bet jeremy, hammond, and james would all readily admit they exaggerated quite a bit with the gas station scene. and i doubt they expect the majority of their viewers to take it as a documentary.

[Indiana Jones]

I totally agree most people don't take this seriously, but a few people have in the episode discussion thread (even Americans).

And to James May's Hair points, I suppose you might be right. But its confusing to me why the in-car cameras were never turned on. Also, they were apparently driving along the highway in their van and not one cameraman could get a shot of anything? Yet someone got a cameraphone out. This moment, if real, would have been great TV and not one professional cameraman got their camera going.

"Point Two: Would you hang around pointing a camera at a rural inbred hurling rocks at you?"

James hung around to start his car. Doesn't seem like any pressing danger to me.


This was fabricated in my opinion and a little disappointing, but I still love Top Gear.

[eddy1992]

http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planett...-home-alabama/

James May suggests it was real.
I personally think it's an exaggeration of a small reaction from the station's owner.

[tone76]

Fake or not, it was still hell funny.

I'm happy to take it on face value purely based on the fact that I laughed so hard, it literally hurt!!

[ttyrants911]

Erm, doesn't all this detract from the fact it was a TV show. Just 3 guys cocking about having a road trip?
I'm afraid i haven't watched it frame by frame. Too busy laughing at the cow on the Camaro.
You can analyse anything to the hilt, but then you strip the base emotion that came from watching it.
Laughter.
And laughing releases endorphines and makes you live longer.
So I'm sorry but I will continue to watch, scripted or not, as I may live a bit longer because of it.

[Quiky]

Keep it in the episode discussion area.. all the points here have been covered already.