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Jason Dawe

Ripplin

Ripplin

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Jun 14, 2005
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510
Location
Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2003 VW Golf TDI
Just wondering what people thought of Jason Dawe, the man whom James May replaced. I know he was only on for one season, so many may not have seen those episodes yet or even know who he is.

I did a search around the forums and there isn't much said about him, as I suspected. Personally, I liked him, though as a pure presenter, James works much better with Jeremy and Richard, with chemistry galore. Jason always seemed to be the guy in the background. His segments were basically like those Quentin Willson would do on Fifth Gear; telling us about car bargains and also what to avoid. They were pretty cut and dry, though interesting. At his website (jasondawe.com), he has a link to topgear.com; either he's just acknowledging his past, or does he write for the magazine?

He did have a couple of memorable moments, though, both coming from the December 1, 2002 episode. One was his footrace against a Ford Think, which was hilarious! He was a good sport for doing it. Another was when he took a bunch of supercars to a kindergarten and asked the kids which they liked best. They mulled them over for a while and it appeared they would pick the Zonda, but then, the Countach pulled up and...it was all over. It's still the ultimate pin-up car for many kids (I have a few of them around the house, too, I must admit).
 
1st season of Top Gear is broadcasted daily where I live so I've had some chances to watch the earlier episodes presented by Jason. My opinion - he might have been a fair presenter on a different show, but he really didn't seem to fit in the format and he could've done better serving the purpose of the show (entertainment and not just dry facts). His 'this week's bargain deals' were pretty dull and slow paced compared to the rest of the show. The whole thing was pretty much scripted, with the other host asking him some questions leading him to his next detail. Really didn't like that idea, good thing they stopped doing it. I personally didn't see the running and kindergarten segments you mentioned but he really didn't come out as funny and interesting as JC and Hammond. May is an excellent presenter and maybe the funniest of the three so I'm glad he joined (was his first episode the season 2 premiere?)... the chemistry between the presenters, which is very important for such show, is way better with him too.

But hey, that's just me ;)
 
He was ok IMO, although James is better... so I dont mind him being gone. Last time I was in the UK he was writing about used cars in the Sunday Times magazine motoring section, probably does so for other mags as well.
 
he was boring and didn't fit in.
 
He did never seem to gel, he knew his stuff but never really fitted. Much prefer James.
 
From what I gather, Jason Dawe was selling cars, he entered a competition to present Top Gear and was given the opportunity. I found him uninspiring and actually stopped watching for the first time ever because of him (I know that's a bit strong but it's true). He now writes about used cars in the Times and appears occasionally as a 'car expert' on consumer programmes. But in my eyes he spoiled my favourite show.

Then someone told me James had started again (having been on when Jeremy was no longer with the programme but for only about three episodes before being replaced by Kate Humble), and i liked him on Driven and his articles in Car and thought "right, this is more like it" and so I began watching again :)
 
I like James much better than Jason (couldn't even remember his name before this topic). He just didn't seem to fit in with JC and Hamster the way James does.
 
Stiggy said:
His 'this week's bargain deals' were pretty dull and slow paced compared to the rest of the show. The whole thing was pretty much scripted, with the other host asking him some questions leading him to his next detail. Really didn't like that idea, good thing they stopped doing it.
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Yeah, I totally agree on that. I did find it somewhat interesting, and some of the figures he would bring out were staggering, but overall, it seemed to slow everything down, and I don't know how many people would have actually found those segments useful (not that burning rubber in supercars is "useful" to anyone, either, but it sure is fun to watch! :p).

moo said:
(having been on when Jeremy was no longer with the programme but for only about three episodes before being replaced by Kate Humble)
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Well, didn't know that! I'm glad they brought him back, though I heard Jason was sacked because of a DUI, which is sad. I figured it was more that they just wanted a change, which it could've been anyway. Maybe Jason was on the way out regardless of what happened. Do you know?

Anyway, long live James! The current trio is perfect! :mrgreen:
 
I can't see how you can even compare the fat guy to James.... The fat guy doesn't even deserve to be in the same sentence as James.... let alone the same thread.
 
remember his review of the skyline? i laughed my ass off when he hit the metal and made that weird noise to pinpoint it's realy fast

oumghf or sth like that it was :lol:
 
James May know how to present things. that fat guy just said stuff about cars and thats all.
 
The fat guy (lol @ how that is his official name nowadays) didn't have a certain personality. Clarkson is Clarkson, Hamster is the short impressianable young guy and James is the British fancy cruiser lover. It all comes down to the fat guy just being a presenter rather than a character.
 
Nogger said:
The fat guy (lol @ how that is his official name nowadays) didn't have a certain personality. Clarkson is Clarkson, Hamster is the short
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No no, That Fat Guy, not The fat guy. Get it right! :lol:
 
all i remember about That Fat Guy is that he reviewed the skyline gtr r34 and he touched the gas for 2-3 seconds and went " ahh... that was nice" what a cheeseball
 
He was pretty average. But then he was up against a couple of great presenters, so that probably made him look that much worse.

The thing that annoyed me most was that he could be a bit hard to understand. He'd run his words together. He wasn't unintelligible, just not as clear as the other guys.

I also don't miss the auto-trader segment he used to do with Hammond. I know James took it over for a while, but it was pretty dull.
 
Pulsinator said:
I also don't miss the auto-trader segment he used to do with Hammond. I know James took it over for a while, but it was pretty dull.
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Yeah, I'm glad they stopped doing it, too. I'd prefer to have a longer news section of the show, if it's a really big savings that they figure a lot of people will be interested in, they still mention it anyway.
 
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