Ronnie O'Sullivan joins list of possibles for Top Gear job

(Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Is there anyone who hasn’t been mentioned as possible replacement for Jeremy Clarkson when, and more importantly if, Top Gear returns?

The latest is five-times world snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan who, in an interview with The Times, said he would like to present the show.

“I’d love to have the Top Gear job,” he revealed. “I said to my agent when that job came up: ‘I want it’, but whether I’m equipped to do it I don’t know. I’d definitely be up for it, but I don’t want to follow Jeremy Clarkson’s footsteps,”

With Jeremy Clarkson getting fired by the BBC following the fracas with producer Oisin Tymon, the show’s executive producer Andy Wilman has since resigned, while Clarkson’s co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond have both spoken out about their future on the BBC2 motoring show, hinting they couldn’t see it working without their old mate. So, it’s safe to say the future of the show is up in the air.

But that hasn’t stopped almost a raft of famous faces being touted as the new face of Top Gear. According to bookmakers Paddy Power, Dermot O’Leary is 6/4 favourite in a long list of possibles that include Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson, Zayn Malik and Professor Dumbledore – aka Harry Potter star Michael Gambon! Ronnie O’Sullivan, meanwhile, has odds of 20/1.

The top ten favourites, according to Paddy Power, are…

6/4 Dermot O’Leary