GRANT DENYER ADMITS HE'S 'JEALOUS' OF TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA HOSTS AND CLAIMS IT'S 'UNUSUAL' HE WASN'T CONSIDERED FOR THE ROLE: 'I'M THE ONLY TV STAR WHO FINISHED FIRST IN BATHURST'
He's the TV veteran who knows his way around a race track.
And Grant Denyer has expressed 'surprise' the creators of the new Top Gear Australia never asked him to audition for the famed motoring show.
The 46-year-old Deal or No Deal host, who is widely know for his motor racing skills, admitted he would have loved to be have been asked to appear on the popular life style series, which is currently streaming on Paramount+.
'It would be fun,' Grant said in an interview with TV Tonight.
The former TV weatherman added he was envious of new hosts of the rebooted fan favourite, which features Beau Ryan, Jonathan LaPaglia and Blair Joscelyne.
'I get so jealous when I see all the clips of them in exotic places around the world driving incredible pieces of machinery,' he said.
'I’d be drooling to be able to do something like that, but at least the format’s back. As a car fan, I’m really happy about that, but it’d be cool to play.'
Grant then went on to describe himself as the only 'active racing TV presenter in Australia'.
Boasting he finished first driving his Lamborghini at the Bathurst 12 Hour in February, Grant claimed he would have missed auditions for Top Gear because he was racing.
'...As it turns out, I was racing at the Bathurst 12 Hour while they were all doing chemistry testing, I think at Eastern Creek with all the potential hosts,' he said.
'So because I didn’t make that, I was subsequently ruled out of the role, which I thought was unusual.'
The well-known gear head announced his return to competitive racing in 2022 after two near-fatal mishaps behind the wheel.
The quiz show host broke his coccyx when he crashed into a tree going 165km an hour while competing in the Lake Mountain sprint in 2017 in Melbourne, as part of the Australian Rally Championships.
The TV star later battled a highly-publicised painkiller addiction after breaking his back during a freak monster truck accident in 2008.
During the interview, Grant also speculated a gig on Top Gear may have clashed with his filming Deal or No Deal.
The Dancing With the Stars winner was announced as the new host of Channel 10's Deal or No Deal reboot back in October 2023.
'We're back baby! I'm incredibly excited to be bringing this global mega-format back to Aussie screens,' Grant said at the time.
The game show was originally screened on Channel Seven and hosted by Andrew O'Keefe before it was axed in 2014, after running for a decade.
In February, reports surfaced that filming was underway for the Paramount+ reboot of Top Gear Australia.
The new line-up of stars - Beau Ryan, Jonathan LaPaglia and Blair Joscelyne - were spotted getting along famously in the Italian capital as they filmed scenes for the new eight-part series, which is now streaming.
Based on the famed BBC reality series of the same name, Top Gear gives fans a chance to get an up close look at the latest in car tech.
Top Gear Australia debuted on SBS in 2008 before it moved over to Channel Nine in 2010 where it ran until 2012.
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