Jeremy Clarkson has addressed the claims made by his former The Grand Tour and Top Gear co-star James May about their relationship on and off the camera.
The duo along with Richard Hammond have spent two decades racing around the world in an array of cars, taking on weird and wonderful motoring challenges along the way.
May joined the BBC's Top Gear - which has since been shelved - in 2003 before he followed Clarkson in exiting the corporation and finding a new home on Amazon Prime Video.
However, after two decades of working alongside one another, the trio called time on their on-screen projects after wrapping up the final of two The Grand Tour specials which will air later this year.
All three have gone on to see huge success with their own solo projects, however - May and Clarkson on Amazon with the Our Man In... and Clarkson's Farm series, respectively, and Hammond with his Workshop show.
But when asked recently why the three men managed to work so successfully for so long, May said: "One of the reasons the show works is because we are creatively fueled by a mutual loathing.
Clarkson and May: The Grand Tour stars have worked together for over two decades
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"TV is difficult with three people. Other shows have tried to do things with three presenters and what they never grasp is that you have to choose three people who annoy each other.
"That’s the key to why our dynamic works," he said in an interview with the Times.
May went on to say the trio "respected each other in a very guarded way" before adding that he found Hammond and Clarkson "quite irritating".
Now Clarkson has had his say on his long-standing colleague's remarks, refuting what May had to say.
The Grand Tour: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May fronted the series after their Top Gear exit
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Clarkson told the same publication in a separate profile ahead of his return to screens on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire this week: "We’ve spent more time in each other’s company than our families’ over the last 25 years...
"So I don’t think it would have lasted as long as it did if we’d hated each other as much as James likes to think."
Elsewhere in the interview, Clarkson hinted he decided to pack in The Grand Tour after realising he'd become too "fat and old" to keep up with the show.
The Clarkson's Farm star has been open about his health of late, including the fact that he "lost a stone" after a recent scare.
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Jeremy Clarkson and James May have a difference of opinion about their friendship
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Clarkson cut short a wellness break with partner Lisa Hogan to request an urgent operation to have a cyst removed.
It comes following the former Top Gear star's dementia fears and his candid account of the measures he's taking to avoid diabetes.
