Andrew Flintoff has revealed he was “prepared to lose my arm” as the TV personality opened up on the terrifying incident that occurred during filming for Top Gear.
The 47-year-old, known as Freddie, was airlifted to hospital after the Morgan Super 3 he was driving flipped, leaving the dad-of-four with horrific injuries.
Since the incident, it has been on the long road to recovery, and he has offered new insight into the terrifying incident in the open-topped car.
He revealed: “Suddenly the car was rolling and the world was all slow-motion chaos.”
Freddie Flintoff was left with devastating injuries following the accident on Top Gear
|PA
Flintoff “knew exactly what was coming,” with his options being to stick out his arm and “lose it” or risk breaking his neck if he didn’t brace.
“I shut my eyes and flung up my left arm, with the thinking being that as a right-hander, I was prepared to lose my left.”
The 47-year-old went on to reveal that the car “dragged me” 50 meters, “face skidding, body flipping,” but a “split-second decision” saved his life.
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“In that instant, my mind, honed on cricket’s demands, made the right call. A split-second decision. One that saved my life, and changed it,” he revealed in a column for The Times.
Flintoff has been very vocal about his experience this year. In April, he revealed that the BBC treated him like a “piece of meat” after the devastating crash.
He felt that the show’s producers kept pushing the stunts on the hit BBC show further and further without the required safety measures in place.
In the Disney+ documentary Flintoff, he said: “That is the danger that TV falls into — and I found out the hard way, eventually.
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The crash was shown for the first time the Disney+ documentary earlier this year
|DISNEY+
“Everybody wants more, everybody wants that thing that nobody has seen before, everyone wants that bigger stunt.
“In some ways it’s, ‘Let’s have that near miss, because then that’ll get viewers’.
“Everything is about viewers. Always, always.
“And I should have been cleverer on this, because I learnt this in sport as well ... and was just treated like a piece of meat.
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“That’s TV and sport, I think that’s where they’re quite similar. You’re just a commodity, a piece of meat.”
In March 2023, The Sun revealed that the open-topped Morgan that Flintoff was driving was not fitted with any airbags.
In the same month, the BBC announced it would be scrapping the upcoming season of Top Gear following the accident.
Freddie Flintoff is remaining positive about his recovery
|PA
Flintoff also revealed that the incident had a major effect on his mental health as he had to cancel any upcoming work and was stuck inside, but despite that, he is remaining positive on his road to recovery.
“I genuinely should not be here after what happened,” he said.
"It’s going to be a long road back, and I’ve only just started.
“I’ve got to look at the positives. I’ve got another chance, and I’m going to go at it. I’m seeing that as how it is — a second go.”
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