Top Gear, BBC Two, 2 & 3 February 2014

Complaint

We've received complaints from some viewers who were unhappy that there appeared to be food wasted during an item where the presenters raced cars around a supermarket.

Top Gear's response

Since we were making a tribute to 80s Hot Hatches, the supermarket challenge was filmed in the context of ram raiding shops, which was a phenomenon of that period. As such, there would inevitably be damage, especially at the speed Jeremy and Richard were driving. Like all TV shows we have a budget for props, and the money this time happened to be spent on supermarket produce, but although the wastage looked substantial we were mindful to choose the cheapest foodstuffs -such as juices -that would give us maximum visual impact for the least amount of damage.