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Jeremy Clarkson to earn top bucks for Amazon-produced Top Gear

It appears that the Top Gear trio's new deal with Amazon comes with a few perks, including a massive salary increase for all three.

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Stefan Rousseau/AP/File
A Nov. 29, 2011 photo from files showing television show Top Gear presenters James May, left, Jeremy Clarkson, centre, and Richard Hammond standing outside No.10 Downing Street in London.

Now that Amazon has struck a deal to bring the Top Gear trio back to work, the world is waiting to see just what the crew can produce. We're even more curious now that we know just how much money is being dumped in the laps of the team. The entirety of the deal is worth around $250 million, and that covers three seasons of the show with 12 episodes per season. The Mirror has uncovered a bit more insight into how that money will be broken out... and it seems that Jeremy Clarkson will be getting quite the bump in pay.

Clarkson will reportedly earn a bit over $15 million per year for each year of the three-year run. Co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond aren't falling too far behind, with each receiving around $10 million. Producer Andy Wilman is in the same ballpark as well, as he should receive between $10 and $11 million per year. That's quite a nice jump from the $1.5 million that Clarkson was earning at the BBC, and even more of a jump from the nearly $800,000 that Hammond and May were depositing into their bank accounts.

The show itself is getting a raise as well. Production budgets for each episode have risen massively. While at the BBC, it cost around $1.5 million to produce each episode of Top Gear. That figure includes salaries for the hosts, of course. Now that figure is going to jump to just under $7 million (including salaries) per episode. That's a staggering increase in budget, and we're rather curious to see how that all plays out.

It seems the crew can afford a new camera or two, and maybe one of the latest drones.

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