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Top Gear Australia’s New Hosts: Morrison And Brown Out, Ewen Page And Shane Jacobson In

Following its move from SBS to Channel Nine and rumours that cricketer Shane Warne had been signed to host, Top Gear Australia has finalised its hosts for the 2010 season.

While cartoonist Warren Brown and trumpeter James Morrison have been dropped


Following its move from SBS to Channel Nine and rumours that cricketer Shane Warne had been signed to host, Top Gear Australia has finalised its hosts for the 2010 season.

While cartoonist Warren Brown and trumpeter James Morrison have been dropped, Steve Pizzatti has secured another run and will be joined this year by Shane Jacobson and Ewen Page. 

Who? Jacobson, better known to most Australians as the toilet-hauling Kenny in the 2006 film of the same name, is a native of Melbourne's western suburbs and a self-described car nut (of course).

"As a boy from the western suburbs, I've always had a passion for cars," Jacobson said. "I wasn't the guy at the set of lights whistling out of the car and doing burnouts, I wasn't the guy at the illegal street drags, but I am the guy who's always been keen on cars."

Winner of the Australian Film Institute's Best Actor award in 2006, it's hoped that Jacobson, also a writer and director, will bring a fresh perspective to the show, which has so far struggled to hit the mark on the hosting front.

To his credit, Jacobson has competed in more than a few Dutton Rallies, as well as the celebrity race that opens the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Keeping it in-house for the third presenter, Top Gear Australia's other new face is Ewen Page, Editor-in-Chief of the franchise's magazine since its launch in 2008. Where Pizzati will continue to fill the Richard Hammond role and Jacobson takes a swing at his own version of Clarkson, Page is likely to be the show's local James May analogue.

Despite his extensive motoring knowledge, Page's lack of screen time compared to his co-hosts will see the transition to TV - where the franchise's audience has proved to be quite vocal about the show's hosts - act as a true trial-by-fire.

According to Channel Nine, production of the new series began today, in a "secret location."

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