I go to Rio---

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Top Gear USA: Howie Mandel, Melanie B to flog Kia Rio

Posted Jul 25th 2008 6:56PM by Damon Lavrinc (http://www.autoblog.com/bloggers/damon-lavrinc)
Filed under: Kia (http://www.autoblog.com/category/kia/), Celebrities (http://www.autoblog.com/category/celebrities/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/top-gear-kia-rio_450op.jpg (http://jalopnik.com/399304/exclusive-us-top-gear-to-put-howie-mandel-and-melanie-b-in-reasonably+priced-kia-rio)

What would Top Gear be without a star in a reasonably priced car? Well... better, for one thing. But that hasn't stopped NBC from porting over the red-headed step-child of Top Gear segments to the imported version of the show. According to Jalopnik, during tomorrow's taping, B-listers C-listers D-listers Howie Mandel and Melanie B (former Spice Girl) will be piloting the U.S.'s own version of a reasonably-priced car – a Kia Rio – around the newly minted Top Gear test track. What can we expect? Nothing good, we thinks. Nor does it bode well that both pseudo-celebs are part of the NBC franchise. Depressed? We thought so. But the taping is tomorrow, so we'll try to remain upbeat until the first reports from inside the studio surface.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Don't hassle the Hoff in his Reasonably Priced Car

Posted Jul 29th 2008 11:28AM by John Neff (http://www.autoblog.com/bloggers/john-neff)
Filed under: Celebrities (http://www.autoblog.com/category/celebrities/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/81948968_opt.jpg (http://www.finalgear.com/news/2008/07/28/adam-carolla-recaps-top-gear-america-filming/)Just two days after taping the pilot episode of Top Gear USA (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/27/top-gear-pilot-thats-a-wrap/), Adam Carolla took the proactive approach of revealing who the first Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is before the blogosphere could get those in attendance who signed NDAs to spill the beans. On his radio show Monday morning, Carolla got a caller to cough up the name (http://podcast.971freefm.com/klsx1/1233612.mp3), and it's none other than auto icon and generally icky dude David Hasselfhoff (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/DavidHasselfhoff/). Reports from people who attended the taping say that the Hoff was actually a great live guest and even had autographed photos of himself to pass out to the crowd who had been standing in place for seven hours. We haven't heard how Hasselhoff did running a Kia Rio around Top Gear USA's test track, but being the first will ensure his time gets placed atop the leader board.

Who else would you like to see be a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on Top Gear USA? We can think of a whole red carpet's worth of B- and C-list celebrities, and yes, that includes Kathy Griffin. Click the source link below to make your way to an audio clip of Adam Carolla's radio show on Monday morning.

[Source: Final Gear (http://www.finalgear.com/news/2008/07/28/adam-carolla-recaps-top-gear-america-filming/), Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty]