Comedian Paddy McGuinness has said Chris Evans was wrong to quit Top Gear after just one series, and added that criticism is just part of television.
McGuinness, who is about to host his own car show, said he thought Evans was a good host and growing a thick skin was crucial to the job.
Evans quit Top Gear earlier this year following plummeting ratings and poor reviews, saying he gave it his best shot but it was “not enough”.
His co-host Matt LeBlanc has since signed a two-series deal with the BBC to host the show when it returns in 2017.
The former Friends star will be joined by Chris Harris and Rory Reid, with regular appearances from Eddie Jordan, Sabine Schmitz and The Stig.
It can’t be easy to see things written about you that aren’t nice but that is telly
Take Me Out star McGuinness will soon be seen presenting Stars in Their Cars, in which he takes 10 celebrity guests down memory lane in three cars from their youth.
He told the Press Association he did not believe the Top Gear hosting job was a poisoned chalice, adding: “I don’t think it is, but personally I think Chris Evans should have done another series, I don’t think he should have left.
“It can’t be easy to see things written about you that aren’t nice but that is telly. I’ve been slagged off by critics and praised by them, and when they are praising you, it’s fantastic and you say ‘they have got a point’ but, when they don’t, it’s ‘Who are these people?’.
“That’s the job and you have to grow a thick skin. I thought he was all right at it but that is my personal opinion. I don’t know him so I’m not saying it because he’s a mate of mine.”
McGuinness dismissed comparisons between his new show and the BBC Two motoring programme though, saying they are very different concepts.
He said: “When we were filming it, the amount of people and stories I saw that said ‘Paddy McGuinness was making the new Top Gear’.
“I thought ‘This is a million miles away from it’, but I think anything to do with cars is compared to Top Gear, especially when it was never out of the papers about Chris Evans taking over and Matt LeBlanc taking over, but I knew, when it comes out they will see it’s nothing like Top Gear.”
• Stars in Their Cars begins on Travel Channel on October 12.