Paddy McGuinness speaks out on Freddie Flintoff after Top Gear crash after his 'feel bad' admission

The former England cricket star was a co-host on the BBC One motoring show alongside Paddy and Chris Harris from 2019 up until the accident in 2022

Paddy McGuinness has spoken honestly for the first time about Freddie Flintoff's horror crash when they were filming Top Gear, admitting after that he might find it ‘triggering’ to see him in person.

The former England cricket star was a co-host on the BBC One motoring show alongside Paddy and Chris Harris from 2019 up until the accident in 2022.

Freddie's new documentary, Flintoff, on Disney+, will show the Preston-born star’s return to cricket after the crash at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

While filming for Top Gear on December 13, 2022, Freddie was driving an open-topped three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 at high speed on the test track at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey, when it flipped over.

The father-of-four was airlifted to hospital with severe facial injuries and several broken ribs. The film contains still images from the scene of the accident and some graphic shots of his wounds.

Bolton-born Paddy, 51, has now said he still messages his former co-host and is looking forward to watching Freddie’s documentary.

Speaking in the 90-minute documentary, which is released on Friday (April 25), Freddie admitted he 'felt bad' for not seeing Paddy in two years and wrongly feared he’d derailed his pal's career when his accident took Top Gear off air.

Asked whether he had seen them, he said: "We've been in contact. I saw Chris actually. When we hugged each other, I got upset. He got upset. I feel bad I've not been more in contact, with him and Paddy. There was some comments on Paddy a while ago, say I not spoke to him this, that, the other.

"Part of it is, for myself a little bit. You know what I mean. I hate the word 'triggering' but I'm worried about it. [Top Gear] also I suppose in some ways stopped because of what happened to me. Their careers have been altered as well. I feel... not guilty. I feel bad for them. Also, it's like what happened gets dragged up enough in my own head without adding to that."

But speaking of Freddie, the Mirror reports Paddy said: “I love Fred. He’s a good lad. The mad thing about me getting on with him so well is that I know absolutely zero about cricket. I've never watched it, never been into it and never played it. I knew of Freddie and Ian Botham and Michael Vaughan… the famous names."

Despite his lack of knowledge on Freddie’s stellar England career, the pair struck up a close bond while filming the BBC motor show.

Paddy commented: "Me, Fred and Chris [Harris] everyday we worked together we just laughed. It was such a lovely experience. It was one of those jobs for me, as someone who wasn’t well travelled to visit the places we did in Top Gear and go off the beaten track.

"It was only when I reflect on the things we did that I think what a privilege it is to have done that job. Freddie and I still message. But everyone’s got busy lives. It’s like with every show I do, you work with people and you keep in touch but no one lives near everyone. It’s like lightning in a bottle getting everyone together."

Speaking in the new documentary, Freddie said: "I didn't think I had it in me to get through. This sounds awful: part of me wishes I'd been killed. Part of me thinks 'I wish I had died.' I didn't want to kill myself. I don't want to mistake the two things. But I was thinking, 'This would have been so much easier.'"

Also in the documentary, Freddie confesses that he thought he "was dead" in the immediate aftermath of the accident. The 47-year-old recalled: "I thought I was dead, because I was conscious but I couldn't see anything.

"I was thinking, is that it? Is that it? You know what I mean? Just black for the rest of my days? My hat came over my eyes – so I pulled my hat up and I thought, no I'm not (dead), I'm on the 'Top Gear' track, this is not heaven."

Flintoff explained that his "biggest fear" was that he no longer had a face left after being dragged along the track during the crash. I thought my face had come off. I was frightened to death."