So there we have it – after six weeks of rumours, struggling ratings, and heckles on Twitter, Chris Evans has stepped down from Top Gear.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter was pegged early on to take over from Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May on the rebooted show.
But despite being a more obvious fit for the new series than his co-host Matt LeBlanc, Evans was unable to win over the doubters.
The final episode of Evans’ six-week series saw just 1.9 million viewers tune in overnight, the lowest ever for the show which was previously one of BBC Two’s biggest successes.
“Stepping down from Top Gear,” Chris Evans tweeted. “Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough. The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best.”
Now that Evans has announced his departure, the next question is: who should replace him? If the BBC do decide to get someone new in the lead role, read through the gallery to see eight people that they should consider.
It also remains to be seen whether they will replace Evans at all - as it currently stands, LeBlanc is still on board, alongside Sabine Schmitz, Eddie Jordan, Chris Harris and Rory Reid.
It will be interesting to see which road Top Gear takes from here – and with Clarkson and co’s new show The Grand Tour revving up in Autumn, whether the series they left behind will still have some kind of future.