Jeremy Clarkson: 'The Grand Tour doesn't matter - I'll be dead soon'

Jeremy Clarkson attends the UK premiere at The Halcyon Gallery on September 21, 2011 in London, England. Photo / Getty

Jeremy Clarkson's many fans might be excited about his new Amazon Prime show, but the presenter has said it "doesn't matter" whether The Grand Tour is a success.

"The stakes are lower. I'm now 56, it doesn't really matter anymore, because I'll be dead soon," he told Newsweek magazine.

"People could say, 'This is a terrible programme and Amazon's wasted its money', and I'll go, 'Yeah, I'll be dead before they even notice'."

Jeremy Clarkson attending a party in Camden on June 6, 2016 in London, England. Photo / Getty

Although Clarkson claims to be indifferent to the success of his own show, he let slip that he has taken an interest in the ailing fortunes of BBC Two's Top Gear, which saw its ratings plummet this year following Clarkson's departure.

When asked if he knew about Top Gear's shrinking ratings, he said: "I honestly don't know what they were... he lied."

Despite the presenter's pessimism, it seems The Grand Tour is likely to draw a large audience.

Jeremy Clarkson poses for a selfie with fans at Piazza dei Signori, during the filming for their new Amazon TV Programme 'The Grand Tour ' on July 7, 2016 in Vicenza, Italy.Photo / Getty

Amazon do not release the viewing figures for their original programmes, but according to Amazon executive Jay Marine the show's trailer has notched up more than 12 million views online since its release last month.

The show, which begins on Amazon on November 18, was picked up by the online retailer following a reported bidding war with Netflix.

The opening sequence alone is said to have cost at least £2.5 milllion ($3.39 million), and features more than 2000 extras.

Jeremy Clarkson with James May and Richard Hammond during the BBC Top Gear Festival from Moses Mabhida Stadium on June 17, 2012 in Durban, South Africa. Photo / Getty

However, Clarkson has cast doubt on the show's estimated £160 million price-tag, suggesting the budget wasn't as high as "newspaper talk" would suggest. "[Netflix] were bidding about the same as Amazon," he told Newsweek. "We just preferred Amazon."

Newsweek's interview also revealed that the Grand Tour team had been drinking a bit too much in the evenings while filming a sequence for the first episode in the Californian desert.

Jeremy Clarkson during the Verva Street Racing on October 24, 2015 in Warsaw, Poland. Photo / Getty

The magazine had been promised interview time Clarkson's co-presenters, Richard Hammond and James May, but Hammond failed to appear: "The official line is [Hammond is] dehydrated after being in the desert," Clarkson told Newsweek's reporter.

(L-R) Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May during a press event on July 17, 2015 in Perth, Australia. Photo / Getty

"The truth is, he got paralytically drunk last night and he's hungover."