It’s finally been confirmed that The Grand Tour is coming to the States and, as expected, it will be filmed in front of a live audience. Previously, the show ran a contest to pick who would be invited to the audience, but this time, things are a little different (aren’t they always here in the U.S.?) Anyway, Clarkson, Hammond, and May trio will be filming their show in Southern California on September 25th, 2016. This time, those picked won’t get free travel or lodging, but you can get two tickets and, of course, the thrill of being at the show.

You can apply to be in the audience here, but you have to answer a couple of questions as part of the application process. We’re not sure what the criteria is, but I’m betting that you’ll need to have some pretty interesting answers to get picked.

Question 1: “Tell us why you would like to go to the recording?”

Question 2: “Which of the hosts do you like the most and why?”

In addition, you also have to select which state you currently reside in, and the fine print says the Applause Store (the company that handles ticket fulfillment) may contact applicants with follow-up questions about you and your thoughts on the show. If you want to be in the audience, however, you better hurry. The application process opened earlier today and will shut down on August 8th at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Why it Matters

It’s kind of unfortunate that the guys won't float the bill for travel or lodging this time around, but chances are people from California, and the surrounding states will be the primary folks selected. Not because there is any hate for the east, but because audience participation in the show is huge, and selecting people from too far away could lead to a very thin audience if people can’t make the trip. Still, just a pair of free tickets and the chance to be there would be more than enough to make me happy. I live too far away from southern Cali to even consider applying but, with any hope, they’ll come to somewhere on the east coast in the future. The Grand Tour in Times Square sounds like a great idea to me or how about in downtown Chicago or Central Detroit?