Francis Bourgeois may seem an odd choice to replace Clarkson on The Grand Tour, but two lesser-known skills make him ideal
He'll front the Prime Video series later this year alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland
Francis Bourgeois – the 25-year-old trainspotting sensation – is taking his fame to the next level, landing a role as one of the new presenters on Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour.
The star will host the series alongside fellow influencers James Engelsman and Thomas Holland when the show returns later this year, taking over from Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
“The saying ‘big shoes to fill’ springs to mind,” Francis said as the news was announced. “Well, in this case it’ll be like Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies. It’ll be a little awkward at first, perhaps blister-inducing, but will overall be an interesting watch.”
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Francis Bourgeois takes over on The Grand Tour
Earlier today (February 5), it was confirmed that Francis would be fronting The Grand Tour, following Clarkson, May, and Hammond’s exit at the end of 2024.
The upcoming episodes will see the trio cross the Angolan desert in track cars, explore Malaysia’s vibrant car culture, and test America’s latest performance vehicles in California.
And he’s the perfect man for the job.
Amazon highlights that Francis, a qualified mechanical engineer with Rolls-Royce experience, will bring a “unique, infectious energy to the team”. He also has a “profound technical knowledge” capable of identifying a car’s make from its engine sound alone.
James and Thomas, known to petrolheads from their YouTube car review channel Throttle House, have worked together for almost a decade. James joked: “Who knew that all this time, the one ingredient that was missing was a Francis Bourgeois? Let the car adventures commence.”
Francis Bourgeois’ real name – and the sad reason he changed it
Born Luke Magnus Nicolson in North London in 2000, Francis is a trainspotter, influencer, model and author. He studied engineering at the University of Nottingham and first became fascinated with trains at the age of four.
He and his younger brother, Benjamin, were raised near Willesden Junction by their parents, Jenny and Seamus, an NHS care worker and fashion photography teacher. “That proximity to such an important railway hub paired with the fact that my parents didn’t drive at the time meant that I had some really intense exposure to railway action,” he told The Times.
However, after being mocked for his hobby as a teen, he suppressed his love of trains and sold his trainsets to help him fit in better. “Being a train enthusiast at secondary school is difficult. Gym memberships and trendy clothes took precedence at that point, regrettably,” he said previously, adding: “Through loneliness, really, I wanted to try and make more friends, as you do. I didn’t really wear my railway passion on my sleeve.”
Thankfully, it didn’t stay hidden for long, though. Luke soon adopted the pseudonym Francis Bourgeois for his social media videos. And, according to Wikipedia, the new name helped him “feel a bit more protected” while filming videos. He quipped that it also has “a bit more of a ring to it”.
Explaining the origins of his new name, he told how “Francis” reflects his love of France’s railways. “Bourgeois”, meanwhile, was inspired by a visit with his father to a Louise Bourgeois exhibition.
However, he admitted that he never thought it would take off in quite the way it has… “I didn’t think it would get to a point where anyone would know me by it. It’s not a character. But I quite like it now – when someone shouts Francis it’s not so overwhelming – I know what to expect,” he told The Guardian.
Beating the bullies
Now, trainspotters stop him in the street to thank him for making trainspotting cool and helping to “stop the bullies”.
He told The Times recently: “I’ve had messages from parents and from younger enthusiasts saying: ‘Thank you, you’ve made a big difference.’ I was at a diesel gala and this chap came up to me and he’s like: ‘Thank you so much. I’m not bullied at school any more.’ He gave me this big, blubbering hug.”
Francis Bourgeois’ rise to fame with trainspotting TikToks in lockdown
During lockdown, Francis resumed trainspotting and began posting videos online. He quickly grew a fanbase of 3.3m on TikTok, 2.6m on Instagram, and nearly 200k YouTube subscribers.
A viral clip of him falling out of his chair while excited about a Class 377 locomotive has racked up nearly 7m views.
“I felt as though I was just finding my core self again and these videos, I realised, were such a reconnecting factor to my passion. I was letting the pressure out from all those years,” he told The Times this year.
He often wears a 1980s train worker uniform and a wide-angle fish-eye face camera to capture unique angles. “I love to show how awesome trains can be as well as trying to make you smile, laugh and just try and bring joy,” he said.
Francis really rose to public attention in October 2021, though, after appearing on This Morning. His infectious enthusiasm for trains as he chatted to then-hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby delighted ITV viewers. “Francis Bourgeois for Transport Minister,” quipped one.
His fame grew so much that stars including Joe Jonas wanted to film videos with him. He also went on to host a five-episode digital series in 2022 and 2023 called Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois. It starred the likes of Tom Daley, Aisling Bea, Chloe Burrows, Jesse Lingard, Sam Ryder and AJ Tracey.
Thanks to his huge platform and his online fame, Francis also landed a book deal. He published The Trainspotter’s Notebook in 2022.
Francis recently received praise for his Channel 4 series Mission to Space. It saw him undergo vigorous training to become an astronaut, helped by Tim Peake. However, seeing Francis being violently sick during a zero-gravity flight certainly wasn’t on our 2026 bingo card!
Neither was the youngster passing out during a rocket launch simulation. “I realised I needed a lot of work in getting my G-force capabilities up,” he quipped after filming.
Who is Francis Bourgeois’ girlfriend?
Francis has been with Amy Linkin-Chandler since 2018. They met on a dating site, stayed together through university, and went red carpet official at the NME Awards in 2022. For their fifth anniversary, he took her to Preston Park Station. And they say romance is dead!
The couple live in Battersea, south-west London, with their bedroom overlooking 12 railway tracks. “The estate agent had never had someone ask to be shown places near a train line before,” he told The Guardian in 2022.
Speaking about Amy, Francis says she’s “extremely tolerant” of his love for trains – even allowing a 60ft-long model railway to run through their home. He told The Times: “We’re very emotionally in tune with one another. We are each other’s comfort teddy bears.”
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Modelling career… and becoming a train driver!
He’s also dabbled in modelling, as well as some very lucrative social media collaborations, recently with Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Francis made his runway debut at London Fashion Week in February 2023, modelling Bay Garnett’s Oxfam Fashion Fighting Poverty collection. He also appeared in Paul Smith’s What Makes You Happy? campaign. And a North Face x Gucci video as a train conductor in the Swiss Alps.
However, he has quipped that if all his new-found fame and fortune suddenly comes to an end, he has the perfect back-up plan: “I can always become a train driver,” he told The Times.
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