Top Gear hosts say "fearless" Freddie Flintoff's latest stunt was "potentially life-threatening"

In the episode, viewers will see Flintoff strapped into the car, suspended high above the dam and finally dropped from a great height, while his amused co-host Chris Harris watches on.

"It started out me just taking the mickey, all jovial, and actually as it dawned on me that it was potentially life-threatening, I became a bit more concerned for him," Harris revealed at a screening for the new series.

"He is fearless... his DNA is not like normal people's. He's not a normal human being, let's face it."

Asked why Flintoff who took on the challenge rather than Harris or the third member of the trio, Paddy McGuinness, Harris replied, "Because we're not f**king stupid, are we?"

McGuinness agreed: "When we get these ideas pitched to us, certain ideas we all go, 'Oh great!' and certain ideas, we go 'Fred, that'll be right up your street!'."

Harris revealed that Flintoff was actually suspended 500-feet in the air for far longer than it appears in the final episode.

"We had to go through all these checks to make sure it was safe – he was there for about 45 minutes and he became quite agitated. In fact, he used vernacular that wasn't even on the programme – he called me lots of names!"

Having seen the episode, RadioTimes.com can confirm that the sequence in question is properly stunning, stomach-churning stuff – but it turns out Top Gear producers are already thinking about ways to top it.

Speaking about plans for future stunts, executive producer Clare Pizey said: "We're just planning a new series and [we've] come up with an absolute corker."

McGuinness's response? Unpublishable.

Top Gear returns to BBC Two on Sunday, 26th January at 8pm