Jeremy Clarkson and Grand Tour co-hosts ridicule Scots town during NC500 road trip

Jeremy Clarkson in Scotland to film The Grand Tour (Photo: Amazon Prime)

Jeremy Clarkson and his Grand Tour co-hosts have once again stirred controversy by appearing to mercilessly mock a Scottish town during the latest episode of Amazon's motoring show.

The latest episode of Season 3 - titled 'Well Aged Scotch' - sees the former Top Gear trio race in three old Italian cars which they believe to be future classics along the North Coast 500 route through the "best parts of Scotland".

However, beginning their trip in what appears to be Invergordon, the presenters are less than kind about the fishing port town in Easter Ross as they set off into "the giant oil painting that is Scotland".

"This isn't exactly like the tourist authority would have you believe, is it?" says Clarkson, before Richard Hammond refers to the pebble dash-clad houses as being "battered".

The whole scene appears to be presented with a contrast-sapping filter, designed to make the whole thing look much grimmer than it actually is.

"You can see why they want to be independent can't you?" Clarkson quips, as Hammond sarcastically responds, "You wouldn't want people messing all this up, would you?"

The reason for their choice of starting location was "simply to annoy" The Grand Tour's Scottish producer "Gav", according to Clarkson.

"That was the only reason we met on a beach full of oil rigs and then drove through a council estate of hypodermic needles."

The trio begin their trips in what appears to be Invergordon (Photo: Amazon Prime)

There are some beautiful scenes of more typical Scottish scenery sprinkled among the derision later in the episode, with Clarkson admitting "it all gets a lot sunnier and prettier in part two".

Towards the end of the show, Hammond tries his hand at rustling up some traditional Scottish cuisine - by serving deep-friend Spaghetti "McBolognese" and bananas to a gathering of locals.

The point of the road-trip stunt was to prove that "you can still buy and enjoy a classic car... even if you're quite poor."

One social media posted on Twitter: "Spoiler: they start their journey by making derogatory and condescending comments about people's homes..."

"I'm shocked, shocked I tell you," was another user's sarcastic reply, with the original poster responding: "I know. You just don’t expect it from them."