Having worked briefly on a unit attached to the show, huge amounts of Top Gear during the Clarkson era were also "staged". (I'm assuming by that you mean scripted).
Oh, I'm not saying that it wasn't, but in the early Clarkson years it was....less flagrant.. and the show was mostly (obviously scripted) studio segments. I have nothing against scripted television, I just don't like it when they pretend they're on some grand adventure when in reality everything was probably planned shot for shot in advance.
Everything became "oh, look how witty and clever and snarky we are" rather than humor developing organically.