Top Gear’s Stig mystery finally revealed
Over the years, the programme Top Gear has been phenomenally popular on the BBC. On the show the character of the Stig is one of the best kept secrets in television. This very popular character is hidden behind a racing helmet and test drives all of the super fast cars on the show. The Stig in the past has had some problems with the first one being supposedly killed off on the show. The first Stig was revealed to be Perry McCarthy who played the character in the first two series of the revamped show. Now it seems a problem has occurred around the new Stig, the one that came in to replace the old dead Stig. It seems the new Stig’s identity has been unearthed and people in the BBC are not happy about it.
The Stig is a very interesting television star. He is a fantastic racing driver whose job is to test drive super fast cars around the Top Gear race track and try to set the fastest lap times with them. He has all the skills that are needed by a racing driver but the only thing about the character is that his identity is supposed to be kept a secret. Previous Stigs have been Formula 1 drivers and other racing format stars. It is a necessity to be a very capable racing driver because one of the main segments on the show is the test lap around the track. The Stig also coaches guests on the show on the “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” segment. In 2002, the previous Stig, who wore black overalls during the show, went and revealed himself to the general public and drastic measures had to be taken. Perry McCarthy turned out to be the Stig and because of the BBC’s policy on keeping the identity of the Stig closely-guarded secret, McCarthy was fired from his position.
Soon after the ‘killing off’ of the old Stig a new incarnation was shown on the show. White Stig as he was known because of his white overalls; took over the duties of the show in 2003. The recent problems for the BBC and for the show have been that the person who plays the Stig has apparently been found out. Ben Collins, a former Formula 1 driver who has also driven in NASCAR and many other formats of racing seems to be the current Stig on the show. Collins has been a stunt driver as well and he worked on the film Quantum of Solace for stunt scenes. It turned out that Collins went into an art dealership to commission a painting of the Stig and revealed himself to play the character to the owner of the art gallery. From there, intrepid journalists went snooping around and uncovered Ben Collins’ company’s financial records in which it was stated that in 2003, the company would be rendering driving services for the BBC for the show Top Gear. It seemed the secret was out.
The other problem that occurred was that the Stig wanted to write an autobiography and the BBC was not too happy about the fact. They felt that any attempt to write a book would undoubtedly reveal the person who played the Stig on the show. The BBC even went so far as to forcibly stop the publication of any such book. Collins was not happy with this fact and felt that the BBC was making a lot of money over the character while he was only earning his show fee. That fee is reported to be between £5000 and £10,000 a show.
It seems now that since Ben Collins has been revealed to be the Stig, even though it has not been confirmed by anyone at the BBC, it could be time for a replacement. Maybe a Stig with blue overalls will be next but who knows. The most interesting aspect of this whole scenario is why the identity of the Stig is such a closely guarded secret. If the person who plays the character is doing a good job on the race track and in setting lap times, what does it matter if it is found out who plays him. It might give the show some added racing credentials to know that a proper race car driver is behind the wheel of the top cars that are tested. We will have to wait and see how this intriguing yet strange story develops.
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