Thread: Top Gear's The Stig Is Finally Unmasked

The BBC has been refused a court injunction preventing the revealing of The Stig's identity.


The failed court injunction has revealed one of the BBC's best kept secrets.
He may have a fear of ducks but hit motor show Top Gear's mysterious circuit driver The Stig proved to be not so tame after beating a High Court ban by BBC bosses to muzzle him.
An autobiography by HarperCollins reveals the Stig to be racing driver and stuntman, Ben Collins.




The Stig's true identity was a closely guarded secret



On his website Collins, 35,is revealed to be one of the stunt drivers who drove the Aston Martins in the latest 007 film, Quantam of Solace.
In a small paragraph it says: "Collins is also a leading stunt driver for film and television".
In response to the ruling a BBC spokesperson said: "The BBC brought this action as we believe it is vital to protect the character of the Stig which ultimately belongs to the licence fee payer.
"Today's judgement does not prevent the BBC from pursuing this matter to trial and the BBC will not be deterred from protecting such information from attack no matter when or by whom it should arise."



During the legal battle the show's boss Andy Wilman wrote a passionate blog in defence of keeping the Stig's identity secret.
In it he said: "The whole point of the Stig is the mystique – the bizarre characteristics he has, the wonderment created about what he might think, feel, do or look like. Kids adore the conceit, and I believe adults, although they know it’s a man in a suit (or is it?), gladly buy into the whole conceit because they find it entertaining."
The Top Gear test driver's job on the BBC series was to drive featured sports cars around the shows test track very fast.
But The Stig became a bit of a legend on the show after presenter Jeremy Clarkson started introducing the anonymous driver each week with a different comic saying.
The Stig's identity was never revealed as he always appeared on the show helmeted, darkened visor down and clad head to toe in his trademark white racing overalls.


Top Gear's Stig Is Free To Publish Autobiography After BBC Lose Bid To Get Injunction | UK News | Sky News

That's bollix, I'm Stig!

I'm the Stig, and so's my wife...

Long time since I've seen Top Gear, but I did enjoy the Stig segments

some say . . .

Some say it's impossible for him to wear socks, and he can open a beer bottle with his testes! All we know is, he's called the Stig.

Some say that he sucks the moisture from ducks, and that his crash helmet is modelled on Britney Spears' head... all we know is, he's called the Stig.

Some say that he appears on high value stamps in Sweden, and that he can catch fish with his tongue... we know him only, as the Stig.

Some say that after making love, he bites the head off his partner. And that he's had to give up binge drinking now that it's gone to one pound eighteen to a litre. All we know is, he's called the Stig.

Some say he once wrestled an elephant to the ground using the power of his mind and an alarming hairstyle. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

I am not Genghistig

BARRICHELLO BEATS THE STIG!

Racers-Republic | Barrichello beats The Stig!

This is all shit.

There has been any number of people play "The Stig" over the years.

Google it.

I did google it. Found out the Stig is actually Del Boy

''THE anonymity of the Stig was vaguely amusing for about 10 minutes in 2002, the BBC was told last night.
Bill McKay, from Stevenage, said: "Do I think the Stig's identity should be kept secret or not? It's a tricky one isn't it? Oh, I know - are you seriously****** asking me that question?

"Get off my property before I put on some white overalls and a matching crash helmet and run you the **** over in the sort of car you never see on Top Gear because it doesn't do 280mph and has room for a bag of fucking shopping.

"Nevertheless it remains 100% effective at killing people who care about stupid shiit."
And Helen Archer, from Doncaster, added: "There is no more pressing issue for this country to address than its attitudes to Top Gear.

"For all those who get upset when Jeremy Clarkson says he wants to drive a Porsche through a nursery, what you have to remember is that he's a dreary, pathetic, middle-England cliché who couldn't write his way out of a wet paper bag. Ignore him.

"Meanwhile, for all those who say BBC Top Gear is 'just a bit of fun', then you ******* pay for it.

"And as for the Stig. His name is Ben Collins and the best he could do with his life was to go on television and encourage people to drive like dicks."

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

This is all shit.

There has been any number of people play "The Stig" over the years.

Google it.

wot he said

Top Gear or Top Queer. Real men are way to pissed to drive cars at all, let alone fast ones.

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

Real men are way to pissed to drive cars at all, let alone fast ones.

but we drive them anyway - he looks better with his helmet on.

You have to feel sorry for the McCanns though.

Maddie being The Stig was probably their last hope.

I download it in HD when available. Great show.

Clarkson's a pleb though.

I like Clarkson, can't stand that hamster twat though

They all looked properly charlied up during the last series, especially in the "news" section of the show.

Stig speaks out about secret life

September 13, 2010

Ben Collins, the man behind Top Gear's mask, reveals how he remained anonymous.

Sterilising his clothing. Never parking in the same place twice. Locking away traces of his true identity. Keeping his eye on his car's rear-view mirror in case of a "tail".

These may sound like exploits in the life of a wanted criminal or a secret service agent, but they're actually the lengths that formerly anonymous TV star Ben Collins went to in order to stop people knowing he was The Stig.

Excerpts from the much anticipated autobiography of Top Gear's ex-racer have been published in the UK's Daily Mail, where Collins reveals the extraordinary efforts involved in keeping his life in the white racing suit a secret.

"My golden rule was never to appear in the white suit without my helmet on," Collins writes.

"I sterilised my gear, left every trace of Ben Collins - my phone, my wallet and so on - locked in the car, then hid the keys."

The Daily Mail reports a British newspaper that claimed it had combed through The Stig's dressing room struggled to find any evidence of the secret driver's identity, except for the fact the driver had size 10 feet.

He even went as far as lying to his family and friends.

"I lied to everyone, including my friends and family, about what I was doing," writes Collins, explaining that a lot of the measures he took to remain anonymous were instigated by himself.

"I made my own rules: never park in the same place twice, never talk to anyone outside the 'circle' and keep a balaclava on until I was eight miles clear of location and certain that no-one was following," the book states.

The celebrities that Collins was responsible for training for the show's "Star in a reasonably priced car" segment were not privy to Collins' identity, though according to the Daily Mail, Collins makes mention of a few well known identities.

He reportedly labels celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay "awesome", while Collins says he struggled strapping UK pop-star Katie Price (aka Jordan) into the car's racing seat because of her enlarged chest.

"My first task was Herculean," Collins writes. "[The shoulder straps] ran out of length over the top of her, er, embonpoints, and looked dangerously uncomfortable going round the side."

Collins said he expected "an afternoon of crying over broken fingernails," but was surprised by Price's driving, despite a close call when she took to the track without his accompaniment.

"She's spun at the fastest section and was backing towards the building," Collins writes. "I felt my stomach lurch."

Collins has also lashed out at Jeremy Clarkson following an interview last week which saw the Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson voicing his opinion about Collins, revealing to a British online TV channel that Collins' actions "hurt" him.

Collins was reported yesterday in the Daily Mail as saying that Clarkson told him he drove "like a homosexual", and that he felt the backlash against him following his decision to reveal his identity had been "unfair".

"When we first met, Jeremy told me I 'drove like a homosexual' but he works tirelessly to make the show the success it is and likes everyone to be pulling in the same direction," Collins said.

"Jeremy wouldn't have lasted 60 seconds in my job," Collins is quoted as saying. "He couldn't have kept his identity secret and not talked for seven years."

The war of words has since continued, with Clarkson labelling Collins a "glorified Dalek".

^ Maybe so but he still gets to drive some of the best cars on the planet and gets paid to do it i don't see the problem.I'd drive them for free.

Channel Five poaches The Stig for Fifth Gear
Alex Lewis
OCTOBER 1, 2010


Fired by Top Gear, Ben Collins has moved to the rival motoring show

Former Top Gear racing driver, The Stig, has added insult to injury in his row with the BBC by moving to Channel Five's rival motoring show, Fifth Gear.

The iconic anonymous driver was ditched from Top Gear after it emerged that he planned to release an autobiography and, in doing so, unmask himself as former Formula 3 driver Ben Collins.

He joins fellow Top Gear alumni Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson on the Channel Five show. Coincidentally, Needell was featured alongside Collins in a "Who is the Stig?" Radio Times blog in 2008.

Collins will take on "Stig-like" roles in his new job and wear a "colourful racing suit". He will also appear as a co-presenter without his racing garb. The Stig's all-white racing suit, however, is off limits as the BBC own the image rights.

Despite joining a much lower-profile television show, the move into presenting is a step up for Collins, who complained that Top Gear producer Andy Willman had compared his value as The Stig to that of a "Dalek" or "Blue Peter dog".

"I'm delighted to be joining the Fifth Gear team," said Collins. "And I am looking forward to a new set of exciting challenges, apparently with and without the helmet."

As well as being a publicity coup for Fifth Gear, his signing will be a huge boost to the profile of Channel Five, which was recently bought by media magnate Richard Desmond.

Channel Five's head of factual entertainment Steve Gowan said: "We're delighted to have the Ben on board - it will be fascinating to see how he does in a head-to-head with Tiff and Jason [Plato] - the best drivers on TV."

thefirstpost.co.uk

Top gear has had its day, I watched the latest episode, done with the Aust crew in the the UK. Bloody boring show, stupid gimmicks like driving thru an animal park, driving cars upside down. Absolute Crap it was

Originally Posted by peterpan

Top gear has had its day, I watched the latest episode, done with the Aust crew in the the UK. Bloody boring show, stupid gimmicks like driving thru an animal park, driving cars upside down. Absolute Crap it was

The Aussie version has always been shit and 5th Gear has always been playing catch-up to Top Gear.

Some things will never change.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

The Aussie version has always been shit

yeah watched it last week what a load of dross.