The Stig

The Stig (New)
Top Gear character
Duration	2010—
First appearance	26 December 2011 (Series 16; Episode 0)
Last appearance	23 January 2011 (Series 16; Episode 1)
Created by	Andy Wilman
Introduced by	Jeremy Clarkson
In-universe information Occupation Test driver and trainer for celebrity guests

The Stig (White)
Top Gear character
The Stig
Portrayed by	Ben Collins, several others occasionally
Duration	2003—2010
First appearance	2 November 2003 (Series 3; Episode 2)
Last appearance	1 August 2010 (Series 15; Episode 6)
Created by	Andy Wilman
Introduced by	Jeremy Clarkson
In-universe information Occupation Test driver and trainer for celebrity guests

The Stig (Black)
Top Gear character
Portrayed by	Perry McCarthy
Duration	2002–2003
First appearance	20 October 2002 (Series 1; Episode 1)
Last appearance	26 October 2003 (Series 3; Episode 1)
Created by	Andy Wilman
Introduced by	Jeremy Clarkson
In-universe information Occupation Test driver and trainer for celebrity guests

The Stig is a character in the British motoring television show Top Gear. The character plays on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who, or indeed what, is inside the character's racing suit. The character was the creation of presenter Jeremy Clarkson and the show's producer Andy Wilman. 'Stig' was a nickname for new boys at their old school.

The Stig is responsible for setting lap times for cars tested on the show, as well as instructing celebrity guests in the show's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car section. Several episodes have featured comic variations on the Stig character, referred to by the presenters as 'The Stig's cousin'. The Stig character originally wore a black helmet and overalls, but he was killed off in the first episode of series 3, to be replaced in the next episode by a new Stig, wearing white helmet and overalls. This character has featured ever since.

The BBC have always refused to officially confirm the identity of the actor who plays the Stig. "Who is The Stig?" became a frequently asked question on the internet. The identity of the original 'Black' Stig, Perry McCarthy, was exposed by a Sunday newspaper after the first series of the show, in January 2003. McCarthy confirmed that he was 'The Stig' in the second edition of his autobiography, published following series two, and is now generally acknowledged as having been the first Stig, even by BBC media.

A number of press reports have claimed to name the White Stig, including, in January 2009, several naming Ben Collins. In June 2009 the show played up to the speculation by promising to reveal The Stig's identity, which turned out to be a joke involving former F1 champion Michael Schumacher. In August 2010 the BBC attempted to gain an injunction against Harper Collins to prevent the publication of The Man in the White Suit, the autobiography of the driver playing The Stig. Collins appeared in the High Court as part of the action, which the BBC lost, revealing Collins as the author of the book. The BBC have still refused to confirm whether Collins "either was or remains" the Stig. However after referring to Collins as "Sacked Stig" on the first episode of the 16th series, Clarkson revealed "New Stig" had taken his place. As a result the current Stig's identity is again unknown.

Creation and name

The idea for the character was part of Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman's concept for the relaunched Top Gear show, bringing a new format to the original version of Top Gear which had been cancelled in 2001. The relaunched show would introduce a live studio audience, the Stig, a racetrack, and madcap stunts. Clarkson is credited by the Sunday Times with having come up with the original idea for the Stig. Clarkson and Wilman wanted to have a professional racing driver as part of the show's cast, but ran into difficulty finding a driver sufficiently adept at speaking on-camera. Clarkson then asked Wilman why the driver needed to speak at all, and the decision was made that the Stig's role would be silent.

The name Stig stems from the fact that Wilman and Clarkson had both been pupils at the private Repton School, where new boys had always been called "Stig". According to McCarthy, speaking in 2006, the producers had wanted the anonymous driver to be called 'The Gimp', referring to the use of gimp suits in BDSM sexual role-playing. After McCarthy objected, the name Stig was settled upon. McCarthy had said of the idea at the time that "I don't want to be forever remembered as the Gimp".

Portrayal

Black Stig/White Stig

The Stig was introduced by Clarkson in the first episode of the first series, broadcast on 20 October 2002. When the third series began on 26 October 2003, the first episode saw Black Stig be 'killed off', with Clarkson introducing a new, White Stig, in the following episode, broadcast on 2 November 2003.

When first introduced, the Stig wore a black racing suit and helmet, while the new Stig introduced in season 3 wears a white suit and helmet. The White Stig's uniform consists of a white Alpinestars racing suit with small Grand Prix Racewear logo, a white Simpson Bandit and later, Diamondback race helmet, white on black Alpinestars Tech 1-Z gloves, and white Alpinestars Tech 1-K kart shoes. His white helmet was originally a Simpson Speedway RX model.

The new Stig introduced for series 16 wears a suit broadly similar to the first white Stig's, but with black epaulettes.

The scene which saw Black Stig 'killed off' was introduced as the Stig's biggest challenge yet, "Top Gun vs Top Gear". He was to attempt to race to 100 mph (160 km/h) and then come to a halt, on the 200 metres (660 ft) long flight deck of HMS Invincible, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, on which British Aerospace Sea Harrier jump jets reach 100 mph (160 km/h) before take-off. He would be using the 'old Top Gear Jag', a white Jaguar XJS bought for a 'couple of hundred quid', stripped of its fittings and fitted with nitrous injection, to take it to 500 bhp (370 kW), which had been featured in series 2, beating 'just about every supercar on the planet' in a drag race. Black Stig accelerated along the deck, and an on screen speedometer indicated 109 mph (175 km/h), before a cutaway shot saw the car flying off the end of the runway ramp and into the sea. Clarkson then revealed in the last scene of the episode, that the shot of a glove floating on the sea was all that divers had found. According to McCarthy, "We tried to make it as much like a scene out of James Bond as possible".

Anonymity and muteness

In the very first episode when introducing the Black Stig, Clarkson noted that, "We don't know its name, we really don't know its name, nobody knows its name, and we don't wanna know, 'cause it's a racing driver". According to the Daily Mail writing in 2010, his face is never revealed on set, not even the celebrity guests training on the reasonably priced car are allowed to learn his identity. He stays suited and with his helmet on throughout the show, arriving early and leaving late, and having his own dressing room and eating privately. The studio audience has no access to him at any time.

All that can usually be seen from the gap between his helmet and jumpsuit is that he is a white male with dark hair. According to the Sunday Times writing in 2006, most of the crew did not know his identity, relaying how one camera assistant once observed him eating his lunch in the back of an ambulance to avoid being spotted. Again according to The Sunday Times writing in 2009, just a few BBC production staff and other journalists know the Stig's real identity. The Stig has been depicted on the show as being stopped by police during the race from Caterham to Knockhill after he crossed the Forth Road Bridge and refused to lift his visor or give his name.

Although the Stig does talk with celebrities while preparing them for their "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" lap times, he is never shown talking on screen. Clarkson has joked that he is "not a very talkative chap" when keeping silent while on set, in order to hide his identity. In a rare spoken interview, the Stig has reportedly said when asked what his real name was, that he didn't remember due to the fact his memory had been erased when he got the job. The Stig's muteness is extended to appearances in other media, such as the 'Brain Stig' viral video released by the BBC on their YouTube channel, to promote the new Top Gear website in 2009, depicting a frustrated staff member holding a brainstorming session for show ideas.

Clarkson has written in his newspaper column that the Stig is not permitted to talk because "the opinions of all racing drivers are completely worthless", going on to explain that, due to their familiarity with cars equipped for track racing, they believe any and all road cars are rubbish, even a Lamborghini Gallardo or a Bugatti Veyron. He confirmed this by test driving for himself a BMW 3-series diesel road car converted to a race car, complete with slick tyres, race suspension and brakes, and concluding that driving it was "more exciting and more fun to drive than any supercar".

Driving ability

The show has often compared and contrasted the Stig's driving ability, particularly against Formula One drivers. When Jeremy Clarkson revealed that the Stig believed that the Suzuki Liana, the show's Reasonably Priced Car, could do a time of 1:44, a former F1 driver, Nigel Mansell, appearing as a guest on the programme, duly obliged by posting a lap time of 1:44.5, while the Stig then posted a lap time of 1:44.4 in the Liana. Clarkson has often mentioned that F1 drivers seem to take a different racing line on the test track than the Stig, such as on Jenson Button's drive, however, during Rubens Barrichello's and Lewis Hamilton's visits to the show, Clarkson observed that they took the same line around the track as The Stig. Formula One driver Mark Webber's appearance on the show was marked at the conclusion of his lap with Clarkson presenting him with an "I AM THE STIG" T-shirt. The show made various references to the Stig apparently having developed a jealous rivalry with Rubens Barrichello, after he became the first person to beat his time posted in the "Reasonably Priced Car" by a tenth of a second, posting a lap time of 1:44.3.

Other traits

The Stig has been described by Clarkson as having a very small brain, worthless opinions, and a disorder called "Mansell Syndrome".

The Stig's status and oddity has often been underlined with humorous introductions by the presenters before his appearances on the show. Initially, the Stig would be given simple humorous introductions on the show, such as "His Holiness, The Stig!" (introducing the Power Lap for the Bowler Wildcat.) Beginning in Series 6, these began to follow a format of "Some say that [facts]. All we know is, he's called the Stig.", where the facts give away some unusual trait or other detail about the Stig.

These often detail his odd character traits, such as being afraid of bells or confused by stairs His possibly machine like or at least non-human body is hinted at by revelations that his voice can only be heard by cats, or that he never blinks, naturally faces magnetic north, all his legs are hydraulic, he has two sets of knees, and heart ticks like a watch. He is even hinted at being a wild creature, spending his spare time catching fish with his tongue or foraging for wolves in the woods. Other odd details revealed in these introductions have included such facts as his face appears on high-value stamps in Sweden his left nipple is the shape of the Nürburgring, one of his eyes is a testicle, that he invented the curtain, that he daydreams of Rubens Barrichello being caught in a ham slicer and his salary is paid by the BBC in strong pornography.

His introductions often jokingly refer to current events of the day, such as when Clarkson introduced Michael Schumacher as the Stig in 2009 by stating he "recently submitted a £20,000 expenses claim for some gravel for his moat," in reference to the MPs' expenses scandal, or when it was said "if you give him a really important job, he'll skive off and play croquet", referring to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in 2006.

One introduction even made reference to the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana: "Some say that he's banned from the town of Chichester and that in a recent late-night deal, he bought a slightly dented white Fiat Uno from the Duke of Edinburgh."

For the trip to the Isle of Man road test, the Stig was depicted as a piece of cargo, being collected by Clarkson from the baggage conveyor at the airport. On the Top Gear 2005 DVD Revved Up, the Stig is depicted as being stored in a cupboard when not in use. The Stig is also portrayed as having bizarre listening habits as heard on the car stereo as he performs Power Laps. Often a specific genre is chosen for one or more series. These have included power ballads, one-hit wonders, easy listening, country and western, Morse code, progressive rock, whale songs, baroque, advertising jingles, foreign language tapes, romantic novels, salesman techniques, the hits of Elton John, the speeches of Margaret Thatcher, self-help tapes, pipe band music, Chas & Dave, vuvuzelas, and, most recently, the Bee Gees.

The Stig's odd persona was maintained in his appearance at the National Television Awards, when he silently accepted an award, and handed the host Griff Rhys Jones a letter from Clarkson, May and Hammond, instructing him to give the Stig the award in his left hand, as his right one is magnetic, and cautioning organisers that he wasn't to be seated near the cast of Coronation Street, as "he's decided all northerners are edible".

Role

The Stig is credited alongside Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May as a presenter of Top Gear in the end credits. The Stig's primary roles on the show centre around the Top Gear test track at the show's base at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey. His two main functions are to post lap times for various featured performance cars in the 'Power Laps' segment, and to train celebrity guests to set lap times on the test track in the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment.

The Stig's role as a test driver is described on the Top Gear website Power Laps board as follows:

Every performance road car that comes to the Top Gear test track eventually ends up in the hands of our tame racing driver...He doesn't do sponsorship, excuses or post race press-conferences. He exists for one reason alone - to wring every last drop of performance out of any car he drives, giving us a definitive lap time around our demanding test track.

When first introduced, the Stig was described as the resident test driver, as the presenters could not consistently post fast times themselves. His stated mission was to "just go out there and drive fast". This was reflected by the original Stig Perry McCarthy who described in 2006 how a racing driver was intended to be used as part of the presenting team in order to produce definitive fastest lap times for tested cars. Speaking in 2009, McCarthy described the main purpose of the character as someone who would "remove the human element from high-speed testing. Someone, in fact, who was superhuman.", explaining that the character's anonymity would "take out the personality from the purity of lap times. It would give the true measure of a car's performance".

The anonymity also helps the programme deal seamlessly with situations where, due to the value and/or rarity of the car involved, insurance conditions demand that only a test driver employed by the manufacturer (and hence fully experienced in driving that particular car) may perform a power lap. The driver can wear the Stig costume and no explanations about the use of a different driver need to be given.

While Black Stig was primarily used just for Power Lap times and Reasonably Priced Car training, the white Stig's role has been expanded, and he has been used beyond the Top Gear test track in other show challenges and road tests, such as producing timed runs in the Isle of Man road test, driving a Caterham Seven from Caterham to Knockhill, riding a London Bus, the DLR and the Tube across London, and jumping a snowmobile off a ski-jump in Lillehammer, Norway. He has also been used in various roles at the studio, such as playing a police pursuit driver in the White Van Man challenge.

Other appearances

In June 2008 Stig drove a passenger in a two-seat Formula One car at up to 178 mph (286 km/h) for three laps around the Silverstone Circuit in wet conditions, hours before the start of the 2008 British Grand Prix. The drive was the prize in a charity auction held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital where the winning bidder paid £35,000 for the privilege. Stig appeared at the October 2008 National Television Awards to accept Top Gear's third award for best factual programme, as the other presenters were ostensibly busy filming the new series. The Stig also appears at Top Gear Live events, such as the August 2010 Stunt Show at the Nürburgring in Germany, in which he is billed as the star of the show alongside the other stunt drivers and cars, with the other Top Gear presenters not playing a part. White Stig has also appeared outside Top Gear in some of Clarkson's motoring DVDs, such as 2005's Heaven and Hell, 2006's The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, 2007's Supercar Showdown, 2008's Thriller, 2009's Duel, and 2010's The Italian Job (in which he is referred to by Clarkson, in voiceover narration, as "Sacked Stig").

Identity

Black Stig's identity

Perry McCarthy

Racing driver Perry McCarthy was the original, Black Stig, appearing in 22 episodes of the programme in all.

McCarthy got the role of the Stig after a chance meeting with Jeremy Clarkson at the launch party for McCarthy's autobiography, Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 the Hard Way!, published on 4 July 2002. This led to an audition as a regular presenter, before the production team then decided the racing driver would be anonymous. (Although in 2008, McCarthy said that Clarkson mentioned the idea of a 'top secret' racing driver at their first meeting.)

The first series began airing on 20 October 2002 and ended on 29 December 2002, and in the break before the second series, on 12 January 2003, The Sunday Mirror named the Stig as Perry McCarthy. The newspaper quoted a show insider stating "Just a handful of the crew know that he is actually Perry". At the time, McCarthy simply stated "I do know who the Stig is but I cannot comment any further."

The second series began airing on 11 May 2003, and ended on 20 July 2003. McCarthy published the second edition of his autobiography in September 2003, confirming that he was The Stig. McCarthy was then killed off in the first episode of the third series, which aired on 26 October 2003.

The explanations for his being written out of the show vary. Speaking in 2008, McCarthy stated "My time at Top Gear ended nicely enough. I’d had a great time and felt it was time to call it a day. So we all shook hands and they threw me off an aircraft carrier." The Times claimed in 2009 that he fell out with producers. The Sunday Times claimed in 2009 that internet sites have claimed he was "loose lipped" with his secret identity, forcing the BBC to write him out, however the report also described how McCarthy denies this, asserting he "never went back on his word about keeping the secret", and that the dispute was over his attempt to trademark the Stig and turn it into a commercial brand. In August 2010, he described how he became tired of the job, which he claimed paid just £700 a week. He said part of his annoyance with the role had come from an attempt by a car owner to sue him for ruining his car, a rare Jaguar C-Type, winner of the 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours, and the BBC stating they could not defend him due to his anonymity. He stated that the BBC eventually chose not to renew his contract, and wrote him out. Speaking in 2006, he relayed how he grew tired of maintaining an anonymous persona, stating "Richard [Hammond] used to say that they'd hired the mouthiest racing driver there was – and then shut him up."

McCarthy has subsequently been described as "original Top Gear Stig" on the BBC News in November 2008 while fronting a drunk driving awareness campaign, and appearing on BBC Breakfast during the HarperCollins dispute of August 2010 to explain his role as the Black Stig. On 21 August 2010, as the HarperCollins dispute began to develop, McCarthy gave an interview about his time as the original Stig.

Speaking in 2009, McCarthy relayed how to keep his anonymity, when he drove to work as the Stig, he would don the Stig's helmet while going through the security gates at Dunsfold aerodrome, and then he would change into his racing overalls in a special room behind the gatehouse, before then driving into the studio areas. He would speak as little as possible in the backstage areas, and put on an accent, which some mistook as French. McCarthy also explained that hiding his identity while coaching the celebrities for Star in a Reasonably Priced Car proved difficult. He stated that he did reveal his true identity while coaching Ross Kemp and David Soul, as he had previously met them before. For other drives, if celebrities asked if he was a particular person, he would just say "How did you know?", adding that more often than not, the suggestion was Michael Schumacher.

Having had background in top level motor racing before Top Gear, and having originally intended to be a Formula One driver, albeit failing to qualify for any races in the 1992 Formula One season for the Moda Judd team, McCarthy stated in 2006 he did not regret leaving the supercars on Top Gear, and instead harboured ambitions at re-entering racing in the Grand Prix Masters series. After Top Gear he went on to run an investment company, and earn £6,000 a time doing after dinner speaking.

Julian Bailey

According to the Sunday Times writing in 2009, McCarthy had revealed in his book that there had always been more than one Stig, and that 47 year-old Julian Bailey, a former Formula One driver for Tyrrell and Lotus, had acted as a stand in for McCarthy, as Black Stig. In a June 2009 interview with the Daily Mail, Bailey, who was selling his home in Effingham, Surrey, said "I was one of the Stigs...which was pretty handy as filming was done just down the road...I have stopped now, but I am not supposed to talk about it."

Speculation over White Stig's identity

2005–2007

When the former Formula One World Champion Damon Hill appeared on Top Gear in 2005 to be interviewed and appear on the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, he seemed to hint he was the Stig, leading to his name being mentioned in the press over the years as a possible candidate, while he has also fuelled the speculation himself since then.

Following the crash of Richard Hammond in a rocket powered car, Ben Collins was asked to give a statement as a presenter, despite the fact he had never been on the show apart from the original game of car football. The accident report into the crash described Ben Collins as someone who worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant.

The Daily Express claimed in January 2006 that Julian Bailey had taken over from Perry McCarthy and was the new Stig. In March 2006, shortly after the airing of the Winter Olympics special which depicted the Stig jumping a snowmobile off a ski-jump, the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet claimed it had been the Swedish snowmobile cross driver Dan Lang.

When the Sunday Times went to the set to cover the filming of the final episode of series eight in July 2006, they claimed to have spotted the Stig with his visor up, chatting to Clarkson, and described how he has white skin, straight brown hair and possibly blue eyes, and looked younger than the 44 year old Julian Bailey. After snooping around his dressing room, they also claimed to have found out he wears size 10 racing shoes, and likes playing Scalextric.

Original Stig Perry McCarthy stated in November 2006 that he knew who the White Stig was, and hinted at the multiple driver theory.

As a prelude to series nine, in January 2007 Auto Trader ran through the favourites as given by bookmaker William Hill. Of the top three picks, the top favourite at 2/1 was stunt driver Russ Swift after dropping hints in an interview with them the previous week, while Damon Hill remained second favourite at 4/1, with Ben Collins third at 8/1. While a suspected Stig himself, Russ Swift had stated in his interview that "It's not one person", and also suggested it was Damon Hill.

Collins' status as a favourite was explained by AutoTrader as being down to the fact he was a talented, under-rated and relatively unknown driver just like the original Stig Perry McCarthy, while also stating "His appearance on Top Gear as part of a parachuting stunt led to feverish speculation on the Internet that Collins is the real Stig", although they cast doubt as to whether he might be too tall to fit the suit.

2008

An investigation by The Scotsman in 2008, garnered the opinion of several racing personalities. The Scottish FIA GT Championship and Le Mans racing driver Andrew Kirkaldy said of the mystery in 2008 that "I've got a fair idea who it is, but I can't say. It's someone I know quite well. He's reasonably quiet and modest and doesn't ever talk about it. I only found out by chance and he's certainly never admitted it." Stewart Roden, team principle of the Scuderia Ecosse GT racing team, said he knew who it was, and that there might be multiple Stigs, commenting that "In the racing world, a lot of the team managers do know who is under the helmet, but it's top secret." While confirming the Stig was an actively employed racing driver, Roden denied it was Damon Hill or Allan McNish. Scottish female racing driver Susie Stoddart said "OK, there are two Stigs. One is Ben Collins and the other is Darren Turner. How do I know? I'm a racing driver, nothing stays a secret for long in motorsport,". Darren Turner is also a GT driver.

The Scotsman also named former Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell, as well as Le Mans and former Formula One driver McNish, as candidates that have all been mentioned as part of a multiple Stigs theory. According to The Scotsman, the first time the Stig was caught speaking on camera was when he was pursued by an interviewer from the Dutch channel Veronica, and he gave brief answers to a question as to how he got the job, and that when the Stig visited the Knockhill Racing Circuit in Scotland, the public relations manager of the circuit claimed that when the Stig verbally rebuked someone for trying to lift his visor, he had "an English accent, not regional like Yorkshire, more southern".

In May 2008 it was speculated by fans that German driver and television presenter Tim Schrick was the Stig, after a picture appeared on the Dutch website Autoblog.nl of a white suited man carrying a white helmet on a racetrack, with the Top Gear presenters and crew nearby, apparently filming on location at the Zolder circuit in Belgium. This was quickly debunked after another picture emerged of the helmeted Stig and Schrick standing together at the track. The filming had actually been for an episode where the Top Gear team had a competition against the German motoring programme D-Motor similar to Top Gear, for whom Schrick is a presenter. In the resulting episode, Schrick actually raced against the Stig. Despite this, Schrick's name continued to be mentioned in some sources, such as the Telegraph in 2009.

Auto Trader claimed to have published the first photograph of the Stig's face and eyes as seen behind his darkened visor, exposed courtesy of a camera flash, from a picture taken in London on 21 February 2008. Experts could not identify the face, and the BBC refused to comment. As of March 2008, according to the Western Daily Press who interviewed Collins, a YouTube video was circulating comparing Collins' west country accent with an unbroadcast scene where the Stig was caught speaking. Collins laughed off the rumours as "nonsense". After observing the Stig's charity drive around the Silverstone Circuit just before the July 2008 British Grand Prix, former Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso remarked, "Whoever’s in that car is a seriously good driver... I’ve no idea who he is, but he’s definitely ex-F1".

On 1 November 2008, the Daily Star claimed to have met the undisguised Stig after they followed him leaving the National Television Awards having appeared there in character a few days previously. After following him back to the Top Gear offices in West London, they then observed a man leaving the office, ironically wearing an "I am the Stig" T-Shirt. They stated however that when asked, he insisted: "I'm not the Stig, all right." The BBC however dismissed the report, stating it had merely been one of their production runners named "Will" who had merely been leaving after a late night at the office.

2009

Ben Collins and multiple driver claims

On 6 January 2009, the Bristol Evening Post reported that the Stig had revealed his identity to a local art gallery owner. The father and son owners of Gallery 2C in Clifton, Bristol claimed that in September 2008 a man had enquired about the creation of 450 signed limited edition prints of the Stig, which he intended to sell to car magazines and dealerships. First claiming to be a BBC executive and claiming to be the copyright owner, the owners stated he revealed himself to be the real Stig after they agreed to do the job and signed a confidentiality agreement to keep it secret. The owners declined to reveal his name, and a spokesperson responded to the story by stating the BBC "never reveals who, or what, The Stig is".

On 11 January 2009, the tabloid News of the World claimed to have ascertained several details about the Stig leaked from a BBC source, without learning his actual name. The paper revealed that he was a racing driver whose career included Formula First, GT Racing, Stock Cars, and almost made it to Formula One. He apparently was on a salary of around £150,000 a year, by combining his Top Gear job with some stunt and test driving. He was supposedly in his 30s, married, lived in a £300,000 home and drove a car worth £15,000. It quoted the BBC source stating "This is the best-kept secret in motor racing and we want to keep it that way. No one will ever officially confirm his identity."

The Telegraph claimed on 12 January 2009 that according to a "show insider", singer and car enthusiast Jay Kay had claimed in 2008 that "he has played the part of The Stig on several occasions". A viral video was released on 14 January 2009 with the Top Gear website's creative director Charlie Turner claiming he and the Stig had never been seen in the same room, as the Stig then walks past behind him in a corridor.

It is believed that the first newspaper to connect the Bristol Evening Post and News of the World stories with Ben Collins, was the print edition of the Daily Star Sunday on 18 January 2009, who under the headline "We unmask The Stig" published a photograph of Collins, 33, naming him as the Stig. On 19 January 2009, pictures emerged of the man named 'Will' who was previously named by the Daily Star as a suspected Stig at the end of 2008 after the National Television Awards.

On 19 January 2009, the Daily Telegraph followed up the Bristol Evening Post and News of the World stories to claim that Ben Collins was the Stig. They cited a builder who claimed to have seen his white helmet and uniform on display in his house while doing some work for him, a YouTube video comparing the West Country accents of the Stig and Collins, comparing his racing career to that already claimed was the Stig's, and his previous appearances as himself on the programme performing stunts, and work as a James Bond stunt double driving an Aston Martin DBS in the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace. It also cited a Health & Safety Executive report into Richard Hammond's accident on Top Gear in September 2006 which stated that Collins "worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant" and had briefed Hammond. The BBC stated in response to the story, "We never comment on speculation as to who or what The Stig is".

The following day on 20 January, The Times also named Collins as the Stig, stating that this had been an "open secret within the motoring world for some years" which the media had previously kept secret in order to "uphold the spirit of the programme". While also alluding to his other career backgrounds as a television presenter and brand manager for Hornby's Scalextric, it stated that "Collins has always denied being the Stig, fearing that he could face the sack if his identity was disclosed." Collins did not comment on the story. The piece spoke of frustration within the BBC, quoting a "show insider" as stating "You wouldn't write a piece saying that Santa didn't exist." It postulated that the White Stig would not follow the same fate as the Black Stig by being killed off, following the revelation.

On 20 January 2009 the Daily Mail claimed that at least four drivers were currently employed to act as the Stig, citing a BBC source as saying "The simple fact of the matter is that there are currently four Stigs who drive on the test track" for reasons of practicality. The report claimed that in addition to the rumoured Ben Collins, Julian Bailey was also currently working as the Stig, with "one more unidentified Stig on the loose.", with more drivers also used when their schedules clashed. Supporting this, it relayed the source's explanation that if you look at the show the height of the Stig varies. The source was quoted as explaining how there was frustration inside the show at the repeated attempts to identify the Stig, likening it to telling people that there is no Father Christmas, and spoiling children's belief that the Stig really is a robot with magnetic knees. The BBC refused to comment on the story.

On 21 January 2009, the Top Gear website blog revealed that the Stig was a moonlighting Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop attempting to recover crippling losses, and was the newly elected US President Barack Obama who only ran for election to fill in the time between series, and was also Damon Hill's father, Graham Hill, who faked his own death in a plane crash in 1975 to take the role.

In his newspaper column in The Sun on 24 January 2009, Clarkson slammed The Telegraph, calling it the "Hellograph", for their attempt to "spoil everyone's fun" by naming the Stig as Ben Collins, and instead revealed that the Stig was in fact the BBC Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell, declaring he would now have to be killed by being dropped from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport plane, and the Telegraph will have to now find another big secret to expose, such as the size of the TARDIS, or the identity of Father Christmas.

Following up on their story a week earlier, on 27 January the Daily Mail claimed it had tracked down "another former Stig" who anonymously told them the names of a total of eight drivers who had "recently stood in as the test-driving mystery man." In addition to the previously mentioned Ben Collins and Julian Bailey, and the man named "Will", the paper named the Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen, the former GT world champion Chris Goodwin, stunt drivers Terry Grant and Russ Swift, and the Swedish snow mobile racing champion Dan Lang. It claimed Kovalainen raced a Formula One car around the test track in 2004, and Lang was the driver in the snowmobile ski jump stunt. The BBC refused to comment on the story.

Writing on 30 January 2009, Joseph Dunn of The Sunday Times claimed some of their journalists knew the Stig's identity, and said Ben Collins was an occasional test driver for the newspaper. He asserted that "the character has been played by at least four others, all scorchingly quick on the track. In the spirit of the show and preserving the mystery of the character, we’re not going to say who they were. Except one, who was unmasked in the Swedish press and on the internet. For the Winter Olympics special, Top Gear launched an unmanned rocket powered Mini down a ski jump, after which The Stig drove down the same ramp in a snowmobile. To do this stunt the team called up Dan Lang, a Swedish snowmobile champion to play The Stig."

Also during January 2010, the appearance of a Stig snowman in the garden of the William Bray pub in Shere, Surrey, owned by Julian Bailey, previously linked to the Black Stig, fuelled speculation that he was also the White Stig.

Michael Schumacher 'revealed'

On 20 June 2009, Jeremy Clarkson revealed in his Sun newspaper column that the Stig would finally show the world his face, in the series thirteen opening episode to be broadcast the next day. Clarkson said that The Stig wished to unmask himself to quash speculation over his identity, stating "He's been fed up with newspapers speculating that he's a photocopier salesman from Bolton, or lives in a pebble-dashed house in Bristol".

The show first depicted the Stig driving a Ferrari FXX round the test track in a time of one minute and 10.7 seconds. Afterwards, after walking into the studio and sitting on the green couch, with the audience shouting "Off! Off! Off! Off!", the Stig took his helmet off to reveal he was the former Formula One multiple World Champion Michael Schumacher. In the following interview, Schumacher then played up to some of the supposed defining character traits of the Stig, such as the claim he only knows two facts about ducks (both being wrong), and that he is illegal in 9 US states.

According to Auto Trader, such was the interest in the segment, that it was the most read and most shared story on the BBC News website, and that the BBC's on-line television service the BBC iPlayer crashed three times during the segment. Commenting on the "media frenzy", they stated "Ultimately it’s a massive publicity stunt to steer the spotlight off The Stig's real identity but massive kudos to Top Gear for getting Schumacher (and his weird Bacardi commercial) on telly last night". What Car? magazine's consumer editor Peter Lawton also described how it was not for real, just a "a nice publicity stunt". The Times also described it as a publicity stunt, put on for Schumacher's sponsor Bacardi.

The BBC would initially not confirm or deny it was a just a stunt, but a spokesman was quoted as saying "You have to bear in mind that Top Gear is an entertainment programme. We never reveal who or what The Stig is,". The next day however, The Telegraph wrote: "A spokesman for Top Gear confirmed Schumacher had been The Stig during the Ferrari circuit... But the spokesman added that the identity of the driver at other times would remain "a mystery".

Other

Despite the Schumacher revelation, reports continued to claim Ben Collins was the Stig. On 22 June 2009, The Times stated "The real identity of The Stig is widely believed to be Ben Collins... He lives in Bristol. ", while the BBC News reported how, Peter Lawton, consumer editor of What Car? magazine, has stated that he knows the Stig's identity, but that he would not reveal it.

In September 2009, British racing driver Justin Bell, best friend of the original Stig Perry McCarthy, has said he knew who the Stig was, but would not reveal his name. He also stated that he didn't understand why he did it, stating "You can't talk about it and nobody knows who you are. There's nothing good about it ... unless you go to a convention of other people in white helmets and white suits". Bell was speaking to The Telegraph after being hired for the job of driving instructor on The Jay Leno Show's Green Car Challenge segment, similar to the Star in a Reasonably Priced car, causing him to be dubbed 'America's Stig' by the paper.

2010

In September 2010, after the High Court judgement allowing Ben Collins to publish his autobiography revealing himself as White Stig, the Sun claimed that 26-year-old racing driver Phil Keen had stood in for the White Stig, both behind the wheel, and in appearances, when Collins was unavailable, including at the 2009 Top Gear Live event in Germany.

White Stig's autobiography plans

BBC dispute with HarperCollins

On 19 August 2010 the Daily Mail reported that there was a legal dispute progressing between publishers representing the Stig and the BBC over plans to release an autobiography revealing his identity. It stated that the dispute surrounded the Stig's dissatisfaction at being unable to exploit his fame, and earning an estimated £5,000 and £10,000 per show, compared to six and seven figure earnings by the other Top Gear presenters. It described the situation as incredibly tense, with Clarkson said to be deeply upset, and with show insiders fearing that the Stig could either quit the show, or be fired, with the dispute needing to be settled either way before the sixteenth series. A BBC spokesman confirmed to the paper that "The BBC is in a legal dispute over the publication of a book relating to Top Gear as this breaches agreed contractual and confidentiality obligations relating to the show."

On 22 August 2010, the Sunday Times claimed to have unearthed more evidence that showed Collins was the Stig, namely financial documents for his company Collins Autosport dating back to the White Stig's entry to the show. They stated the documents reported in December 2003 an increase in profits, put down to "driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme", just a month after the White Stig's first appearance. They also stated the documents described this as a "cornerstone year" offering "good long-term prospects for continuing income". When contacted over the story, Collins merely stated "I can't speak to you. I'm going into a tunnel". The newspaper also claimed Collins earned between £5,000 and £10,000 per show and was unhappy at not receiving a fair share of the revenue generated by the Stig brand. Responding to the report, the BBC stated that is was "no surprise that Ben Collins's company listed Top Gear amongst its work as the driver had appeared numerous times on the programme and he often supplied other drivers for both the programme and Top Gear Live".

The publisher was confirmed to be HarperCollins when legal action was confirmed to have commenced under the High Court in London on 23 August, as the BBC sued the publisher for an attempt to profit from the unauthorised use of the Top Gear brand, maintaining that revealing the identity would spoil viewers' enjoyment of the show. The publisher responded, stating "We are disappointed that the BBC has chosen to spend licence fee payers' money to suppress this book and will vigorously defend the perfectly legitimate right of this individual to tell his story".

The Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman writing on a Top Gear blog on 27 August attacked the publisher for trying to cash in on the programme, describing them as a "bunch of chancers", describing the action as an issue of trust, and justifying the use of license fee to fight the case based on the brand's value to the programme and the viewers, clarifying that half of the case costs were being met by BBC Worldwide, their commercial arm.

On 29 August 2010, the Daily Mirror claimed the BBC had already sacked Collins from the Stig role, citing the Stig's appearance at the Top Gear Live August 2010 Stunt Show at the Nürburgring in Germany, at the same time as Collins was photographed at his West Country home. When asked about the ongoing High Court action, Collins stated "I am not allowed to talk about it." Despite objections from the publisher, the legal case hearings began in private on 31 August, with the judge stating that newspapers could be subjected to extensive restrictions before the conclusion, and that the public interest in open justice could be served by a public judgement given "in due course".

Outcome

On 1 September 2010 after a day and a half of hearings, the case concluded, with the judge sideing against the BBC, refusing to grant an injunction blocking the publication. In reporting the judgement, the BBC News revealed the proposed book was to be called The Man in the White Suit, and was indeed to be about Ben Collins, but still clarifying that it "won't confirm or deny that Ben Collins either was or remains The Stig". Collins was in court to hear the final judgement. HarperCollins confirmed that the reasons for declining the injunction were to be given by the judge later, in a private judgement. In response to the judgement, the BBC clarified that it "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".

Both Collins and HarperCollins refused to confirm his status as the Stig to reporters waiting outside the court after the case, but the publisher maintained surprise at the BBC's decision to fight the case, stating the information in dispute had always been in the public domain. With HarperCollins owned by News Corporation, The Guardian claimed the legal case between the publishers and Top Gear had been part of a proxy war between the BBC and BSkyB, who had been in conflict in recent years over their respective dominance in the British television markets. Following the court ruling, Collins' autobiography, The Man in the White Suit, was due to be published on 16 September 2010. As of 2 September 2010, the web site of the Gordon Poole Agency, the talent agency representing Ben Collins, referred to Collins as Top Gear's The Stig.

In the immediate reaction, on 2 September, The Telegraph asserted that the judgement meant that the Stig had now been conclusively outed as Ben Collins, stating his "dual identity is no longer in doubt", bringing an end to seven years of speculation and theories as to who wore the white overalls. It also conceded that, "But with the corporation yet to officially acknowledge the fact, Collins' future in the role is less certain". The BBC News website published a profile of Collins' career on the same day, but merely stated that he will "publish an autobiography in which he claims to be The Stig".

Replacement Stig speculation

Following the BBC's failure to obtain an injunction preventing Ben Collins publishing his autobiography, presenter James May jokingly stated "Obviously I'm now going to have to take some legal action of my own, because I have been the Stig for the past seven years, and I don't know who this bloke is, who's mincing around in the High Court pretending it's him." May kept up the pretence in a column in The Telegraph, expounding on his double life as Captain Slow and the Stig, and how his replacement was named Collins - the Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins.

Noting "if the Stig is dead", The Guardian similarly observed "It turns out that the Stig was not a Formula One racer, or a Bugatti test driver, or a robot – but Ben Collins", while immediately speculated that there would be another Stig, offering up suggestions for possible replacements, from a Formula One driver to Angela Rippon. Bookmakers immediately began offering odds on the identity of the next Stig, with Paddy Power naming Heikki Kovalainen as their favourite, while also offering odds on whether there would be a new Stig, and on how the show might 'kill off' the White Stig. William Hill named Anthony Davidson as their favourite, while noting that customers "could be waiting for several years before the next one is unveiled".

The Daily Mail claimed on 3 September that the BBC had only learned that Collins had written an autobiography 'a few weeks' before, prompting the legal action, and that Collins had been immediately fired. It claimed his advance from HarperCollins was about £250,000, while his salary for being the Stig was probably no more than £70,000. The Telegraph claimed that Collins had been axed by Top Gear, citing BBC sources who said that as a result of the court case, Collins' contract with the BBC, having already expired in the previous month, would not now be renewed by the BBC. It claimed that a television talent management agency was now planning to use Collins in a new show in competition with Top Gear. It also claimed the BBC had spent up to £100,000 in their bid to have the court impose a temporary injunction banning Collins' book.

Speaking to a radio station the same day, James May explained that in the new series of the show, for which filming was to start the following week, that in a similar way to how the Black Stig was killed off and replaced, having "had to be dealt with by Andy [Wilman, the show producer]", White Stig "will be dealt with", joking that "driving to The Stig's house and nailing his head to the table" was one idea for the new series, in addition to reclaiming the overalls, shoes and gloves, which were "not his", claiming Wilman was furious at Collins for writing his autobiography. The Telegraph claimed that a decision about whether the character would even feature in the next series using a different driver was not expected until it was due to air, in December 2010.

On 4 September, The Sun quoted a BBC spokeswoman as saying "No decision has yet been made as to whether The Stig will be killed off - and we're making no further comment.", adding that a Top Gear source reportedly told them "It's going to be a tall order to replace The Stig when everyone now knows who played the original. His departure will leave a big hole in the show which will need to be filled." It also claimed that a former White Stig stand-in, 26-year-old racing driver Phil Keen, was now favourite to become the new Stig. On the same day, William Hill shortened the odds on a female Stig, after Clarkson suggested the character will be replaced. Under the heading 'Driver Wanted', he wrote in his column in The Sun that "Top Gear, the motoring show on BBC2, is looking for a driver with a high level of racing experience to be The Stig. The successful applicant need not speak English, or indeed any language at all, but he or she must hate Boy Scouts, be able to punch a horse to the ground, have eyes that blink sideways and, most important of all, understand that no one, under any circumstances, should ever rat on their friends." The newspaper claimed only three people other than the presenters Clarkson, Hammond and May, had known the Stig's identity for certain, before the High Court judgement.

In an interview on 7 September 2010, Jeremy Clarkson said, 'put it this way, he's history as far as we are concerned. He's sacked.' Clarkson also referred to the white Stig as "Sacked Stig" in voiceover narration on his 2010 video The Italian Job, released in mid-November.

On 5 November 2010, the Top Gear website released a video clip about its "Stig Farm", the end of which introduced a new Stig for Top Gear Live. He sports a white helmet and overalls, with black highlights on the shoes, sleeves and shoulders. The video also featured a satire of Collins' autobiography, in which one example of a Stig tries to write a book on a computer, before proceeding to correct one of its numerous mistakes with Tippex.

In the first episode of the 2010-2011 series, the presenters branded the Stig a traitor, with James May declaring his true name to be Judas Iscariot. In a later challenge in which the presenters had to take part in a mock drive-by shooting, the targets used were cardboard cut-outs of the Stig—which, on his turn, Hammond turned around to take the specific opportunity to "shoot [the Stig] in the back!"

For the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell was brought in to train film director Danny Boyle on the track. Boyle then went on to set the fastest lap time in wet conditions that had ever been recorded in the segment, leading Clarkson to postulate that the Stig had been "slowing celebrities down" throughout his tenure. Needell was credited as the "Emergency Stig" for this episode.

In the 2010 Christmas Special, the regular presenters made a journey from Iraq to Bethlehem in convertible sports cars to present 'The Baby Jesus' with their gifts of gold, frankincense shampoo and a Nintendo DS (Jeremy Clarkson had been unable to find any myrrh). Upon reaching Bethlehem, the presenters found a traditional stone building under a shaft of heavenly light. Within the building was a nativity scene, and after presenting their gifts, the presenters gazed upon the infant - a baby Stig, dressed in the signature white overalls and helmet.

New Stig

Following the Christmas episode Jeremy Clarkson and James May explained on the first episode of series 16 that Stigs grow very quickly and within a month Baby Stig was fully grown and referred to him as New Stig. He allegedly set broadly very similar lap times to "Sacked Stig". He set the fastest time of any car around the track of 1:15.1 in an Ariel Atom V8.

Cultural impact and merchandising

The Scotsman described the Stig in 2008 as a "real-life James Bond able to tame the most powerful cars, while possessing all the mystique of Zorro" The Sunday Times in 2009 described the Stig as "not a man but an idea, possibly an extraterrestrial", speculating that, along the lines of the Spartacus mythology, that the more people were linked with the character, the stronger the mystery would become. It paid tribute for how long the show had actually kept the secret.

On the question of 'Who is the Stig?', it has been described variously by The Telegraph as one of the most popular internet search questions of 2009, by The Times in 2009 as one of the ten most-searched-for terms on the Ask.com internet search engine, and by the Sunday Times as most-asked question on the internet in 2008. In addition, the Sunday Times has stated that on-line and text-answering services rated it as one of the most popular questions of all time, along with the meaning of life.

With the BBC asserting that the anonymity of the Stig was a vital part of the show's appeal which was valued by the audience, during their legal dispute with HarperCollins, an on-line poll by The Guardian asking the question "Do we need a new Stig?", it found 64% of people voted "Yes - his identity should always be a mystery", against 36% for "No - why the big fuss over a man in a helmet?".

After the High Court judgment allowing Ben Collins to publish his autobiography revealing himself as White Stig, The Guardian asserted that the question of the character's identity had "always been one of the modern age's greatest mysteries", and immediately posed the question, "if the Stig is dead, then who'll be the new Stig?", adding, "The whole beauty of the Stig is that we don't know who he is. He's just a jumpsuit and a helmet, the contents of which are eminently replaceable".

The Stig has been notionally 'spotted' in the wild in images collected for Google Street View. He was photographed by a Street View car standing on the side of the A82 road in Loch Ness, Scotland. He was also captured by a Street View tricycle in three locations within Legoland Windsor in Berkshire, including riding a go-kart and sitting on a camel. A Street View image taken from the A40 Westway of the Stig apparently standing in a window of the Top Gear office in BBC Television Centre in West London was reportedly just a cardboard cut-out.

The BBC have capitalised on the mystery behind the Stig by marketing "I AM THE STIG" T-Shirts and variants through the Top Gear shop. Other Stig merchandise has included bubble wash, pens, keyrings, soap on a rope, lunchbags and a "sonic toothbrush".

Other Stigs

The Stig is also portrayed as having an extended family of cousins who appear in his place, reinforcing various comical stereotypes.

As of the fifteenth series, the show has featured a portly American cousin nicknamed "Big Stig" with a relaxed driving style, an African cousin with dark skin, wearing just Puma racing boots, a loincloth and the iconic white helmet, a portly lorry-driving cousin nicknamed "Rig Stig" with a sunburned right sleeve, a vegetarian cousin nicknamed "Janet Stig Porter" wearing green overalls, Birkenstock sandals with socks and a solar-powered helmet, and a German cousin nicknamed "Herr Stig" and "Stiggy Ray Cyrus" (a parody of Billy Ray Cyrus), wearing white overalls and with a mullet haircut.

The American, African and German cousins were all featured setting lap times in challenges filmed in their respective countries, while the lorry driving Stig was introduced for a lorry driving challenge, and the vegetarian cousin was used in a 'build an electric car' challenge (in which he supposedly dies from inhaling the exhaust fumes of the hybrid car he was testing at the time). For the lorry special, Rig Stig was filmed powersliding a Team Oliver racing truck.

A sequence featuring Stig's red-suited motorcycle riding Vietnamese/Communist cousin was filmed for the Vietnam Special, but it had to be left out of the final edit due to time restrictions. The footage was however included in a later DVD release. The programme had hired a local motorcycle stunt rider.

In an episode filmed in Spain, The Stig was portrayed as being on holiday and showed footage of The Stig, still dressed in full racing gear, catching some sun by a swimming pool. In the background, there is a woman swimming wearing a Bikini and the iconic white helmet.

The US Top Gear, Top Gear Australia and Top Gear Russia also feature their own versions of The Stig.