Jan 20th, 2009 by RJ Menezes
The British television show Top Gear has been on the BBC for several seasons now. With its combination of awesome cars, gorgeous cinematography, and wacky antics the show has become a cult phenomenon all over the world.
One of the shows most interesting aspects is that they have a prefixed road course where they test all the cars that are featured on the show and then see where they stack up with one another. In an attempt at unbiased parity, the show employ’s a mysterious test driver known only to the audience as “The Stig.” While The Stig’s identity is kept a secret on the show (they wont even admit if he’s human!) in real life not many people know who The Stig really is. The producers are so adament about keeping The Stig’s identity a secret that they force guests on the show to sign a confidentiality agreement promising to not disclose his identity to the public.
Now the cat is out of the bag though. Just like when the original Stig (racer Perry McArthy) revealed himself and had to get killed off in the show (they put him in a Jaguar and drove him off a carrier ship into the ocean), now the new Stig might suffer the same fate.
Racecar driver Ben Collins has recently revealed himself to be The Stig after he commissioned a Bristol art gallery owner to create an artwork commemorating his exploits on Top Gear. The young driver has numerous amounts of driving experience under his belt having contested Formula 3, NASCAR, Le Mans, and even having done some movie stunt work. His most recent movie role came as Daniel Craig’s stunt-double in the new Jame’s Bond movie Quantum of Solace.
When Perry McArthy revealed his was The Stig he was promptly fired off the show. This leads many people to believe that Ben Collins will suffer the same fate. In a sense it’s justified. What makes the Stig so interesting is his lack of identity. By being anyone we can imagine any of the world’s best drivers underneath that tinted helmet. That mystery is what The Stig is all about.
Above: Guess who this guy is…..
Source: Jalopnik
Photo: Jalopnik
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