The Stig Revealed, But He Must Be Mad

It’s been breaking news across the UK over the past couple of hours, but in case you missed it (or want to know why I think he’s mad) the iconic face of BBC’s Top Gear has been revealed as… Ben Collins.

The Stig's identity has been revealed

It’s been rumoured for a while that Collins is indeed The Stig, but now that it’s official it’s not really all that interesting.  The man is a former Formula 3 driver as well as taking part in Le Mans and IndyCar, which means unless you’re a fan of those particular racing disciplines you’ve probably never heard of him, so for him to be revealed as such a well-known character watched by millions of casual car fans isn’t exciting in the slightest.  In fact when the rumours started coming in thick and fast once the ‘white’ Stig had replaced the ‘black’ stig people were speculating big names from Damon Hill to Michael Schumacher, in fact the Top Gear producers even went as fas as to jokingly reveal Schumacher as the mystery driver.  But alas, any hope of The Stig being revealed as a big name in the world of motorsport or keeping the mystery alive for a while longer has been totally spoiled by a very selfish and greedy man.

If what newspapers and websites are reporting is true, the BBC has basically failed in a legal bid to stop Collins from revealing his identity as The Stig in his new autobiography.  This is the part where I talk about why he’s mad, because the last guy who did this, the previously mentioned black Stig Perry McCarthy was immediately ‘killed off’ by the Top Gear producers.  Top Gear have every right to do the same to Collins as he would have surely had some sort of confidentiality clause in his contract forbidding him to reveal the information, but for the sake of extra sales on his autobiography he has more than likely lost his job and if there’s any sanity in the world quickly fade into obscurity.  In fact according to The Mirror he’s already got the boot.

What makes me laugh is how the man has thrown away a perfectly good career for the sake of a sales boost for his new book.  I’m fairly confident that very few people bar the most die-hard racing fans will even care, as any relevant information and stories on The Stig can already be found in existing Top Gear publications.  Ben Collins has absolutely nothing new to add in his own book, if anything I hope to see sales take a hit as a result of his behaviour and attitude.  He deserves it the silly, mad man.