# Top Gear's Stig outed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396 "2010-09-02T16:16:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/1 "2010-09-02T16:16:44Z")
Some say he’s… [actually human](http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/02/british-judge-un-helmets-the-stig/). The show is ruined! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/2 "2010-09-02T16:26:59Z")
The article mentions that he was brand manager for Hornby Scalextric, which is interesting as that’s one of the brands James May featured in his program about childhood toys. I wonder if that’s not a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/3 "2010-09-02T16:33:17Z")
Yes, I noticed that too… but Scalextric is pretty much “it” when it comes to slot car racing in the UK, which I think has more to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/4 "2010-09-02T16:39:38Z")
I don’t really care to know the identity of The Stig. To me, The Stig is The Stig, tame racing driver. It’s like when you go to Disney and see Mickey Mouse on a float in a parade. You don’t wonder who is in the suit, as far as you are concerned that’s Mickey Mouse up there on the float. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/5 "2010-09-02T16:59:19Z")
My pet theory was that it was Martin Donnelly, a promising F1 driver whose career was cut short by the worst F1 accident of the late nineties. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/6 "2010-09-02T17:04:57Z")
I guess I always bought into the theory that ‘the Stig’ was any of several different specialty, F1 or rally drivers that happened to have some time available on filming day when they needed any old stig. I suspect that is still at least somewhat the case. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/7 "2010-09-02T17:12:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > My pet theory was that it was Martin Donnelly, a promising F1 driver whose career was cut short by the worst F1 accident of the late nineties. That would be early nineties. The crash was at Jerez in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/8 "2010-09-02T17:30:27Z")
:smack: That was supposed to read “late eighties and early nineties”, and apparently Mistakes Were Made. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/9 "2010-09-02T18:58:38Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I guess I always bought into the theory that ‘the Stig’ was any of several different specialty, F1 or rally drivers that happened to have some time available on filming day when they needed any old stig. I suspect that is still at least somewhat the case. Yeah same here. As long as they do the schtick about the Stig I’ll still think of him as the Stig. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/10 "2010-09-02T19:04:01Z")
Question: Why does whoever happens to be introducing him at the time refer to The Stig as “Our **tame** racing driver…” Is it some sort of Britishism I’m not familiar with? Is that like jail/goal only team/tame? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/11 "2010-09-02T19:11:12Z")
As in a domesticated racing driver, as opposed to a normal racing driver who charges around a track in a racing car. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/12 "2010-09-02T20:02:10Z")
Ahhh, ok, that makes sense! I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode of the “new” Top Gear, even the ones before James May (that fat guy was not good) and always wondered why Brits pronounced team as tame. That’s, what like 14 seasons of being wooshed? I need a drink. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/13 "2010-09-02T20:23:38Z")
“Tame” sounds better than"domesticated." ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/14 "2010-09-02T21:22:09Z")
Wait, The Stig is gay? I’ve generally found the conceit to be amusing, even if it does become annoying at times. It does make me wonder what they’ll do now, if it means that they’ve now fired two Stigs. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/15 "2010-09-02T21:55:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > As in a domesticated racing driver, as opposed to a normal racing driver who charges around a track in a racing car. Domesticated racing driver? Like a pet? I always figured it was the usual Top Gear sarcasm at work, in that the Stig would tear around the track in the car being tested in a anything-but-tame manner. After all, it is rather unlikely that the Stig really has 2 sets of knees, his teeth glow in the dark, or that he’s scared of bells (among other things Some have said…). Or is that what you meant by domesticated and I misunderstood. And as for the subject of the OP: Wasn’t Ben Collins ‘outed’ as the Stig back in 2009? [QUOTE=wiki] 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 [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/16 "2010-09-02T22:32:41Z")
The main reason the Stig was popular was the mystic around him. Nobody really wanted to know who he was, far better to laugh at the jokes and imagine that he was mentos level cool. But now Ben Collins wants to spoil this harmless bit of fun for millions of viewers so he can cash in with a book at christmas. Logic says: What an asshole. I hope they get rid of him, whether by changing the “Stig” in some way, or by just getting a new Stig, winking at the audience and pretending nothing ever happened. Ben Collins can go drive ice cream vans. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/17 "2010-09-03T00:04:23Z")
> [@GildedLily](#): > > Ahhh, ok, that makes sense! I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode of the “new” Top Gear, even the ones before James May (that fat guy was not good) and always wondered why Brits pronounced team as tame. That’s, what like 14 seasons of being wooshed? It never occurred to you that they were pronouncing “tame” as “tame”? Yikes, it’s possible that you are hearing an entirely different show to the rest of us! Let’s hope it was just that one word! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/18 "2010-09-03T00:05:11Z")
I didn’t realise it was Ben Collins outing himself. But it seems he was out of contract, and they would have gotten a new Stig anyway, just like they had done once before, so I suspect that won’t upset things too dramatically. They may have to twist it into something different, though. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/19 "2010-09-03T00:07:16Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Wasn’t Ben Collins ‘outed’ as the Stig back in 2009? Yup; during the reports on Hammond’s crash. He was named as Top Gear’s racing consultant in the investigation. Folks put two-and-two together. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/20 "2010-09-03T00:09:21Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > or by just getting a new Stig, winking at the audience and pretending nothing ever happened. Ben Collins can go drive ice cream vans. That’s what happened to the original (black) Stig. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396.md?page=2)