# Top Gear's Stig outed!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/41 "2010-09-11T13:52:17Z")

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> [@bucketybuck](#):
>
> Did Perry McCarthy (whose name I just heard off) release a tell-all book and agree a column for a national newspaper?

I don’t think it would have mattered if he had.  
While he didn’t release a tell-all book, he did “out” himself as the stig in his autobiography, and gave some details about being the stig in interviews.

It really didn’t affect the stig myth at all, because the BBC downplayed it and just got a new stig.

> [@Candyman74](#):
>
> I think it would be reasonable to leave and wait a few years before saying “I was the Stig”. Not release an autobiography while still in the job, and get told by the BBC that the confidentiality agreement - that he agreed to - forbade it, and continue anyway.

I agree with this.

Publishing now is just about maximizing earnings, and is a little dishonourable. He should have left a gap of a couple of years.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gears-stig-outed/552396/42 "2010-09-11T15:04:24Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> - Again, I think it’s _right_ it doesn’t pay well.  
> The stig doesn’t need to be articulate or funny. He just needs to drive fast. And not necessarily faster than anyone (white stig was slower than some F1 drivers). He just needs to be consistently faster than the top gear boys.

Only one F1 driver has beaten him around the track. ([Rubens Barrichello, if you’re curious.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_test_track#F1_leader_board)) And it took, what, fifteen series? Lewis Hamilton came close —with better course conditions, he may well have succeeded.

Anyway, the point is, the Stig does need to be a very good driver, at least around the test course.

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