Anonymity and silence[edit] When introducing the Stig in the Top Gear premiere, Clarkson said, "We don't

kno w its name, we really don't know its name, nobody knows its name, and we don't w anna know, 'cause it's a racing driver."[ep 1] According to the Daily Mail in 20 10, his face is never revealed on set, and not even the celebrity guests being t rained 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 la te, having his own dressing room and eating privately. The studio audience has n o access to him at any time.[5] According to a 2006 article in The Sunday Times, most of the Top Gear crew did n ot know the Stig's identity; one camera assistant reportedly observed the Stig e ating his lunch in the back of an ambulance to avoid being spotted.[3] In 2009, another Times article reiterated that only a few production staff, the show's pr esenters and other BBC journalists knew the Stig's true identity.[2] Former Stig Perry McCarthy described in 2009 how, to maintain his anonymity, he would put on the Stig's helmet while going through the Top Gear security gates, and then change into his racing overalls in a special room behind the gatehouse before driving into the studio areas. He would speak as little as possible in th e backstage areas, and put on an accent which some mistook as French.[2] McCarth y also explained that hiding his identity while coaching the celebrities for Sta r in a Reasonably Priced Car proved difficult. He said that he did reveal his tr ue identity while coaching Ross Kemp and David Soul, as he had previously known them and they promised that they would be silent about his role. For other drive s, if celebrities asked if he was a particular person, he would just sael Schuma cher.[2] The Stig is never shown talking on screen, although he doeskson has joked that h e is "not a very talkative chap".[3] When asked about his identity in a rare spo ken interview for a German channel, the Stig reportedly said, "I don't remember; my memory was erased when I got the job."[6] The Stig's muteness has extended t o appearances in other media, such as the "Brain Stig" video released by the BBC on YouTube in 2009.[7][8] Clarkson has written in his newspaper column that the Stig is not permitted to t alk or comment the cars he is given to drive because "the opinions of all racing drivers are completely worthless", going on to explain that, because of their f amiliarity with cars equipped for track racing, racing drivers believe any and a ll road cars are on low-scale compared to racing cars.[9] Driving ability[edit] The show has often compared the Stig's driving ability to others, particularly F ormula One drivers. When Jeremy Clarkson said that the Stig believed that the Su zuki Liana, the show's Reasonably Priced Car at the time, could do a lap time of 1:44, former F1 driver Nigel Mansell, appearing as a guest on the programme, du ly obliged by posting a time of 1:44.6; the Stig then posted a time of 1:44.4.[e p 2] After Rubens Barrichello became the first person to beat the Stig's time (c oming in at 1:44.3), the show repeatedly referred to a jealous rivalry between t he Stig and Barrichello. Lewis Hamilton currently holds the record for F1 driver s with a time of 1:42.9.[ep 3] Clarkson has often mentioned that F1 drivers seem to take a different racing line on the test track than the Stig, such as on Jen son Button's drive;[ep 4] however, during Barrichello's and Lewis Hamilton's vis its to the show, Clarkson observed that they took the same line around the track as The Stig.[ep 5] F1 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.[ep 6] Introductions[edit] The Stig's introductions on the show have underlined his oddness. Initially the

presenters heralded his appearance with simple humorous introductions, such as " His Holiness, the Stig!"[ep 7] Beginning in series 6, the introductions began to follow a format of, "Some say that [two bizarre characteristics]. All we know i s, he's called the Stig." Characteristics described in this format include: This article contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or i ndiscriminate. Please help to clean it up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Where appropriate, incorporate items into the main body of the article. (Novemb er 2013) The drinks in his cabinet contain 15 different types of custard His favourite T-Shirt has a picture of a T-Shirt Afraid of bells Confused by stairs He's been producing artificial sperm for years, even though we've repeatedly ask ed him not to. Never blinks[2] Naturally faces magnetic north All of his legs are hydraulic Two sets of knees Is convinced Star Wars is a documentary Heart ticks like a watch Left nipple is shaped like the Nrburgring One eye is a testicle Invented the curtain Salary is paid by the BBC in strong pornography Owns the world's largest collection of pornography Developed the "wonderful" scent of Wednesday Only knows two facts about ducks, and both of them are wrong Has a full size tattoo of his face, on his face Has terrible plans involving the Moon Was turned down for a spot on "I'm a celebrity..." because he is one Thinks crisps are animals Doesn't like to get his helmet wet Has a stripy top just like James' Can open a beer bottle with his testicles His feces have been found as far north as York Thinks the "Credit Crunch" is a breakfast cereal To unlock him, you have to run your finger down his face, vertically Due to a rigged phone vote has a new name: Cuddles Is not machine washable Sucks the moisture from ducks His crash helmet is modelled on Britney Spears' head Once threw a microwave oven at a tramp Allergic to the Dutch Banned from the Chelsea Flower Show Has a digital face His ears aren't exactly where you'd expect them to be Has webbed buttocks Once punched a horse to the ground If you tune your radio to 88.4 MHz, you can hear his thoughts There is an airport in Russia named after him His sweat can be used to clean precious metals His breath smells of magnesium Is illegal in 17 U.S. States Wanted by the CIA Sleeps inside out His New Year's resolution is to eat fewer mice He has 50,000 photographs of his own camera 60 years ago this week he also became a Queen

Some introductions have referred to current events, such as: "If you give him a really important job, he'll skive off and play croquet" (a re ference to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in 2006)[ep 8] "Has dreams about what Rubens Barrichello would look like in a ham slicer" (a re ference to Barichello being faster than the Stig around the test track the week before) "He always wears a helmet because a man once smashed him in the face with a mode l of Salisbury Cathedral" (a reference to the Silvio Berlusconi assault with an alabaster[10] statuette of Milan Cathedral in December 2009) "He's banned from the town of Chichester and...in a recent late-night deal, he b ought a slightly dented white Fiat Uno from the Duke of Edinburgh" (a reference to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana) "He regrets "buying his new holiday home in down-town Cairo" (a reference to the Arab Spring in early 2011) "He contains 47% horse" (a reference to the 2013 horse meat scandal) "He used to work in Rome, but gave up his job to be able to keep up with his wor k here" (after the Pope's retirement in early 2013) "On a recent trip to Cornwall, he stopped off for one of his special, big wees i n Somerset" (a reference to the recent UK flooding) Other characteristics[edit] In the Stig's debut, he was described by Clarkson as having a very small brain, worthless opinions, and a disorder called "Mansell Syndrome".[ep 1] He has been depicted as a piece of cargo, being collected by Clarkson from the b aggage conveyor at the airport;[ep 9] he has also been shown stored in a cupboar d when not in use. The show has also featured the Stig's listening habits, as heard on the car ster eo as he drives laps. Often a specific genre is chosen for one or more series. T he Stig has been shown listening to: Power ballads One-hit wonders Easy listening Country and western Morse code Progressive rock Whale sounds Baroque music Advertising jingles Foreign language learning tapes Romantic audio novels Salesman techniques ABBA (in French and Spanish) Elton John Bee Gees (including, in one episode, the Bee Gees in German) Speeches of Margaret Thatcher Self-help tapes Pipe band music Chas & Dave Vuvuzelas National anthems The Archers In 2009, the Stig appeared at the National Television Awards, where he silently accepted an award and handed host Griff Rhys Jones a letter from the Top Gear ho sts, which instructed Jones 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 nea r the cast of Coronation Street, as "he's decided all northerners are edible".[1 1]

Role[edit] In the Top Gear end credits, the Stig is credited alongside Clarkson, Richard Ha mmond, and James May as a presenter. The Stig's primary role on the show is at t he Top Gear test track at the show's base at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey. His two main functions are to post lap times for featured performance cars in the "Powe r Laps" segment, and to train celebrity guests to set lap times in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment.[5][12][13] The Top Gear website describes the Stig's test-driving role 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 la st drop of performance out of any car he drives, giving us a definitive lap time around our demanding test track.[14] When first introduced, the Stig was described as the resident test driver, as th e presenters could not consistently post fast times themselves. His stated missi on was to "just go out there and drive fast".[ep 1] The original Stig, Perry McC arthy, 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.[4] Identity[edit] Previous Stigs[edit] Black Stig[edit] The Stig (Black) Black stig.jpg Top Gear character Portrayed by Perry McCarthy, occasionally others Duration 2002 2003 First appearance 20 October 2002 (Series 1; Episode 1) Last appearance 26 October 2003 (Series 3; Episode 1) Racing driver Perry McCarthy appeared in 22 Top Gear episodes as the black-suite d, original Stig.[2][15] McCarthy was cast as the Stig following a chance meeting with Jeremy Clarkson at the 2002 launch party for McCarthy's autobiography, Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formu la 1 the Hard Way!.[2][16][17][18] This led to an audition as a regular presente r, before the production team decided the racing driver would be anonymous.[2][4 ] (Contradicting this, McCarthy said in 2008 that Clarkson had mentioned the ide a of a "top secret" racing driver at their first meeting.[16]) After the first series ended, an article in The Sunday Mirror on 12 January 2003 named McCarthy as the Stig.[17][18][19] The newspaper quoted a show insider as saying, "Just a handful of the crew know that he is actually Perry." McCarthy re sponded at the time, "I do know who the Stig is but I cannot comment any further ."[19] After the second series ended, McCarthy published the second edition of h is autobiography, in which he confirmed that he was the Stig.[citation needed] M cCarthy was then "killed off" in the first episode of the third series. The scene which saw Black Stig "killed off," nicknamed "Top Gun vs Top Gear," wa s an attempt to race to 100 mph (160 km/h) and then come to a halt on the 200 me tres (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 f or a "couple of hundred quid," stripped of its fittings and fitted with nitrous injection to take it to 500 bhp (370 kW). The Stig accelerated along the deck, a nd an on-screen speedometer indicated 109 mph (175 km/h) before a cutaway shot s aw 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 a glove floating on the sea was all that divers had found.[20][21] According to McCarthy, "We tried to make it a s much like a scene out of James Bond as possible."[16] The explanations for McCarthy's exit vary.[2] While McCarthy described the parti ng as amiable in 2008, The Times claimed in 2009 that he had fallen out with pro ducers.[15][16] In 2010, McCarthy said he had become tired of the job, which he claimed paid 700 a week, and that part of his annoyance stemmed from an attempt b y a car owner to sue him for ruining his car and the BBC's refusal to defend him due to his anonymity. He said the BBC chose not to renew his contract and had h im written out of the show.[21][22] Although McCarthy said in 2006 that, following his exit from Top Gear, he harbou red ambitions of re-entering racing in the Grand Prix Masters series, he went on to run an investment company and appear as an after-dinner speaker.[4][21] According to the Sunday Times, writing in 2009, McCarthy revealed in his book th at there had always been more than one Stig, and that 47-year-old Julian Bailey, a former Formula One driver, had acted as a stand-in for McCarthy.[2] In a June 2009 interview with the Daily Mail, Bailey, who was selling his home in Effingh am, Surrey, said "I was one of the Stigs ... which was pretty handy as filming w as done just down the road. ... I have stopped now, but I am not supposed to tal k about it."[23] First White Stig[edit] The first White Stig The Stig British International Motor Show .jpg The Stig Top Gear character Portrayed by Ben Collins, occasionally others Duration 2003 2010 First appearance 2 November 2003 (Series 3; Episode 2) Last appearance 1 August 2010 (Series 15; Episode 6) The first White Stig was introduced in November 2003, following the Black Stig's exit in the prior episode. His identity remained secret until it was revealed a s Ben Collins in August 2010. During this Stig's time on the show, the character 's role expanded from Power Lap times and "Reasonably Priced Car" training to in clude appearances in other show segments, such as producing timed runs in the Is le of Man road test;[ep 9] driving a Caterham Seven from Caterham to Knockhill;[ ep 10] riding a London Bus, the DLR and the Tube across London;[ep 11] jumping a snowmobile off a ski-jump in Lillehammer, Norway;[ep 12] and playing a police p ursuit driver in the White Van Man challenge.[ep 4][3] Speculation over identity[edit] Since the White Stig's debut, there was widespread speculation over his identity . Various sources claimed him to be a number of different racing drivers, includ ing Collins, Damon Hill, Julian Bailey, Russ Swift, Darren Turner and Tim Schric k, as well as former Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell.[6] Several people, includi ng Hill and musician Jay Kay, claimed to be the Stig themselves. It was also spe culated that the Stig was played by multiple drivers, a theory hinted at by orig inal Stig Perry McCarthy.[4] After observing the Stig's charity drive around the Silverstone Circuit just before the July 2008 British Grand Prix, former Formul a One World Champion Fernando Alonso remarked, "Whoever s in that car is a serious

ly good driver. ... I ve no idea who he is, but he s definitely ex-F1."[24][25] In January 2009, rumours about the Stig's identity were stoked, in part by a New s of the World article alleging to have discovered the Stig to be a married man in his 30s, living in a 300,000 home and driving a 15,000 car, on an income of aro und 150,000 from his Top Gear job and some stunt and test driving.[26][27] In the same month, an art gallery owner reported that the Stig had revealed his identi ty to the gallery owner and his son, after contracting with them (under the guis e of a BBC executive) for a series of signed and limited prints of the Stig.[26] [28] In the latter instance, the Stig was alleged to be Ben Collins.[29] It was also reported that a builder doing work at Collins' home had found the Stig's tr ademark suit and gloves on display there.[12] Another story, in the Daily Mail, named eight different drivers that it claimed had played the white Stig at some point. A BBC spokesman said, "We never comment on speculation as to whom or what the Stig is."[30] As these rumours were ongoing, the Top Gear blog published three entries on 21 J anuary revealing the Stig to be, respectively, Damon Hill's deceased father Grah am Hill; Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop; and newly inaugurated U.S. president Barack Obama.[2][31][32][33] Two days later, Clarkson joked in h is newspaper column in The Sun that the Stig was BBC royal reporter Nicholas Wit chell: "And now you know, I m afraid he will have to be dropped from a Hercules tr ansport plane and killed. Worse, because the secret is out, the Telegraph will h ave to find another big secret to expose. Might I suggest they look into Doctor Who s TARDIS because I m willing to bet it really isn t as big inside as the BBC claim ."[34] When Richard Hammond crashed a jet-powered car, the accident report into the cra sh described Ben Collins as someone "who worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant."[35] Michael Schumacher 'revealed'