Top Gear court case: The Stig revealed as racing driver Ben CollinsRacing driver Ben Collins has been revealed as The Stig after the High Court refused to grant the BBC an injunction blocking the publication the Top Gear star's autobiography
Ben Collins has performed as a James Bond stunt double
When it emerged that Collins planned to unmask himself, his employers are sought an injunction to prevent HarperCollins from publishing the book.
The Stig races a variety of cars on the Top Gear programme clad in white overalls and a blacked-out visa, and only about six people - including the programme’s presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond - knew his identity for certain.
The secrecy elevated him to cult status and spawned T-shirts with slogans such as "My Dad is the Stig", but he is said to be unhappy that other presenters are able to earn considerable sums from book deals and promotional products.
The BBC claimed that the mystery driver signed a confidentiality agreement and argued that blowing his cover would spoil viewers’ enjoyment of the flagship BBC 2 show.
HarperCollins criticised the Corporation for spending licence payers’ money on the attempt to block the book.
Speculation that the Stig could be Collins, a racing driver and stuntman from Bristol, intensified earlier this month after the accounts of his company, Collins Autosport, were found to list “driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme”.
The 35-year-old, who has performed as a James Bond stunt double, was also “outed” as the Stig in 2009, when a builder, Jason Goody, claimed to have come across his famous white suit and gloves on display in a cabinet while working in his home.
Simon Whitehead, a Bristol gallery owner, later claimed that Mr Collins had identified himself as the mystery driver and asked if an artist could help produce a limited-edition print of him in action.
The current “white” Stig took on the role in 2003 after the original “black” Stig, the racing driver Perry McCarthy, outed himself in an autobiography called Flat Out, Flat Broke.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7975346/Top-Gear-court-case-The-Stig-revealed-as-racing-driver-Ben-Collins.html
